Asked whether Jrue Holiday will start Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, Alvin Gentry quickly responded, “Maybe. There's a possibility.”
Holiday has come off the bench in all six games since he rejoined New Orleans (6-12), with Tim Frazier remaining the starter at point guard. The Pelicans won their first four games under that arrangement, but dropped both contests during a Thanksgiving weekend road trip to Portland and Dallas.
The one-time All-Star with Philadelphia actually spent much of last season as a reserve as well, partly while under a minute restriction, before becoming a starter in March. He only started 23 games out the 65 he played in during the 2015-16 campaign.
This season, Holiday has been eased back into the mix, after being away from basketball for an extended period. Gentry pointed out that Holiday's relatively curtailed minutes workload has been due to that hiatus, not because of concern over the past leg stress reactions that hampered the player in his first two New Orleans seasons.
“He's not injured,” Gentry said, comparing the past handling of Holiday to now. “It's a different situation, a personal situation this time. He didn't go through training camp or play in the first few games. We just wanted him to get a few games under him, and see how he reacted, then make an evaluation from there.
“It's not a factor from a health standpoint. He's fine and ready to go.”
Other notes from pregame:
Gentry on the impact of not having Dante Cunningham (leg): “He shot the ball extremely well from three this year. He spaced the floor for us, and had the ability to knock down that shot. Also, his grit and toughness. That's his personality for our team. When you don't have that, obviously you miss that some.” …
Gentry on whether there's an update on the status of Tyreke Evans (right knee): “We'll have a little more information after today. He was going to New York to see a doctor. So we'll see what happens from that. Nothing definite.”
