When the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Jrue Holiday , and the $104 million remaining on his contract that is on the books through his age-37 season, few people regarded it as anything more than a very expensive mentorship for Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe .

But the Blazers saw it as something more. General manager Joe Cronin declared this year "winning time" and saw the Holiday acquisition as a means to that lofty end. He had done it before, after all. Holiday put Boston over the top. Ditto for Milwaukee.

Now here he is, doing it again in Portland.

Nobody is saying the Blazers are going to compete for, let alone win, a championship any time soon. But along with the 6-2 Bulls , they are the surprise story of the young season at 5-3 with wins over the Lakers ,

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