Saturday, June 27, 2009

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.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Rajon Rondo the New Jay Cutler?

Does this look like an un-coachable malcontent to you? Is this the image we all had of Jay Cutler during his final days in Denver?

According to a recent Boston Globe article Rajon Rondo's (click here to read my take...ok Ric Bucher's take on Rondo being traded) agent is (understandably) upset with Ainge's comments while on WEEI yesterday.

Here are the key comments by Ainge: "Ainge said that Rondo has "got to grow up," and added, "his presence hurt us" against the Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals. He also said that Rondo wasn't a "max contract player," and admitted that Rondo was fined for being tardy to postseason games."
Did Ainge really think this was going to put an end to all of the Rondo trade rumors? If Ainge trades Rondo does this mean that Ricky Davis has a better brain type?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Year of the Point Guard

The point guard position is back in vogue in the NBA. After years of wondering if Harold Miner would be the next Michael Jordan or dubbing Michael Smith (How does he actually have a Wikipedia page?) the next Larry Bird (does it ever get old watching old Larry Bird clips even if it's mixed with Eminem?)...ok ok Keith Van Horn was the next Larry Bird.

Over the last few years point guards have taken the league by storm. Youngsters such as Chris Paul (in case this is Corky Thatcher reading he's pictured on the left), Deron Williams, Tony Parker, Derrick Rose and of course our very own Rajon Rondo plus the grizzled vets who paved the way such as Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd.

Here's the question though, how necessary is it to have a "true" point guard running the show? Currently, there are some teams in the draft who are looking for that answer. Debating whether Stephen Curry or Tyreke Evans can develop into the position or if Ricky Rubio will live up to the hype. Sometimes fans get too attached to a player and focus on how many assists/game a point guard averages. With the recent Rondo rumors swirling it's worth taking a look at the state of the position and realizing it's not necessary to have an elite PG.

Let's take a look at the league's top 20 in assists:


Digging a little deeper into the numbers Jose Calderon appears to be the most efficient point guard in the NBA racking up almost 9 assists/game and even more impressive averaging an assist-to-turnover ration of 4.24/1. However, Toronto was awful this past season and now the team has to make moves based on trying to keep Chris Bosh happy. Chris Paul who seems to be everyone's favorite PG and the reigning assists/game champ this season had his Hornets knocked out in the first round to Denver in only five games. Williams and the Jazz also gone in the first round, granted to the eventual champs, but a very mediocre regular season for the Jazz. On top of that Nash and the Suns couldn't even make the playoffs and now the Suns are looking to blow up their entire roster except for Nash (Sounds like a smart move to build around an aging PG who couldn't win in his prime). 

Bob Ryan has a similar opinion in his recent article on Rondo and the state of the point guard position. I'm of the opinion that the NBA is all about assembling the most talent regardless of the traditional positions. Will Derek Fisher ever be considered an elite point guard? You can't have an all-star at every position but you can certainly trade someone at their peak value in order to bring in even more talent.

Let's take a look at some of the Rondo trade rumors that had casual Celtics fans so upset. 

Rondo and Ray Allen to Detroit for Rip, Prince and Stuckey. Yes please. This trade was straight out of NBA Live and was so lopsided that the Celtics didn't even have the nerve to ask Joe Dumars his thoughts. Yes, the same Joe Dumars who drafted Darko Milicic over Carmelo, Wade and Bosh and again the same Joe Dumars who traded Billups for Iverson...yet most fans could not believe we'd be willing to part with both players. That trade would have given us one of the best defensive front lines in NBA history. I'm not joking! Add a healthy KG to Perk and Tayshaun and how difficult would it be for players to penetrate? Not to mention that Prince would be our 6th man. With a lineup that talented and deep why is it necessary to have a "true" PG and why wouldn't you explore deals that will instantly make you a title contender. Don't forget about the current economic crisis we're facing and the fact that Ray Allen's contract will expire after this season and Rondo is due for a hefty pay raise while the aforementioned players on the Pistons are under contract for 2-4 years. Danny is not stupid and he realizes free agents could care less about signing with the Celtics unless we're competing for a title so getting under the salary cap does nothing to benefit us.

The second rumor is a bit more realistic but again Chris Wallace is not that bad of a GM is he? The alleged deal had us shipping Rondo, Scal and Giddens to Memphis for Conley and Gay who would become the league's most potent 6th man and would add two more young pieces to try and balance winning now and not immediately heading to Lotto land right after.

Ainge clearly knows what it takes to build a winner in today's NBA and now we're waiting to see if he knows how to balance the present and the future without completely blowing things up. As good as Rondo is especially for his age I am not opposed to seeing Ainge trade him for the right price.

My gut tells me that if anyone gets traded it's Allen and that the Celtics will end up with one 1st round pick and multiple 2nd round picks in tomorrow night's draft. 

Rajon Being Rajon

So the Media wants us to believe that Celtics star-in-the-making Rajon Rondo is almost impossible to coach and that management wants to move Rondo while his value is high before he hits free agency. 

Let's for a second believe that the man who singlehandedly carried us past the Bulls and practically averaged a Triple-Double for the series is un-coachable. Has it affected his play? Does it mean KG, Pierce and Ray can't keep him in check? Is Rondo all of a sudden the biggest cancer since Stephon Marbury in NY? The NBA is filled with players who are un-coachable and the league is all about assembling a roster with the most talent who can play together. Wasn't Rasheed Wallace a born loser and an "un-coachable" player while in Portland? Then all of a sudden he was the missing piece in Detroit, funny how that happens. Speaking of "un-coachable" the entire Orlando Magic roster did nothing but rip on Stan Van Gundy. Rafer Alston wanted to choke him out after riding the bench for an entire fourth quarter.

So let's go back to Rondo being "un-coachable." I find it funny that NBA analysts want us to think Rondo is un-coachable in a league filled with un-coachable players. But I digress...so with all that said do we believe Rondo is on the move?

ESPN's Ric Bucher responded to my little query via Twitter and here's his response: "Not very. No one likes to spread crazy stuff like Ainge."

So there you have it...in big bold letters Rajon Rondo will not get traded and our man Danny Ainge is just spreading some crazy stuff...now maybe we can all go back to wondering if Ainge will use the full mid level exception on his man-crush Robert Swift.

Is it 'Too Late to 'Pologize?'

Ok I know this latest post is long overdue but I've been busy failing the Bar and not finding a job. Anyways, I'm back to studying and hitting the books pretty hard this time around so we'll see what happens. With that said I had to hop back on here to get some NBA chatter going before the Draft.