No holiday for Holiday

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

UCLA guard Jrue Holiday has been busy the last few weeks. After spending time at a Florida training center honing his game, he worked out for the Sacramento Kings and arrived home late last night from the NBA’s pre-draft combine in Chicago.

Several publications have hinted that the freshman -- who has made himself eligible for the NBA draft -- is leaning heavily toward hiring an agent and turning pro. But his mother, Toya, offers another perspective.

“I can tell you he won’t sign with an agent anytime soon,” she said on Monday. “Our goal is to decide by June 12.”

Holiday has until June 15 to withdraw his name from the draft and return to UCLA as a sophomore. His father, Shawn, and Toya, both former college players, have been closely involved in the decision-making process.

This much is certain: Holiday has attracted positive reviews at every stop in his recent tour and has been moving up in the mock drafts, reaching as high as No. 4 in ESPN.com’s latest predictions.

There is still a lot of time -- and some critical workouts -- remaining, but Holiday has said from the start that he wants to enter the pros as a lottery pick.

-- David Wharton