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Celtics Draft Review: Lester Hudson
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AP Photo/Frank Franklin II: Ricky Rubio's two dislikes: cold weather, and hats.
Look, I’m not Jay Bilas. I’m not even Dick Vitale. I’m not going to say if I love this guy or that guy because of this or that. I can probably only give insight on a handful of guys, and none of them were drafted by the Celtics. One man was, and he was Lester Hudson, from Tennessee Martin. And whoever KRoFaMoUzo is, he must really like Lester. Maybe KRoFaMoUzo is Lester. Regardless, check this out and do your own two minutes of scouting.
When he was drafted, the ESPN crew offered up these details: “he can score” (Stu), he’s an “undersized shooting guard, [with a] freaky wing span, can make contested shots, [has] good range, [and is] smart.” (Jay Bilas) Sounds like a decent prospect. However, Draft Express seems to view him as an OK prospect at best. He is strong defensively and can create his own shot. He creates shots for others and tends to make the smart play the majority of the time, but he is not a true point guard.
With his selection, you have to wonder what’s going to happen between him, J.R. Giddens, Eddie House, Stephon Marbury, and Gabe Pruitt. Giddens already has experience on Hudson and has a larger frame, making him an ideal fit for the backup SG spot. Plus, he’s signed through the 2012-2013 season. Gabe Pruitt, on the other hand, has now been in the Celtics system since 2007 and hasn’t earned a ton of playing time. Clearly, Doc isn’t sold on his game. Plus, he’s mostly played at the point, which could/should be Hudson’s position in the NBA. We all know about House. If he returns, he’s taking the majority of the backup minutes at point guard, leaving the younger guys to try to grab any available minutes at the one or two. And who knows about Steph’s status, but he eats into the minutes ration as well if he is brought back.
With all that said, Hudson’s selections leads me to believe that the Celtics took Hudson with either Pruitt, House, or Marbury’s spot in mind, with me leaning towards Pruitt if I had to guess. Of course, Hudson may just be D-League bound, but that won’t be his ceiling, of course. At some point, he’ll have to be promoted (if he earns it of course), and someone’s spot on the roster will be in jeopardy.
My main gripe with all of this is that Boston could have taken a much more interesting player. They could have taken Chinemelu Elonu from Texas A&M. Bilas listed him as an athletic yet physical guy. He’s 6’10”, a shot blocker, a little raw but a “steal” (Bilas), and a “good offensive rebounder.” (Bilas again) With Powe’s status uncertain, Big Baby possibly leaving due to free agency, and the Cs needing a big man for defense and rebounding regardless, why not select Elonu? The Celtics need scoring off the bench, no question. Especially if House decides to leave via free agency. But the Celtics can bring back Stephon Marbury, and that would partially solve their problem. I just feel like Elonu would have been the better pick here. Hey, even Mark Jackson’s strategy for the Celtics was to get a quality big man, so I can’t be that far off.
So the Celtics passed on the smart pick and went with the (relatively speaking) sexy pick. They went for scoring over defense and rebounding. We’ll see how this impacts the rest of their offseason, and if this choice comes back to haunt them. Of course, we’re talking about a second round pick here, so you would think that this may not be of as much significance as I’m implying, but the Cs got both Powe and Big Baby, plus Bill Walker (who appeared intermittently throughout this past season and made an impression that will help him get more minutes next year) in the second round over the years, and they have become important pieces of the roster. Who knows if Hudson will be able to make the same impact?
Now with all that said, what about the rest of the draft? A few of my thoughts while watching the ESPN crew do their thing…
• Wow, four points for Minny. Maybe they’ll melt them down to create the uber-PG. Actually, they traded two of them away, leaving them with Rubio and Jonny Flynn. My second sentence still applies. Otherwise, what is Minnesota thinking?
• Looks like the Knicks did a good job, getting a good paint presence plus a shooter who can thrive in D’Antoni’s system. Plus, they got Darko, who can at the very least hang with Gallinari and reenact the Czech Brothers from SNL.
• I’ve already said this a million times, but I’m saying it again. How many times are people going to compliment the Bulls on “giving the Celtics all they could handle,” and “taking the Celtics to seven games?” The Celtics were missing KG and, less importantly, Leon Powe. Put those two back into Boston’s rotation and that series would have been over in five, maybe six games. Stu Scott apparently keeps forgetting that.
• ESPN is right. Now that Shaq is on the Cavs, Cleveland will have some entertaining starting lineup announcements. And maybe Shaq can tell LeBron that his powder throw bit is getting old.
• I would thoroughly enjoy watching Tyler Hansbrough, Hasheem Thabeet, Ricky Rubio, and Blake Griffin hang out together during their many pre-draft activities. Even if it was only for five minutes.
• DeJuan Blair = my boy Craig Smith from BC, only stronger and with better rebounding skills. Both are short PFs with large frames, play a physical style, and both were second round selections (Smith in the 2006 draft, picked by Minnesota).
• How often are ESPN anchors going to make jokes about Dick Vitale’s energy level? Hey Stu, we know Dick Vitale likes to shout and get worked up. No reason to try and make a lame joke about it.
• TWolves wisely draft a dude from Rubio’s team. However, they’re going to have him stay in Europe and work on his game. Why not just let him be Rubio’s buddy and travel and practice with the team? Who cares?
• Stu Scott’s first anecdote about 2nd rd pick Jack McClinton from the Cuse? He has 16 tattoos. Either he’s not very good, or Stu bailed on doing much research for this year’s draft.
• The Legend drafts AJ Price! Good job Larry! Now lock up all of the laptops before he arrives.
Overall, this had to have been one of the most entertaining drafts in a long time. And that’s saying a lot considering that this was a weak draft class. A ton of trades, some hard names to pronounce, some booing by the fans, and Stu Scott’s lazy eye made this a good dose of TV.
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