As a big in today's NBA, you either need to be big enough to defend in drop or versatile enough to do some switching. Holmes is neither. He's a good shot blocker in college, but he's only 6'9, without great length or athleticism. And he certainly isn't mobile enough to guard in space. So I don't really know where he goes defensively on a team.

Offensively, he's got some goods-- good pick-and-pop shooter, good passer, good rim runner. Sort of an ideal pick-and-roll partner. But if he's a man with no country on defense in the NBA, he's got to be *really* good on offense.

I think you take a flier on him end of the first because of the offense and you hope he's not a total liability defensively. If he can defend competently, then he provides real value.