Sixers' draft pick Holiday comes to town

Holiday made his eyes big as if to say, this whole thing has been wild.

And it has been.

Holiday, the 19-year-old point guard out of UCLA, was supposed to be a top-10 pick, a guy long gone by the time the Sixers selected at 17.

But on Thursday night, Holiday, from Mission Hills, Calif., was the last player out of Madison Square Garden's green room.

"I wish I could have gone higher," Holiday said. "I don't really feel there are 16 players better than me, but I think I fell in the right place."

Holiday's brother, Justin, who plays at the University of Washington, said it was hard watching Jrue fall in the draft, especially because certain teams for whom Holiday worked out implied they would take him.

"Honestly, it's motivation to get better," Jrue said.

But instead of spending yesterday in a different city - maybe Minneapolis or Milwaukee - Holiday was at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, flanked by family and friends, talking about his new ball club, the athletic, fast-breaking Sixers.

Iguodala, who spent Thursday night in the Sixers' war room at PCOM, said he spoke with teammates Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams, both of whom are excited at landing Holiday.

"He has the whole organization behind him . . . he was our first option," Iguodala said, saying his advice for Holiday would be to "stay patient" because "fame and fortune comes really fast and goes really fast."

Because Holiday was a "wish player" for the Sixers, and because he played only one season at UCLA - and even that was out of position at shooting guard - Holiday was a little bit of an unknown quantity compared with some of the other point guards in the draft, specifically North Carolina's Ty Lawson and Virginia Commonwealth's Eric Maynor, both chosen soon after Holiday.

Yesterday, Holiday - and what he might be able to offer the Sixers - came more into focus. "He's the size of a point guard, he has the point-guard mentality of that pass-first, see the floor, both ends of the floor, which is huge," Stefanski said.

Added Stefanski: "He plays defense. If you want to get on the court and you want to impress your coach, defense is the way to do it."

Talking about his brother, Justin said Jrue was a "defensive stopper," and Jrue spoke of his one season at UCLA - when he averaged an underwhelming 8.5 points per game - as challenging.

"You have to fight through that and still help your team," Holiday said. "I was the designated stopper."

Because UCLA's starting point guard was senior Darren Collision, the 21st pick of the draft, Holiday was given very little chance to display his abilities at point guard, his natural position.

Stefanski said to accurately scout Holiday, the Sixers went back to Holiday's high school tapes, when he was the Gatorade national player of the year coming out of Campbell Hall High School.

UCLA's style of play was defense-oriented, more of a grind-it-out offensive approach as opposed to the Sixers' preference to push the ball in transition.

Stefanski said Holiday's style is suited to the transition game and Holiday said - UCLA not withstanding - that he prefers an up-tempo game.

Stefanski painted a picture of Iguodala filling one lane, Young filling the other, and Holiday pushing the ball in the middle, his choice of super-athletic swingmen on either side.

The reality, though, is the Sixers aren't expecting much from Holiday in his first NBA season.

How much will Holiday play? What might his role be?

"Eddie Jordan's going to make that decision through camp of what Jrue's role will be," Stefanski said.

Stefanski said Holiday would join last year's first-round draft pick, forward Marreese Speights at the Orlando Rookie League, which runs July 6-10.

Iguodala also had one more piece of advice for the youngster, who will wear jersey No. 11 next season.

"Get ready to go to work."

Sixers reach out to Christmas. At yesterday's news conference, Stefanski also confirmed he had invited Temple's Dionte Christmas to play with Holiday and Speights on the Sixers' summer league team. Christmas went undrafted despite being projected as a second-round pick. After Thursday night's draft, Christmas expressed disappointment about going undrafted, but will likely have more than one opportunity to join an NBA summer league roster. The Sixers will be sharing a roster with the New Jersey Nets.

The Sixers will not offer a spot to UTEP's Stefon Jackson, who was a high school teammate of Christmas at Lutheran Christian. "I expected to get drafted," said Jackson, who was projected as a possible late second-round selection. "Unfortunately, I didn't get drafted so I'm kind of disappointed. I've got a long road ahead of me."

Free agency opens Wednesday. Last season's starting point guard Andre Miller is an unrestricted free agent, meaning Wednesday will be the first day the Sixers are allowed to negotiate a new contract with Miller.

Contact staff writer Kate Fagan at 856-779-3844

or kfagan@phillynews.com.

Staff writer Jorge Castillo contributed to this article.