Lester Hudson Will Make the Celtics

There is every reason to believe that the first ever draft pick from UT-Martin will not hang on with the Celtics who made Lester Hudson (click here for Lester Hudson highlights) the 58th pick in Thursday night's draft. Then again there was every reason in the world to believe that Hudson would never even play college basketball.

Hudson came from a bad neighborhood in Memphis, played only one year of high school hoops and never graduated. Instead of giving in to the life Hudson buckled down and earned his GED and eventually landed with UT-Martin (graduated with a 3.0) a D-1 school in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Hudson's first collegiate game came against the eventual NCAA runner-up Memphis Tigers...Apparently Coach Cal couldn't get someone to take his SAT's for him like he did with Derrick Rose and Robert Dozier. (Here's a great line from Mark Murphy's article in the Boston Herald: “John Calipari told me that if he had had me the previous year, they would have made the Final Four,” Hudson said of the ever-charming Memphis coach.) Hudson dropped 35 on the Tigers and just two games later, became the first player in NCAA Division-I history to accumulate a quadruple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 steals). A side note...my dad believes Rajon Rondo will pull off the feat in the NBA so maybe now Rondo can learn from someone who's been there. Unless of course he gets traded...

Some other accolades: Hudson earned Ohio Valley Conference player of the year both of his seasons at UT-Martin, he averaged 27.5 points/game good for 2nd in the nation behind the 7th pick Stephen Curry and finally something that might be a good indicator of his talent if you're worried about his level of competition Hudson led the Skyhawks to their first-ever postseason appearance as a Division-I member, an 87-82 loss at Auburn in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. In that game, Hudson capped off his spectacular collegiate career with 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists against the SEC school. 

My take...Eddie House will not opt out. He's due almost $3 million this season and in this economy he can't really believe someone will pay him more or give him extra years especially when teams are trying to save money for the next two groups of free agency. 

Hudson will have some competition this summer with former Tennessee star Chris Lofton who can flat out shoot (also was a star in the SEC and has now played professionally for a year in Turkey) as well as players with some NBA and D-League experience Gabe Pruitt and J.R. Giddens. Pruitt is gone as he has been unable to earn any minutes and his DUI last year won't help...by all accounts Giddens doesn't get it defensively and can't seem to hit a jumper which makes him a more athletic version of a poor man's Tony Allen. 

I think Hudson has a good shot to catch on with the Celtics due to his toughness and ability to score on defenders. Also as my buddy Steve said "he's what you get when Rondo married Tony Delk." He's got a wingspan of almost 6'10 and can rebound which helps considering he's nothing more than an undersized shooting guard. Finally his age could help since he seems physically and mentally ready for the grind. Hopefully the C's can let him develop against some tougher talent in the D-League (Welcome to Portland Maine) and continue to track his progress but I see no reason why Lester Hudson can't land a spot on this Celtics squad over the next couple of seasons.