Give up 7 million! Just to join the Lakers, the defense is not inferior to Holiday. Is Reeves starting at the start now?

Before the NBA free agent market opened, the Celtics traded Ju Holiday to the Trail Blazers. Considering that the latter is a rebuilding team, to be honest, there is little demand for Holiday. It's very illustrative - defense. How good is

Holiday's defense?

24-25 season appearance in 1896 minutes of defense, the real plus-minus value is 1.3. Just look at the group comparison based on the defensive values:

1, Evan Mobley's value is 1.5;

2, Thick-eye's value is 1.5;

3, McDaniels' value is 1.4.

In fact, Holiday's numerical values are tied for 21st in the league with Gobert and VanVleet, second only to Alexander and Pippen Jr. among the players in the same position.

Thanks to excellent defensive ability, the Celtics lost 107.7 points in a hundred rounds when Holiday was on the court. In comparison, the league's first defense Thunder lost 106.6 points in a hundred rounds, and the second Magic lost 109.1 points in a hundred rounds. When Holiday was not present, the Celtics lost 113.5 points in a hundred rounds. For comparison, the Raptors lost 113.6 points in a hundred rounds and the Eagles lost 113.7 points in a hundred rounds.

In short, Holiday's Celtics have the league's top defensive efficiency and are at the league's middle and lower level when they are not on the court.

For Holiday, it was previously revealed that the Lakers were interested but only after buying out, but the problem is that the Trail Blazers are likely to not buy out under a three-year, 100 million contract. The good thing is that after reaching a buyout with the Wizards, Smart chose to join the Lakers.

For Smart, I think defense alone is not inferior to Holiday.

First, as mentioned earlier, Holiday's true positive and negative defense value of 1.3 in season, and Smart's value is 0.9.

Second, Holiday's real positive and negative defense value has been 0.8 in his career, and Smart's value is 1.1.

Third, the famous defensive scene.

1. Holiday restricted his shooting rate against Booker by 37.5%;

2. Holiday restricted his shooting rate against Antetokounmpo by 43.2%;

3. Holiday restricted his shooting rate against Randle by 35.1%.

Smart,

1, against Markkanen, 36.5% of his shooting rate;

2, against Tatum, 31.2% of his shooting rate;

3, against DeRozan, 33.3% of his shooting rate.

Obviously, Smart is not inferior to Holiday in both seasons, careers and defensive scenes. Of course, the third point is more important. To be precise, both of them can defend multiple positions and have relatively good efficiency.

In fact, if Smart effectively stays healthy and plays a good defensive performance in the new season, I think he can replace Reeves to play the Lakers' starting second position.

First, attitude. According to NBA reporter Brett Siegel, Smart gave up $7 million in his salary during the buyout with the Wizards, and after he returned to freedom, he only wanted to join the Lakers.

Relatively speaking, after Smart showed his attitude, the Lakers are definitely willing to provide him with more opportunities. Otherwise, it will make the players feel heartbroken.

Second, complementary. With Doncic, the Lakers are relatively lacking in starting offense, but instead lacking in defense. Once Smart effectively maintains health and plays well, he can complement Doncic and others.

In the end, Reeves was nothing wrong with playing a substitute. After all, after being staggered with Doncic, the ball rights are guaranteed.