Bill Walker looking good, Lester Hudson not a fan of D-League

[nickagneta]

Kind of sad Doc won't give the young guys a chance at all.

No...what is sad is that they aren't good enough to earn time on this team. Rondo, Baby, Leon, Perk and others all eventually earned time and played. The youngsters we have now just aren't good enough to crack the rotation, it has nothing to do with Doc giving them a chance or not.

None of those guys really played in their first season, with the potential exception for Rondo at the second half of his rookie season.

Leon Powe played in 63 games his rookie year averaging 11.4 minutes per game and 4.2PPG and 3.4RPG.

Big Baby played in 69 games his rookie year and averaged 13.6 minutes per game and 4.5PPG and 3.0RPG.

Rondo played in like 38 games through the first half of his rookie year averaging nearly 19 MPG in that time.

These guys were integral parts of the rotations during their rookie years. That's because they were good enough to produce at an NBA level. It had nothing to do with some sort of Doc bias against rookies. Rookies that are good get to play for Doc. Rookies that aren't don't get to play for Doc. It really is that simple.

The young players not getting time, Hudson, Giddens and Walker, aren't getting time because they simply aren't playing well enough to displace the players that are ahead of them on the depth chart. Considering the players ahead of them on the depth chart are Scal and Tony, that doesn't say much for their NBA futures.

[lon3lytoaster]

Ten minutes isn't really a huge role to be filled, plus when Rondo and Powe first came here we were terrible and Sebastian Telfair was starting, it was a good choice to play Rondo then.

I'd bet my house Bill Walker will find those type of minutes when he comes back from Portland.

[jdub1660]

I feel like the D league should only be an option for players not in the plans for the year(aside from injuries). B/c I feel it would be hard for a young player to work in 2 different systems off and on, especially if you're working with limited minutes in the system that counts. Lester/Walker go and average 20ppg on 30mmg, then come back and avg 2ppg on 5mpg. That can't be helpful to learning Doc's scheme. Send Giddens and keep Walker and Lester and trade Tony finally. They deserve their minutes.

[scoop]

More than 20% of the current NBA players are former D-Leaguers.

Pretty misleading statement given that close to 30% of NBA players aren't good enough to make NBA rotations and get regular playing time.

Also, if there were no D-League somewhere between 14-20% of all NBA players would be inactive to play every night.

They're in the NBA though. There's always some decent players in the D-League. I doubt Hudson would be the D-League MVP or something. He doesn't gain much from practising here and there, especially when the coaches don't have much time to focus on him.

They deserve their minutes.

Why?

I wasn't impressed with what I saw from Bill Walker in summer league. He looked a long ways away from being a rotation worthy player in the NBA.

Yeps. I've never seen any kind of NBA readiness from Walker - not in college, not when he was with the Flash, not in the few games he played for the Cs.

Some interesting physical tools but he doesn't master at a high level none of the required skills for a NBA wing.

[Rondo_is_better]

Why are people getting fired up about this?  I think we really have to look at this from a developmental standpoint.  While it's easy to sit there and say "we could use Walker's athleticism" and "Hudson deserves to be on an NBA roster" how practically is this going to work?  Paul played 35 minutes last night, Ray played 34, and Daniels played 25.  That isn't going to change.  Similarly, Rondo played 32 minutes and House played 14.  Simply put, unless Walker can beat out Daniels and Hudson can beat out House, they're not going to play any minutes here but garbage minutes, and is that really worth it? 

Furthermore, while some people may have high opinions of these guys, they have proven absolutely nothing in the NBA thus far.  They certainly don't deserve any special accommodations, no matter how old they are. 

Sometimes it's just best to let young guys play.  Look what the Sox did with Buccholtz.  He pitched his no-hitter then was in Triple A the next year because there wasn't a rotation spot for him.

Let them go down, work on their games, and if the opportunity arises later for them to play, they'll be all the more ready. 

It's disrespectful to Lester. Its also a question of merit. It doesn't sit right that a trash player like Giddens gets to travel and practice with the team and call himself an NBA player at the expense of someone far more worthy (Hudson).

[JFoss]

No player should ever complain about where they may (or may not) get sent. It's poor sportsmanship, pegs you as a troublemaker, and earns you the ire of the fans. A decent athlete would be grateful for what he has without complaints. There are guys older than him on the Maine roster who are working their butts off to get a chance in the NBA. I'm more impressed by guys like them than by spoiled brats.

I always hate to see any player complain about the minor leagues, where they are, or where they're going - but it's especially to see a nobody like Hudson complaining. Who does he think he is, LeBron? When he's contributed something to this franchise he earns a right to complain. Until then he should keep his mouth shut and do what Doc and Danny (and probably soon Austin) tell him to do.

If he shows up in Portland I'll happily boo him.

[bucknersrevenge]

Too bad lester doesn't like the D-League because he and Giddens will soon be finding their way north to Portland once Tony Allen and Glen Davis are healthy.

I wonder how long Walker stays.

probably a long time. who's he gonna come up for? scal? tony? shelden? no, no, and no. people have been clamoring over bill walker's potential like he's "kedrick brown 2009 redux". i think it's pretty telling that despite how much people belly-ache over giddens he's still above walker in the depth chart and that began BEFORE walker got hurt.

I'm pretty sure I disagree with this. Walker has been ahead of Giddens on the depth chart since the first practice of their rookie year.

you can disagree with it if it makes you feel better but Giddens overtook him during the Orlando games. He was better than Walker in the D-League and it was widely acknowledged that he had leapfrogged Walker before camp and then Walker went down which compounded the issue.

Either way neither player is very good and as nick pointed out, both of them and Lester Hudson are behind both Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine so it doesn't matter much. So any wine and cheese story about Lester Hudson's supposed "disrespect" is an absolute joke. Like Giddens, or Scal, or tony or anyone else owe a rookie picked 58th in the draft anything at all.

[jdpapa3]

Oh, you mean the Orlando Summer League where Bill Walker had back spasms and could hardly walk? This guy might never make it into our rotation, but he has had a higher place in this organization since Giddens refused to come to that mini camp after he was drafted.

[Rondo_is_better]

If he shows up in Portland I'll happily boo him.

Wow, don't do that.

[bucknersrevenge]

Oh, you mean the Orlando Summer League where Bill Walker had back spasms and could hardly walk? This guy might never make it into our rotation, but he has had a higher place in this organization since Giddens refused to come to that mini camp after he was drafted.

Look this is arguing semantics but Doc himself said Giddens leapfrogged Walker a while ago. I'm not sure what the debate is over 2 kids who are probably never gonna see any real light of day on this team. And for what it's worth you're right. Walker will never make it into our rotation.

[wiley]

No player should ever complain about where they may (or may not) get sent. It's poor sportsmanship, pegs you as a troublemaker, and earns you the ire of the fans. A decent athlete would be grateful for what he has without complaints. There are guys older than him on the Maine roster who are working their butts off to get a chance in the NBA. I'm more impressed by guys like them than by spoiled brats.

I always hate to see any player complain about the minor leagues, where they are, or where they're going - but it's especially to see a nobody like Hudson complaining. Who does he think he is, LeBron? When he's contributed something to this franchise he earns a right to complain. Until then he should keep his mouth shut and do what Doc and Danny (and probably soon Austin) tell him to do.

If he shows up in Portland I'll happily boo him.

Didn't sound like complaining to me.

[Cman]

I guess I missed the news that Hudson will be headed to D-League.  If it helps his development getting extended PT, all the better, IMHO.

[lon3lytoaster]

I don't see a lot to dislike about Bill Walker.. I mean, he's a terrific FT shooter, big, strong, athletic, has a post game, can shoot far better than JR, and he even rebounds real well.

The only cons I see is that he's over agressive on defense and can't seem to avoid the injury bug. So I guess I don't understand some of the hate (for lack of a better word.)

I'm not willing to give up on Walker yet, and I'm going to be seriously ticked if Tony gets some minutes before Bill, heck I'd even like JR to get minutes over Tony and I'm the furthest from a JR groupie.

Time will tell, people.. Let's see what Hudson and Walker can do if/when they get real minutes in the NBA. Losing faith is never a good thing.

[lon3lytoaster]

I guess I missed the news that Hudson will be headed to D-League.  If it helps his development getting extended PT, all the better, IMHO.

I don't believe he has been sent down, yet.. Unless I missed a link or something.

[bucknersrevenge]

I don't see a lot to dislike about Bill Walker.. I mean, he's a terrific FT shooter, big, strong, athletic, has a post game, can shoot far better than JR, and he even rebounds real well.

The only cons I see is that he's over agressive on defense and can't seem to avoid the injury bug. So I guess I don't understand some of the hate (for lack of a better word.)

I'm not willing to give up on Walker yet, and I'm going to be seriously ticked if Tony gets some minutes before Bill, heck I'd even like JR to get minutes over Tony and I'm the furthest from a JR groupie.

Time will tell, people.. Let's see what Hudson and Walker can do if/when they get real minutes in the NBA. Losing faith is never a good thing.

Well Walker is even more raw than Giddens. I think he's light years from any significant contributions to an NBA roster short of maybe 4-minute spurts here and there. He has no jumpshot, no ball-handling ability, to this point has shown virtually no understanding of NBA defense. Right now at least at last look, he's a hacker who can jump high and dunk hard. Again people wanna submit "the kedrick brown defense"(i.e. he's strong, athletic, and has upside) but it takes more than that to play in this game and all this is on top of the fact that he's got serious knee problems which didn't bode too well for our last 2nd rnd pick who showed a lot more in his 2nd season than Walker. Chances are unfortunately Bill Walker's contract ends here without much fanfare at all and he joins the ranks of the Kedrick Brown/Gerald Green group that a few posters cling to.