For better or worse, whatever drama is going on off of the court in the NBA tends to make headlines just as much, if not more, than what we see transpire on the hardwood and Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was reminded of that fact this week.
While he couldn't have been less involved in anything that happened, Holiday's name was included in reports concerning the turmoil with the Phoenix Suns that ultimately led to veteran head coach Mike Budenholzer being relieved of his duties on the sidelines on Monday.
"League sources told me, early in the season, coach Budenholzer met with Bradley Beal," NBA Insider Chris Haynes reported on Monday. "He told Bradley Beal he wanted him to be the Jrue Holiday of this team. Holiday is a player who might become a Hall of Famer. But you've got to understand, when you're talking to a guy of Bradley Beal's caliber, it wasn't well-received. You know the type of player Bradley Beal is. You know how he's made a name for himself in this league, playing his way. To ask him to shift his game, to alter it, and to say Jrue Holiday on top of that, somebody who coach Budenholzer has won a championship in Milwaukee, it wasn't well-received."
Naturally, Holiday was less than pleased to see that comments attributed to Budenholzer which were made to Suns All-Star Bradley Beal regarding his coach's desire to see the guard take on a role in Phoenix like the one that Holiday has successfully carved out for himself in Boston since joining the Celtics.
"We're different players," Holiday said on Tuesday when asked for his thoughts on the matter, per Bobby Manning of CLNSMedia.com. "Brad is an elite scorer... I just don't know why people gotta bring me in it. Let me just do me, go out here and try to win as many rings as I can."
Holiday has every right to be perturbed by this line of questioning, especially when he and his teammates have much more important things to focus on at this time than what is going on with a Western Conference franchise that missed the postseason altogether. It isn't something that even needs to be on his radar at this moment and his response conveyed that in a direct and respectful way.
Holiday cannot control what narratives the media elects to run with but we are sure that Celtics fans and coaches agree with him on one thing though and that is letting him be concerned with doing whatever he needs to do to win another ring and raise a 19th championship banner at TD Garden.
