Western Pennsylvania loves debating its greatest basketball players.

We talk about the City League legends. We talk about the WPIAL stars. We talk about the guys who went to major Division I programs, made the NBA or became household names around Pittsburgh.

But somehow, one of the most accomplished basketball players this area has ever produced is barely part of the conversation.

J.R. Holden. And when you actually sit down and look at Holden’s basketball résumé, it almost doesn’t make sense that we don’t talk about him more.

Two EuroLeague championships. Nine Russian championships. Championships in Latvia, Belgium and Greece. A European championship with the Russian national team. An Olympic appearance. One of the biggest shots in international basketball history. A spot on the EuroLeague 2000-2010 All-Decade Team. And after his playing career ended, he moved into the NBA as a scout and front-office executive.

That isn’t just a good career. That is one of the greatest basketball resumes ever produced by a player from Western Pennsylvania.

 

From Wilkinsburg to Bucknell

Holden’s basketball story started right here in Western Pennsylvania. He attended Wilkinsburg High School before also playing at The Linsly School in Wheeling, West Virginia. That part of his story is important because Holden didn’t come through Pittsburgh basketball with the type of hype that usually follows the players we remember forever.

He wasn’t going to North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky or another national powerhouse.

He went to Bucknell.

Holden played four seasons for the Bison from 1994 through 1998, establishing himself as a Division I basketball player before taking a professional opportunity that would completely change his life.

And even the beginning of his professional career shows how different his journey was.

After graduating from Bucknell, Holden received an opportunity to play for ASK/Brocēni/LMT in Riga, Latvia. The reported offer? $3,000 a month.

Think about where that eventually led.

A kid with Western Pennsylvania roots went from Bucknell to Latvia for $3,000 a month and eventually became one of the most accomplished American players in European basketball history.

 

He Just Kept Winning

Holden’s European career took him from Latvia to Belgium, then Greece and eventually Russia. And everywhere he went, something followed him.

Championships.

He won the Latvian League championship in 1999. He moved to Belgium and won the Belgian League championship and Belgian Cup in 2001. Then came Greece, where Holden played for AEK Athens and won another league championship in 2002.

By that point, Holden had already built a professional career most players would be proud of.

He wasn’t even close to finished.

 

CSKA Moscow Changed Everything

In 2002, Holden joined CSKA Moscow. That’s when his career went to another level.

For nearly a decade, Holden became part of one of the dominant basketball organizations in Europe. From 2003 through 2011, CSKA won nine consecutive Russian championships with Holden on the roster.

Nine.

They also won four Russian Cups during his time there.

But domestic championships weren’t enough.

Holden and CSKA went after Europe. In 2006, CSKA captured the EuroLeague championship. Two years later, they did it again.

For basketball fans who primarily follow the NBA and college basketball, it’s difficult to explain just how significant that is. The EuroLeague represents the highest level of club basketball outside the NBA. The rosters are filled with elite international players, former NBA players and some of the best basketball talent in the world.

Holden didn’t just play at that level. He won at that level. Twice. He was later selected to the EuroLeague 2000-2010 All-Decade Team, placing him among the defining players of an entire decade of European basketball.

That’s rare company for anybody.

For a guard who came out of Western Pennsylvania? That’s incredible.

 

The Shot That Made Basketball History

Yet Holden’s defining basketball moment might not have happened with CSKA Moscow.

It came wearing a Russian national team jersey.

Holden became a Russian citizen in 2003, allowing him to represent Russia internationally while continuing his career with CSKA. Four years later came EuroBasket 2007.

Russia reached the championship game against Spain. And this wasn’t just any Spanish team. Spain was playing at home and had become one of the world’s great basketball powers.

With Russia trailing late and the championship hanging in the balance, the basketball ended up in Holden’s hands. With only seconds remaining, Holden created space and knocked down a jumper. Russia took the lead.

Spain had one final opportunity but couldn’t convert.

Russia won the European championship, 60-59. J.R. Holden had hit the championship-winning shot.

Think about that.

A Pittsburgh-area basketball player hit one of the biggest shots in the history of Russian basketball to defeat Spain and win a European championship. That alone should make his name part of Western Pennsylvania basketball history.

 

From Pittsburgh to the Olympics

The following year, Holden represented Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Now look at how far the journey had gone.

Wilkinsburg. Linsly. Bucknell. Latvia. Belgium. Greece. Russia. EuroLeague champion. European champion. Olympian.

There are players from Western Pennsylvania who became bigger names nationally. There are players who had better NBA careers. There are players whose high school careers around Pittsburgh became legendary.

But when we’re talking about an entire basketball résumé? Holden belongs in a completely different conversation than most people realize.

 

And Basketball Still Wasn’t Finished With Him

What makes Holden’s story even more impressive is that his basketball life didn’t end when he stopped playing. He transitioned into scouting and NBA personnel work.

Holden worked as a scout with the Detroit Pistons and later the Philadelphia 76ers before continuing to climb in the NBA front-office world. He eventually became Director of Player Personnel for the Brooklyn Nets.

So this wasn’t simply somebody who played basketball overseas, made some money and came home. Holden spent decades operating at high levels of the sport—as a player and then as an evaluator and executive.

 

Why Don’t We Talk About J.R. Holden More?

That’s the question I kept coming back to while looking at his career.

And I think part of the answer is simple. His greatness happened far away from us.

Pittsburgh saw other great players become stars in the Big East, ACC, NBA or other places American basketball fans watched every night.

Holden built much of his legacy thousands of miles away. And remember the era. There was no social media documenting every game. There wasn’t YouTube putting every highlight in front of Pittsburgh basketball fans the next morning. You weren’t opening Instagram and seeing clips from CSKA Moscow. Unless you really followed international basketball, you might not have understood what Holden was accomplishing while it was happening.

But we have the benefit of looking back now. And the résumé speaks for itself.

Latvian League champion. Belgian League champion. Belgian Cup winner. Greek League champion. Nine-time Russian champion. Four-time Russian Cup winner. Two-time EuroLeague champion. 2007 EuroBasket gold medalist. 2008 Olympian. EuroLeague All-Decade Team. Then an NBA scouting and executive career after he finished playing.

Read that again.

Because if a player from Western Pennsylvania put together that career today, with social media covering every accomplishment, we’d look at him completely differently.

 

It’s Time We Put J.R. Holden in the Conversation

One of the reasons I started writing about Western Pennsylvania basketball history is because too many stories get lost.

Sometimes we remember the players who had the biggest high school hype. Sometimes we remember the guys who played at the biggest colleges. And naturally, we remember the players who reached the NBA.

But basketball is much bigger than one league. A great career is a great career. And winning is winning.

J.R. Holden went across the world and won just about everywhere he played. He became a champion in four different countries. He became a two-time champion at the highest level of European club basketball. He became a national-team hero. He became an Olympian. Then he stayed in the game and worked his way into NBA front offices.

You don’t accidentally build that résumé.

So the next time we start discussing the most accomplished basketball players Western Pennsylvania has produced, there’s a name that needs to be mentioned a lot earlier in the conversation.

J.R. Holden.

Pittsburgh might not have been watching closely enough while he was doing it.

But it’s never too late to give somebody their flowers.