Why Kevin Garnett questions Celtics trading away Jrue Holiday

Boston Celtics legend Kevin Garnett expressed concern about the front office’s decision to trade away Jrue Holiday. The longtime elite defensive guard was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks. Initially, the consensus was that Boston made a terrific move to get off Holiday’s contract while acquiring a younger guard in Simons.

Garnett, however, is skeptical that this move is in Boston’s best interest and explained his reason on the All the Smoke podcast. The Hall of Fame power forward compared the trade to the Milwaukee Bucks-Damian Lillard blockbuster, which also included Holiday.

“I don’t know if I would have given up Jrue Holiday for scoring. Eye to eye it looks like you gave up scoring for defense, but you don’t see all the small intangible things that Jrue Holiday brings. So it made the Jrue Holiday-Dame Lillard trade like, ‘Oh s**t’, but then you missed all this other s**t that he did that impacted the game.”

Garnett does make a good point that Jrue Holiday, on a game-by-game basis, makes winning plays that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. However, the situation in Boston is entirely different from what was happening with the Milwaukee Bucks at the time. The Bucks only had one elite point-of-attack defender, and outside of Holiday, they were very slow on the perimeter. When Jrue was traded, the entire defensive scheme of drop coverage fell apart because the Bucks no longer had a player who was efficient at fighting over screens.

The Celtics, on the other hand, have several elite defenders still on the roster, specifically Derrick White. In addition, Holiday’s contract was going to be tough to justify for a team that was projected to be well over the second apron and seemingly without Jayson Tatum for the year. Now, Boston is no longer over the second apron after trading the six-time All-Defensive selection and starting center Kristaps Porzingis. In addition, the franchise can take a flyer on an explosive offensive player like Simons, who is just entering his prime. Simons only has one more year on his deal and then becomes a restricted free agent.

Overall, in the big picture, this move was worth it for Boston, especially with the two second-round picks added. While Jayson Tatum will have a very different roster around him when he returns, the Celtics should be title contenders again in the near future.