Jrue Holiday: I was supposed to have a minute limit last season

Jrue Holiday has missed 90 games in two seasons with the Pelicans.

The point guard, who has battled injuries to his right leg, faces a minutes limit through January.

How did he reach this point?

Holiday, via Rob Mahoney of Sports Illustrated:

“Last year we planned on having a minute restriction but as a competitor and at the time, when he would ask me, ‘Are you good to go?’ I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ My leg felt good and I told him it felt good. As competitors and coaches and all that, that’s what they see – that he’s good to go. But I felt like as a doctor, he knows the biomechanics of it where when you stress your leg or something like that, you need a lot more time to heal, especially after you have surgery.”

I’m not a doctor, and I think teams can be too adherent to strict minute limits that are determined by inexact science.

But you either believe in this or you don’t.

If the Pelicans believed Holiday needed a minute limit, they should have kept him on that limit. Relenting just because a competitive player said he could play shows a lack of organizational conviction.

Holiday played more than 34 minutes per game through New Orleans’ first 36 contest last season before getting hurt again. I’m not sure what his exact limit should have been, but that seems like too much.

He’s just 25, so there’s hope Holiday can become fully healthy. But I wonder: If the Pelicans handled this better last year, would Holiday be able to play more this season and beyond?