2018DD
#23 – Aaron Holiday – Indiana Pacers
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated22 Nov 2021
With the 23rd selection in the NBA Draft, the Indiana Pacers decided to pick UCLA point guard Aaron Holiday.
Spending three years with the Bruins, Holiday made his mark as a versatile floor general. In every season, he shot above 41 percent from deep and averaged over four assists and a steal per game.
As a freshman he started all 32 games and was an aggressive player, but struggled to put the ball in the basket. Sophomore year was a change of pace with the emergence of then-freshman Lonzo Ball, but he stayed the course and still contributed with his highest field goal percentage at the school (48.5) during his time there.
The 21-year-old’s junior season was where he made a real jump. After Ball’s departure to the pros, UCLA really leaned on him to be the go-to guy – and he delivered. Playing a PAC-12-high in minutes (1,244), Holiday put up over 20 points and dished out nearly six assists per game. He can pull down rebounds when necessary and has the ability to be quite bothersome on the defensive end.
As previously mentioned, Holiday made his money as a perimeter shooter while playing for the Bruins, but took a huge step forward in Year 3. That is evidenced by a dramatically increased three-point rate and free throw rate, as well as as conference-leading 20.8 points produced per game.
This all goes without mentioning that Holiday is the younger brother of current NBA players Jrue and Justin.
The Indiana Pacers got themselves a good one and added depth at the point guard position with this decision.
