JR stayed as the most experienced player for army men during several past years. He joined CSKA in 2002 moving from Greek AEK together with famous head coach Dusan Ivkovic. Wearing red and blue Holden improved from the not-so-notable player to the star, included to the Euroleague All-Decade ten players. J will be remembered for his sacrifices on defense and his incredible skill to decide difficult games. One of his most memorable shots presented the victory to the Russian National Team in 2007 Eurobasket final game. CSKA never lost the Russian League gold in Holden era, his 9 titles for the one team tied the all-time record. J was the only player to participate in unsurpassed eight in a row Euroleague Final Fours played by CSKA.
All Holden’s titles and numbers in CSKA
2-times Euroleague champion (2006, 08), 9-times Russian League champion (2002-11), 4-times Russian Cup winner (2005, 06, 07, 10), VTB United League champion (2010). 2007 Eurobasket champion with Russian National Team.
Average stats
- Euroleague: 189 games, 10.8 points (43.0% two-pointers, 34.1% three-pointers, 69.2% free throws), 2.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.2 steals in 30.9 minutes;
- VTB United League: 18 games, 8.8 points (41.9% two-pointers, 28.4% three-pointers, 91.7% free throws), 1.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.7 steals in 28.6 minutes;
- Russian regular championships: 188 games, 10.5 points (44.2% two-pointers, 34.3% three-pointers, 71.4% free throws), 2.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals in 28.9 minutes;
- Russian playoffs: 87 games, 9.2 points (41.9% two-pointers, 33.9% three-pointers, 69.4% free throws), 2.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals in 29.6 minutes;
- Russian Cups: 34 games, 11.5 points (51.7% two-pointers, 36.2% three-pointers, 80.5% free throws), 2.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.4 steals in 29.3 minutes.
Andrey Vatutin, PBC CSKA President:
J is the special person for Russia and CSKA. He is a big friend of mine, many club’s employees, team members, fans. I am pretty sure that nobody else will be missed here as much as Holden, he will be always embraced in Moscow… Nobody in post-Soviet history played for CSKA for nine years in a row. It happened that the new, modern era in club’s history started in 2002, when J came to Moscow for the first time. With no overstatement I can say that JR Holden has become one of the most significant persons who influenced the creation of the organization, currently considered one of the best in the world. His unique professionalism, attention to details, team interests’ priority, huge impact on the results could not be overestimated. I’d like to especially appreciate Holden’s unique role in the locker room, readiness to share an advice with me in good and bad times. His opinion was always extremely important for me. I am anxious to meet J and Trajan Langdon during special ceremony we plan to organize during the Gomelsky Cup. This ceremony is an extremely important event for the club and for me personally. We will do everything to organize it on highest level, worthy of the level they showed while playing for CSKA. We will do our best to let all the guys supporters to talk to them. Unfortunately, Matjaz Smodis will not be able to join us because of preparation of his Cedevita for Eurocup qualification. At the same time I invited my friend Ettore Messina to visit the tournament with his family, and he gladly agreed.
