I Was Wrong About Lester Hudson

[Reyquila]

My question about JR. is: Who in the world scouted him for the celtics? What did they see in him that has been lost in the meantime? Or they knew that whoever they were going to draft wasnt going to go anywhere in this team so they might as well draft someone that would have never made it anyway in any team? Jr has the size, the height and the weight to make an impact; so far he has not shown anything. Is it because he has not been in a position to show anything or is it cause he has nothing in his bag of abilities? Is it the unlucky draw of life that has played a trick on JR. I dont have the answer for it. He cant be totally useless; my main question is: Why was he drafted???

[nickagneta]

Giddens has lost all of his confidence. He got drafted in the 1st round because he played great defense against other rookies. When he was tested against the pro's he didn't do as well and thats where i think he lost it. It doesn't also help the celtics have a line in front of him in the sf/sg position and that he has to have a d!ck of a coach like rivers.

Once again a scrub player doesn't pan out and it's the coach's fault?!?!?!

People were saying the same thing when Gabe Pruitt signed with the Knicks, that Pruitt would get all sorts of playing time there and do well because he was being released from the confines of Doc Rivers. Except he didn't last a month there being waived like 29 days later and is no out of the league not playing much like Gerald Green, Oriene Green, Brandon Hunter, and a host of other players who were supposed to be so special but Doc held them back by not playing them.

[jdpapa3]

If Hudson continues to show a game like that, there should be no more talk about a back up PG. 

It was garbage time folks. Its a nice start, but we have yet to see if he can perform when he doesn't have such a comfortable situation.

Its not like Philly has PGs that challenge you either, they play a SG at that position....

While I agree that it is not great for an assessment in garbage time, he did have Jrue Holiday pressuring him full court. Holiday is a player that is known primarily for his defensive skills at this point and is looking for minutes in Philly. Hudson didn't look too bothered at all with this full court pressure, and handle was the only aspect of Hudson's game I was worried about. I knew he could pass, shoot and defend, but he turned it over quite a bit in college. He seems to have corrected that already.

[Fafnir]

If Hudson continues to show a game like that, there should be no more talk about a back up PG. 

It was garbage time folks. Its a nice start, but we have yet to see if he can perform when he doesn't have such a comfortable situation.

Its not like Philly has PGs that challenge you either, they play a SG at that position....

While I agree that it is not great for an assessment in garbage time, he did have Jrue Holiday pressuring him full court. Holiday is a player that is known primarily for his defensive skills at this point and is looking for minutes in Philly. Hudson didn't look too bothered at all with this full court pressure, and handle was the only aspect of Hudson's game I was worried about. I knew he could pass, shoot and defend, but he turned it over quite a bit in college. He seems to have corrected that already.

Hudson turned it over a ton in college because he was a high usage player who ran the entire offense through him. Handling full court pressure wasn't a part of that.

So I don't think you can say he's corrected that, not until he's in a more realistic game scenario.

[cordialb]

If Hudson continues to show a game like that, there should be no more talk about a back up PG. 

It was garbage time folks. Its a nice start, but we have yet to see if he can perform when he doesn't have such a comfortable situation.

Its not like Philly has PGs that challenge you either, they play a SG at that position....

While I agree that it is not great for an assessment in garbage time, he did have Jrue Holiday pressuring him full court. Holiday is a player that is known primarily for his defensive skills at this point and is looking for minutes in Philly. Hudson didn't look too bothered at all with this full court pressure, and handle was the only aspect of Hudson's game I was worried about. I knew he could pass, shoot and defend, but he turned it over quite a bit in college. He seems to have corrected that already.

Agreed.  Lester used a variety of moves to comfortably keep holidays defense off balance before actually getting to his spot with his head up to initiate the offense. 

A less confident, intelligent, or skilled player would of tried to blow by and take the offense into his own hands or would of taken the easy way out initiating the offense from 10 feet behind the three point line. 

Kudos to hudson.  Hope he continues to improve.

[the_Bird]

My question about JR. is: Who in the world scouted him for the celtics? What did they see in him that has been lost in the meantime? Or they knew that whoever they were going to draft wasnt going to go anywhere in this team so they might as well draft someone that would have never made it anyway in any team? Jr has the size, the height and the weight to make an impact; so far he has not shown anything. Is it because he has not been in a position to show anything or is it cause he has nothing in his bag of abilities? Is it the unlucky draw of life that has played a trick on JR. I dont have the answer for it. He cant be totally useless; my main question is: Why was he drafted???

I'd bet a lot of money that his individual workouts were off the charts.  Dude's got plenty of athleticism, he just hasn't been able to translate into anything useful on the court. 

[jdpapa3]

JR looked great against the crappy players in his conference and JR looked solid in the D League. Once you start to put him against actual NBA players, it just goes downhill from there. He can't get his shot off and his lateral quickness/defensive IQ isn't up to par.

[Cman]

Giddens has lost all of his confidence. He got drafted in the 1st round because he played great defense against other rookies. When he was tested against the pro's he didn't do as well and thats where i think he lost it. It doesn't also help the celtics have a line in front of him in the sf/sg position and that he has to have a d!ck of a coach like rivers.

Once again a scrub player doesn't pan out and it's the coach's fault?!?!?!

People were saying the same thing when Gabe Pruitt signed with the Knicks, that Pruitt would get all sorts of playing time there and do well because he was being released from the confines of Doc Rivers. Except he didn't last a month there being waived like 29 days later and is no out of the league not playing much like Gerald Green, Oriene Green, Brandon Hunter, and a host of other players who were supposed to be so special but Doc held them back by not playing them.

Wait, wait wait... Gerald Green is available?
cut JR and sign Gerald!
 

[Brickowski]

Giddens could have been a sleeper.  You never know.  I wouldn't necessarily compare him to Kedrick Brown, who simply lacked the intelligence to understand the game at the NBA level.

As for Hudson, he's learned the offense and plays with his head up.  He's made the right passes and taken the right shots.  He has progressed since Summer league.

Let me add that I'd like to see the Celtics use Hudson the way the Pistons used Lindsay Hunter: to play disruptive defense against the other team's backup pg and pick up full court.  Even if you don't get steals, you can make the other team waste time getting into its offense.

[Chris]

Giddens could have been a sleeper.  You never know.  I wouldn't necessarily compare him to Kedrick Brown, who simply lacked the intelligence to understand the game at the NBA level.

As for Hudson, he's learned the offense and plays with his head up.  He's made the right passes and taken the right shots.  He has progressed since Summer league.

Let me add that I'd like to see the Celtics use Hudson the way the Pistons used Lindsay Hunter: to play disruptive defense against the other team's backup pg and pick up full court.  Even if you don't get steals, you can make the other team waste time getting into its offense.

Honestly, I can't blame Danny for the Giddens pick.  He was an absolute stud coming into college, and after making some questionable decisions, which extended his college career a bit (and turned many scouts off to him), he had a very impressive Senior year. 

And let's face it, he has all the tools to be a very good NBA player.  He is long, athletic, plays with a ton of energy, is a passable shooter, ball-handler, a very good defender, and a great rebounder.  But unfortunately, he is also a spaz. 

So I can see Danny saying "you know what, if he could just learn to control his emotions, and play within a system, he could be the steal of the draft".  When you have the last pick in the first round, that is the kind of risk you take.

I also don't blame him for passing up on Chalmers, since they were still high on Pruitt at the time, who has a very similar skillset (he just also is a deer in headlights), and CDR just is an awkward player.

Obviously the pick was a mistake, but I think there was some logic behind it in a sort of "we might as well swing for the fences with this pick" sort of way.

Oh yeah, and for all of the Red Flags there were for Giddens, there were even more for Deandre Jordan, who looked like the second coming of Chris Taft and POB combined.  And despite his gaudy numbers in meaningless games, I am still not sure Jordan will be any better pro than Giddens.

Finally, I am predicting right now that Giddens will hang around this league, and will eventually make himself a decent amount of money as an exciting, energetic player on a bad team.

[clover]

I think Lester is the kind of pg that Doc loves, which must help him out.  The only thing Doc might want more would be a few inches of height.  But he's much more to Doc's taste than Pruitt or various others, I think.  Tough, aggressive, smart, good on D, takes pretty good care of the ball, doesn't make stupid mistakes.  Can shoot but is embracing the pg role.