The Jrue Holiday Era Is Off To A Fantastic Start After He Reveals He Wanted To Wear #4 In Part Because Of Isaiah Thomas
It's no secret that the Boston Celtics are quickly running out of jersey numbers. I suppose that's bound to happen when the franchise has retired
00, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32. 33, 34, 35
and maybe this is just my moronic brain doing it's thing, but I always judge a signing/trade by what number that player ultimately is given/chooses. If the team gives them a "real" number, my brain considers them a big piece for both the present and future. So when the Celts traded for Porzingis and #6 obviously not being available, him getting #8 (a real number to my brain) told me the Celts were serious about the acquisition. You can't give a player like him some sort of outrageous number.
When they traded for Jrue Holiday, with 8 now gone I was looking around at the available options and there was really only one that made sense to me
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Turns out, Jrue and I share a brain. That's good to know moving forward. He ultimately settled on Isaiah's 4, and I have to admit after watching him rock it this preseason, I think it fits. There are some number/jersey combos you see that just feel off, and thankfully this wasn't one of those situations.
While part of Holiday's decision was most likely the fact that there aren't too many "clean" numbers available, we now also have some insight into what went into his decision to rock #4
When I sent out that tweet on Oct 1st, people mocked me for calling it "Isaiah's 4". Well well well, looks like some people out there need to work on showing a proper amount of respect to the PG that jumpstarted their entire rebuild and for my money was a tremendous Celtic during his insane 2.5 year run.
Is this just an excuse just to put Isaiah's 2016-17 highlights in a blog? Maybe. But it also ruled so who could blame me
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Those who have been reading my blogs all these years know I am driving the bus when it comes to the Isaiah bandwagon. I'm old enough to remember when people called me delusional for calling the progression from Isaiah to Kyrie a lateral move for the team given how awesome Isaiah's tenure was, and it looks like time proved me right with that one.
It's also not a secret that I am also at the front of the line when it comes to the Marcus Smart bandwagon. As you can expect, this was an emotional summer. At the same time, I am also a big time sucker when it comes to pandering. If you pander to me, I'll cave. So Holiday telling us he not only wanted to rock #4 because Isaiah did but that he also reached out for permission is exactly the type of thing that'll get me to stan for you until the end of time. Jrue clearly gets it. If you are someone who understands and appreciates what Isaiah did while in Boston, you are A OK in my book.
Now, if Holiday also finds himself having a similar impact at the position than that Isaiah run in which he found a way to have a top 5 MVP season? Oh boy. I know that sounds like a stretch, but that's the power of Isaiah's 4 as long as it's being rocked by a real NBA player (which hasn't happened since he wore it).