Jrue Holiday is ready to mentor — and win — with Portland Trail Blazers

TUALATIN Together, they traveled throughout China as Adidas ambassadors. Together, they earned gold on Team USA. They frequently discussed working together on the same NBA club in the future.

The two veteran All-Star point guards, Damian Lillard and Jue Holiday, had to get rid of one annoying little thing before they could formally celebrate becoming teammates.

WiFi.

Lillard rented Holiday’s Milwaukee house during his two-year stay with the Milwaukee Bucks. It had a separate playroom, a rock-climbing wall, and lots of toys, making it ideal for Lillard’s three small children. However, it was also beset by erratic Wi-Fi, which caused a plethora of real-world issues for a contemporary NBA player.

During an introductory news conference at the Blazers practice facility in Tualatin on Tuesday, Holiday stated, “He texted me a couple times about the Wi-Fi.” I apologize. There are moments when you simply want to live off the grid. But really, I got everything solved in the end, and everything was OK. Living without Wi-Fi might be challenging at times.

Going ahead, things ought to be considerably simpler. Thanks to the trade that sent Holiday to Portland and the free agent deal that enticed the injured Lillard back to Rip City, the Blazers have finally found a home for all of its key players.

During his youth basketball clinic in Portland last week, Lillard told reporters, “I’ve always been a fan of Jrue and I’ve always wanted to play with him.” We’ll play well together, in my opinion.

Holiday will fit in nicely with everyone in Portland’s locker room, according to the Blazers front staff. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound point guard appears to be the ideal addition to a team attempting to make the difficult transition from rebuilding afterthought to a postseason contender. In addition to being one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders, Holiday is also considered to be one of the best people in the league. His skill and personality will be invaluable in the Blazers’ youthful locker room.

It’s conceivable that Holiday and Lillard won’t be able to play together for another year. Holiday is tasked with mentoring third-year point guard Scoot Henderson, the third overall choice in the 2023 NBA Draft, while Lillard is slated to miss the whole 2025–26 season recuperating from Achilles tendon surgery.

Holiday relied on veterans like Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand, as well as assistant coach Aaron McKie, when he was a hungry rookie in Philadelphia. Together, they taught Holiday how to use his basketball ingenuity and demonstrated what hard work looked like.

Iguodala used to encourage Holiday, “Just be solid,” day after day after day. It was so repetitive and annoying that Holiday joked that Iguodala was a jerk.

With 16 seasons under his belt and at the age of 35, Holiday is now prepared to be the Blazers’ jerk.

Regarding Iguodala, Holiday remarked, “He was just on me my rookie year.” He was really critical of me. And it wasn’t until later that I truly understood why. I suppose I hadn’t noticed it yet, but he clearly saw something in me. Additionally, it was really crucial that you were always reminding me to be consistent and to complete the tasks at hand. Elton Brand was my. I believe that everyone is aware of Elton Brand’s skill, his incredible career, and his work in Philadelphia. Aaron McKie was my coach as well. He served as a sort of player-coach to me, encouraging me to work hard. And because we played the same position, he gave me a lot of advice on how to be a strong person both on and off the court, not just as a player.

All I actually enjoy is basketball. The age doesn’t really matter. I am aware that I had veterinarians when I was younger and first arrived. However, I made an effort not to view them as veterinarians, but rather to simply observe everything around me. And despite my advanced age, I still feel as though I strive to do the same things, even though guys may be younger and I may not share their taste in music or interests. However, I also believe that’s what unites us as a team—finding points of agreement and being able to work together on that, which then sort of translates to the court.

Henderson will have an impressive group of mentors in the form of Holiday, Lillard, and coach Chauncey Billups, a Hall of Fame point guard.

However, Holiday’s advice will partly be based on the Blazers’ inability to win, which they haven’t done consistently since 2021.

The man, who has been selected to six NBA All-Defensive teams and participated in two All-Star games, is most pleased of having led two NBA championship teams. He made it apparent on Tuesday that he will not stop trying to win on a club that has competed for a lottery spot for four straight seasons.

To be honest, Holiday stated, “I can just be myself.” There isn’t really much else I can do. Come here, just be the person I’ve always been, and once again, attempt to win rather than just lend a hand as much as you can. I believe that I still get that emotion and that itch since I am a current player who has won and who has somewhat experienced the fight to win the championship not too long ago. I now have a better understanding of how it feels and how difficult it is to win.

Regarding his role, Holiday stated that he is here to blend in wherever I do. He stated that he thinks both his offense and defense are equally versatile.

Holiday stated that he doesn’t see any reason why he and Henderson can’t play a lot of point guard minutes together, despite the fact that fans and commentators have been discussing how Billups and the Blazers coaching staff will divide up the minutes for the past five weeks.

According to Holiday, Scoot is aggressive. And it’s incredible how he gets to the basket. I believe he would benefit from my ability to shoot the three and spread the floor. Additionally, I am aware that he has been working out and shooting the ball more accurately. However, I believe that for me, it’s just about being able to play off of him, knowing that Scoot is sort of the next big thing, and being able to come out here and only show off his skills.

The same is true for a future with Lillard, when it may occur.

According to Holiday, I believe I can play every position. I believe that throughout my career, I have demonstrated and proven that. You can’t assign me to just one position since I’m a complete basketball player. And even the way the game is changing now, there s so many guys who may have never played point guard, and you come into the league and they re playing point guard now. I therefore believe that I get along well with everyone. And, again, Dame s game is so easy to play with. Because of his shooting and scoring prowess, he creates space on the court. And because of his driving prowess, he gets you up in shots. So I feel like what s not to want to play with?

Especially now that the pesky Wi-Fi situation is no longer an issue.

My Wi-Fi wasn t that bad, Holiday deadpanned as he sauntered away from his Tuesday news conference.

Joe Freeman|jfreeman@oregonian.com| 503-294-5183 |@BlazerFreeman|@freemanjoe.bsky.social

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