Could Lester Hudson run the 2nd Unit?

Hudson is a strong, athletic street baller— there is a chance his game will fit the NBA, albeit a small one.
Personally I think anyone who believes Giddens will be better than Daniels “ever” either has not seen Daniels play or is Giddens’ cousin.

The YouTube highlights of Lester Hudson show him scoring a ton, but I have yet to see a video of him passing. I think we’ll have plenty of scoring in the second unit, so I just want a guy who can get ‘Sheed, Marquis, Eddie, and BBD the ball. There’s rumblings about Carlos Arroyo coming to town, which would be fine, but if Hudson can pass just as well, I’d rather go with the younger guy. The big question is, then, can he pass? We don’t need another Eddie House masquerading as a PG and getting stuck when teams press full court.

In the very little bit that I saw of him in Summer League action and clips from his time at Tennessee-Martin, I think adding Hudson for the final spot makes the most sense. Here’s why…

1- He Can Do It All. In college, as the best player on the team, his main function was to provide the scoring while keeping the opposing guard under wraps. The fact that he was the #2 scorer in the country (small team or not) proves that he did it quite well and his nearly 3 steals a game shows, at the very least, active hands. He also averaged just about five assists per game over two years and showed better than average court sense. So he’s at LEAST as good an option as House right now, and we haven’t even played a game yet!

2- He Knows How To Pass – Rondo is going to get the lion’s share of the minutes at point – period. Hudson will be playing with veterans when he runs the point. In the second unit, they just need someone to – as was previously stated – “bring it over half court without getting stripped” and give it to one of the many options he’ll have on the floor. The fact that he can put it in the hole is just icing. We only need 15 minutes from him…less depending on the situation. How much worse than House (as a point) or TA (as a point) can he be? He’ll be developing along the way and we can afford to let him learn in limited stretches as we go.

3 – Youth On An “Old” Team – If he turns out to be any good – and he definitely has the POTENTIAL to be good (think as good as Tim Hardaway with better “D” or no worse than Terrell Brandon) – he will be yet another young cog in a formerly great team easing into rebuilding mode after winning back-to-back 18th and 19th Championship trophies. Besides, we can always trade him as part of a package, right, Danny?

4- You’ll At Least Save Cash – And, you’ll be able to say goodbye to him if he can’t cut it here in just a couple of years (depending on what you sign him for). If you, say, re-sign Marbury (I admit…I still have feelings for the guy being a real threat here with a full training camp under his belt – even after he went all “Insane-adu” on the net) you’re definitely paying more than what a first-year player will require.

Now, I know what people are saying…if he can be any good, why did he slide all the way to #58…the answer is here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?id=3252464

Once you’ve read about how messed up his academics were and the fact that he didn’t want to do the school thing…at all…(unless it meant coming in to play basketball and leaving), you can start to imagine all of the GM’s and colleges taking a pass for less financially troubled players.

I will go out on a limb here…I think Hudson can be a major steal for the team that gives him a real fighters chance to play basketball. Not just play the point, but play basketball with the kind of freedom that comes from not being labeled a “Pure PG” or an “SG” or an “SG in a PG’s body”. The final reason to give the kid a chance…you still have House and Daniels (and TA for that matter) to resume the role AND two expiring contracts (whoops! Sorry TA) to trade for an open roster space and cash to sign Marbury (or Lue, or name your free agent guard) in February, provided he stops smoking the green so he can start smoking FOR the green.

I always loved point guards that could also score, like Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars etc.

If Hudson who we know can score can also dish the ball and bring the ball up under pressure that would be great.

There would be no defenses slacking off him as they do on Rondo.

Imagine a back court of Allen and Hudson on offense.. wow all teams would have to play them honest leaving them not able to double team Rasheed, Perk and Pierce which would allow them alot of easy scoring oppurtunaties.

So lets just give Hudson a bunch of minutes especially in training camp to see what he can do.

If he can do the job let him be our back up for the season.

If he can not cut it, then we can always go out and sign a veteran point guard.