Atlanta Hawks: Offseason Grades

Mar 21, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Justin Holiday (7) after scoring a three point basket against the Utah Jazz during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Signing Justin Holiday

How good can Justin Holiday be? Who the heck knows? I wouldn’t be surprised if he was an extremely valuable rotation wing in three years and I also wouldn’t be surprised if he was out of the league. He looks like a potential “three and D” wing, he just can’t make threes. Or he hasn’t made threes just yet. He still has time to add that weapon to his game, but if he can’t his ceiling drops tremendously.

Holiday spent last season with the Golden State Warriors. Obviously he had a tough time getting on the court for a stacked team that wound up winning the NBA title. Holiday averaged 4.3 points per game on 32.1 percent shooting from three-point distance. The year before in Philadelphia he only made 25 percent of his three-pointers. So maybe he doesn’t end up figuring it out offensively. At 6-foot-6, with exceptional length and quickness, he’s too intriguing not to try and groom.

He’s a very good defender and has all the tools to develop into a capable NBA regular. If he can show an ability to knock down shots this year he could compete for bench minutes with Kent Bazemore and Tim Hardaway Jr. This is a low risk, high reward signing for the Hawks. If he turns into a rotation player then they will be thrilled. If he ends up riding the pine for his entire contract then so what? He’s essentially a lottery ticket.

Grade: B +

Next: Filling the Leadership Void