2010 Sixers Offseason Thread

[ice grillin you]

Sixers' Jrue Holiday had a hard-working summer

Jrue Holiday is all about ball.

The kid, and that's still what he is, is sponsored by adidas, and after games he's often wearing the three stripes. Maybe a sporty hoodie with jeans or a sweater with name-brand kicks.

What Holiday has yet to adopt, like so many in the NBA do, is the high-end fashion sense that transforms a player from gym rat to polished banker.

You almost expect Holiday to leave the arena with a ball under his arm, which you can imagine is how you'd find him most summer days in Southern California.

Holiday is the 76ers' starting point guard, a 20-year-old caught between two worlds: the uphill battle faced by most lower-first-round picks, and the bright future this organization has claimed is his destiny.

On Wednesday, when the Sixers open the regular season against the Miami Heat, Holiday's public revelation will begin.

But for Holiday, the science project began in May.

"We get in the lab. That's what we call it," said Jason Martin, Holiday's trainer-at-home. "We experiment, and we're trying to create a monster. We're mad scientists."

After the Sixers' season ended on April 14 - they finished 27-55, well out of the playoffs - Holiday took a month off. ("He does too much," Martin said. "We actually have to shut him down after the season, mandatory, tell him he can't do anything for a month.") When his ban was lifted, Holiday had two goals for the off-season.

1. Become more explosive and develop a go-to move.

"You see guys like Rajon Rondo, John Wall, Derrick Rose; these guys are fast, quick, explosive, can get up off the floor," Holiday said. "Last year I wasn't like that."

"He didn't feel he had it as much last year, trying to get by people," Martin said.

2. Develop a winning mind-set.

"Mentally, last year was tough for me, my rookie year, playing off and on," said Holiday, whom the Sixers selected with the No. 17 pick of the 2009 NBA draft. "The year for me, collectively, wasn't a good year. Mentally coming in with a winning mind-set, that I'm going to come here and try to take over and try to piece it together and make the playoffs."

Holiday averaged 8.0 points and 3.8 assists a game in easily becoming the highlight - "At least we get to watch Jrue develop" was an oft-heard sentiment - of a disastrous 2009-10 season.

"We listened to what Jrue wanted to do because he's really in tune with himself," Martin explained.

The solution to developing Holiday's explosiveness was training with former Olympic gold medal sprinter Maurice Greene, which is a little like needing driving lessons and calling Dale Earnhardt Jr.

You can't do any better.

For months, Holiday worked with Greene at the track at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, Calif.

"Basically he took me through a track workout, something that he went through," Holiday said. "And now I don't like track, just because of what he put me through."

Quickly, Holiday developed a summer routine:

Get up in the morning to lift, and then get some shots up.

Meet Greene at the track, and then get some more shots up.

Later, depending on fatigue, heading to the gym at night and playing for two or three additional hours.

At first, Holiday didn't notice a change in his explosiveness. He was working out with his brother, Justin, who plays for the University of Washington, and Tyler Honeycutt, a sophomore for UCLA.

"They can jump out of the gym," Holiday said. "I'm just sitting there watching and like, 'I suck.' " But then Holiday took a week off from lifting, rested his legs, and returned to the court. He knew he'd added spring when he could put it between his legs after taking off for a dunk.

"I was up there with them," Holiday said, referring to Justin and Honeycutt.


During a preseason game against the Toronto Raptors, in the final seconds of regulation, Holiday had the ball in his hands, out past the left wing. A big man came to set a pick-and-roll, but Holiday faded farther from the basket, eventually settling for a heaved three-pointer near the top of the key.

Watching that game-ending play, Martin thought Holiday would employ his new go-to move, which remains secret mostly for entertainment's sake. ("I really haven't brought it out yet . . . it's in the pocket," explained Holiday.) Holiday said he "should have" used it against the Raptors.

"I actually think about it a lot," Holiday said, "but it's going to happen." He promised to point it out once it did.


Worse than not playing, and not knowing if you'll play, is losing, and losing consistently. Trudging through 27-55 seasons could turn any basketball-loving gym rat into a money-loving banker: Just cash the check and get on the plane, what's the point?

Instead, Holiday spent his summer in the gym with his family - father, mother, brothers, sister, Honeycutt, and Martin - playing basketball and having fun.

"We have the keys to a gym, and Jrue would give a call, 'Let's go, let's do it,' " Martin said. "Jump up. When I say everybody, his father is right there. We're all in the gym." Sometimes those late-night sessions would start at 10 p.m., sometimes at midnight.

"We'd go, and we'd be in there for like three hours, just playing," Holiday said. "That's all we've done our whole life. Just do our workout and then start playing one-on-one and two-on-two.

"Most of us are little kids . . . we're just out there playing, that's all we've ever done. We stay up late anyways, might as well get some work done."

[reese125]

Pre-Jordan Magic/Bird/Doc hoops was a trillion times better than the slop we see today.

Just curious...why do you think this?

I dont understand why everyone gets caught up in this notion of how good the nba was back in the day. I really think the NBA culture change and "fundamentals" theory has put such a negative mind-set on the game that when it comes to comparing todays nba to the "back in the day" nba game that it becomes an automatic given that it was better.

The days of watching tall guys in short shorts moving slowly around the court for the pg to take 2 dribbles, pass to the wing, lob it to the big man inside, have him miss, get the offensive board and put back for his 55th point 20th rebound are long gone and imo completely unwatchable.

[SD]

actually todays game is better....what hurts the league now is the same thing that hurts every pro league....too many teams

contract five or six teams and todays nba is definitely superior to bird/magic times

the jordan era was actually the worst time for nba basketball ever....mike is gawd but the league was pretty painful to watch for much of the 90's

You're entitled to your opinion but I disagree. 80's NBA was the golden age as far as I'm concerned. Teams actually played like a team, there were great rivalries, Defense was an art form, good teams had a clear identity, and eye opening dunks were eye opening because they didn't happen every other play. Jordan was the NBA, so as for your second point I agree. I couldn't stand all the Jordan/Bulls fans that would talk shtein. "Oh, you're a Sixers fan? They  blow, I root for the Bulls". Yeah good for you scumbag, any mindless idiot could hop on a winning teams bandwagon and talk shtein. I blame the Jordan era for a lot of the slop we see today. With Jordan the NBA figured out that marketing a player was huge for the league, then they took that and tried to market every marginal superstar on the planet. This makes for bad basketball because a team is usually a superstar - who gets all the calls - and a bunch of individuals. It's not a fun league to watch anymore.

[ice grillin you]

the league was better then not the game...this is an important distinction that most people miss

[ice grillin you]

actually todays game is better....what hurts the league now is the same thing that hurts every pro league....too many teams

contract five or six teams and todays nba is definitely superior to bird/magic times

the jordan era was actually the worst time for nba basketball ever....mike is gawd but the league was pretty painful to watch for much of the 90's

there were great rivalries

couldnt agree more on this point


part of the problem now is the media (espn) trys to create rivalries....back then they just happened

[smeags]

silver lining is basketball pre-michael jordan was absolutely unwatchable

[reese125]

the league was better then not the game...this is an important distinction that most people miss

yep--which brought a bigger fan base. Now its the empathy factor where fans dont see themselves in the players as they once probably did. How many so-called 'blue collar guys" were out there making minimal dollars but playing their asses off...plenty. The fans could relate. Now its like SD said....money and marketing--which can bring down a league and its original fan base real fast.

but it also goes in reverse where the nba is gaining more popularity now because the young buck fan doesnt care about that blue-collar shtein. all they want to see is the glitter and glam of an nba superstar. I could care either way.

[MDS]

actually todays game is better....what hurts the league now is the same thing that hurts every pro league....too many teams

contract five or six teams and todays nba is definitely superior to bird/magic times

the jordan era was actually the worst time for nba basketball ever....mike is gawd but the league was pretty painful to watch for much of the 90's

there were great rivalries

couldnt agree more on this point


part of the problem now is the media (espn) trys to create rivalries....back then they just happened

i will always love 90s nba. i was an impressionable 8 year old and it was when i thought professional athletes were role models and super awesome and cool. cant change that.

btw pre-jordan era doesnt mean his dynasty run...it means the 80s run when he came into the league. anything before that, like early 80s and 70s and 60s, etc. is the unwatchable and awful.

but i guess they really played some hard nosed tough defense back then, and set picks and new how to hit mid range jumpers. they played basketball the way it was meant to be played, by white people i mean strong men. none of that happens now. so i might be wrong.

[SD]

That's it, it's a black/white thing. I'm pretty sure the ratio of white to black players in the 80's was less than what it is now. There weren't as many Croatian/European/Turks back then.

[MDS]

lets ignore everything there and focus on this

you do realize Croatia and Turkey are countries in Europe and that Europe is a continent, right?

[SD]

lets ignore everything there and focus on this

you do realize Croatia and Turkey are countries in Europe and that Europe is a continent, right?

yeah, I was testing you. You passed.

[MDS]

its just such a random combination to list

its like saying new yorkers/americans/houstonians

[SD]

its just such a random combination to list

its like saying new yorkers/americans/houstonians

pretty sure Turkey is technically part of Asia anyway. Croatia I always associated with Russia and assumed it was in Eurasia

[MDS]

i think turkey is in both europe and asia, kind of like russia

either way we're getting off base here. clearly i have a better functioning understanding of basic geography than you. this is terrific and essentially validates my entire life.

BACK TO THE SIXERS

they are starting jason kapono at the 3. discuss this awful team. go.

[PhillyPhreak54]

So Evan Turner is probably not going to start.

Huh.