The Philadelphia 76ers had their wish list for the 2009 NBA Draft.
Knowing they had the No. 17 selection, they tried to move up. That's because the Sixers had their man. It was a unanimous decision among their personnel.
It wasn't Virginia's Commonwealth's Eric Maynor, Wake Forest's Jeff Teague or North Carolina's Ty Lawson.
Nope, the Sixers went for UCLA's Jrue Holiday, who played just one season of college basketball at UCLA. And they were absolutely thrilled to get him.
"We're ecstatic," Sixers Senior Vice President Tony DiLeo said shortly after the pick. "He's exactly what we wanted. He's 6-4 and a big guard. He can play a lot of different combinations."
Since there's no guarantee that Andre Miller will be back, this pick made sense. Holiday has tons of potential and assistant coaches can work on his offense. Holiday's defense is already NBA ready.
Even though Holiday didn't have a pre-draft workout with the Sixers, he was interviewed by the club's brass during a pre-draft camp in Chicago.
"We're looking to the future with him," DiLeo said. "We're ecstatic to have him."
Holiday averaged 8.5 points and 3.7 assists per game for the Bruins. Don't be fooled by statistics. They don't really matter when projecting how a player will improve down the road.
The Sixers need to win now. They have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back years.
Holiday can play and he'll have a lot to prove.
"We think he'll be a great fit for our team," DiLeo said.
DiLeo said he didn't believe that Holiday would have an immediate impact.
In speaking with reporters on a conference call, Holiday disagreed.
"I see myself as an impact player," Holiday said. "I'm going to be there and contribute to the team."
We know Holiday is confident. That's good. Soon, we'll get to see how good he really is.
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