glazeduck

It's looking more and more like we'll be locked into that 13th pick with 12 being a very best case scenario from a draft perspective (although that would mean us enduring quite a few losses for the rest of this season). At 13 it's fairly safe to say that Rose, Bayless, Mayo, Gordon and Westbrook will all be gone. Were that not the case then obviously I'd take a look at any of them too, but I don't see it.

What I DO see though, is the best out of all of them still being available and us NEEDING to draft him.

http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/lesterhudson.html
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Lester-Hudson-5065/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/column...t&lid=tab1pos2
All definitely worth the read, especially the last one.

At 24, from a small conference and with a questionable past, Lester Hudson won't pass as many smell tests as Rose, Mayo, etc. but I'll contend that maybe with the exception of Mayo, Hudson has the most complete and NBA ready game and, along with Mayo would be the best fit for us. I made a post about him a few weeks ago and have since been able to watch a couple of his games and this kid has that something special.

In looking at the other players deficiencies:
Rose - not NBA ready
Bayless - not a great floor general, inconsistent
Gordon - lacking pg skills
Westbrook - lacking pg skills and range
Mayo - ego could be an issue

And looking at Hudson's "deficiencies": questionable past -- seems to have turned that around, lack of talented competition -- look at the games he had against the good teams he played (he dominated).

Another thing that I would really like about Hudson is the story... Assuming he pans out and continues bettering his life, (first of all it'd mean alot of wins ) it would be the perfect match to a team who just a few years ago was riddled with thugs and Aholes. As much as iI like the rest of that group of guys, they all seem a little more glitzy and glamour-y, which is certainly not a bad thing, but Hudson seems like, if put in the right situation, that he'd be a great player and person and a very hard worker, I think we have that right situation and a good structure to put around him, and i for one am REALLY hoping this happens.

Getting a player of his talent at 13 would also allow us to move our spare parts in Frye, Jack, etc. to fill whatever holes KP sees. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed on this one.

nikolokolus

I'd be a little leery taking a guy that is projected to go late in the first round, especially when this team probably doesn't need anymore "project" players ... especially at the PG position. I admit Hudson looks kind of intriguing on paper, but I've never seen him play so I can't say one way or another if I think he's any good or would be a good fit.

Frankly I see KP packaging picks and players from this year's draft and making a play for a veteran or at least established starting quality NBA pg.

Is his team tournament bound -- NCAA or NIT? I'd like to watch him against some of the better competition at least.

glazeduck

part of the reason he's "projected" so low is that he's just gotten onto draftsites radars in the last couple weeks. Generally most of those sites rely heavily on hype early on and about this time of year the actual cream starts to rise to the top. I really think come workout time that he'll be right there with those other guys.

As for his tourny hopes I can't say. Tennesee-Martin is 4th in the Ohio Valley Conference so I certainly can't imagine they're going dancing, but with the CPI now competing against the NIT I would guess there's a decent chance we'll be able to see him in the post-season one way or another. If you read those 3 links I posted it's hard to not see that blending well with Roy and Oden, but I guess only time will tell.

nikolokolus

Funny. Draftexpress.com has him projected 4th in the second round to ... wait for it ... wait for it ...


















































The Trailblazers

glazeduck

Don't get me wrong, if we got him in the 2nd I'd cr@p my pants! I also like the Beaubois kid from France and see him as a pretty likely target for KP w/ one of those 2nd rounders.

Realistically though, I think that kid is WAY too talented to fall to the 2nd round and really I don't think the last lotto pick is too low for him, especially with how well his skillset fits what we're looking for. Again, like I said in the original post, I'd certainly be more than willing to look at the Collisons and Westbrooks of the world were any of them to fall to us, but I think Hudson falling to us is the most realistic and could be exactly what we're looking for. And as far as him being a "project" player (from your original post) I think he's the least of a project of any of those guys. He's ready. Leading the NCAA in pts, 4th in steals, the 1st player in NCAA history to record a quadruple double... This guy is for real.

MrJayremmie

I'm pretty sure we are either gonna trade up for a PG (probably Rose ((pipe dream)) Mayo, Bayless or Westbrook) and if not, i really see us trading the pick as part of a deal for a PG, Conley seems like the most realistic, if Memphis is in a high draft spot, they will have PGs to take, and they already have Navarro, so ya never know.

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Jerryd Bayless

glazeduck

Here's my thing about trading up though. Why? Why do it when theres an option there that's just as good, which is the point I'm trying to make. To get a guy like that we'd absolutely have to trade Outlaw and a bunch of other assets. And is Conley REALLY expected to be THAT great? I think he'd be just as much of a project as all the others.

IF Hudson can fill that role that we're looking for, like I think he can, we can use those other assets to fill any other needs.

MrJayremmie

^well, if we are gonna use that arguement, then i'd prolly take Augestin or Lawson instead.

But i see what you mean. I don't agree, cuz i really don't think he is as good as any of those guys, specially defensively. But i do understand where you are coming from, and you make a lot of sense man. I value your opinion, and i like that you are lookin' outside the box. very cool.

I will actually check this guy out.

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Jerryd Bayless

Utherhimo

nathan Jawai?

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glazeduck

I get what you're saying, it seems like you're looking for more of a true point, which I'm not. I think Lawson, Augustin and Collison all have chances to be very good in the NBA, but I hadn't mentioned them because I, like JQuick, think that this team really views Roy as our PG and will be looking for a combo guard to play next to him.

Maybe I'm buying too much into the koolaid that I'm reading about the kid, but he sounds special and from what I've seen of him on the court he looks the part as well. Defensively he's got quick hands, good feet and a large frame and gets his hands into alot of things. He takes alot of chances (ala Iverson), but with Roy's solid defense, Martell's emerging solid d, Travis and Lamarcus's length & leaping ability and 2 erasers in Pryz and Oden a gambler in that defense could be a good thing.

Again, I see the true value in Hudson being that IF he can fit that Robin to Roy's Batman type role then we can save what we would've traded in trading up and use that (Martell & Tlaw [hoping we don't trade either], Jack, Frye, Serg, Rudy, Petko, McBob, Freeland, future 1sts, 2nds, etc) for a star 3 (if KP sees it as a need) or another banger, or whatever other needs may arise.

Also, off this topic, but if we could land Ryan Anderson in the late 1st or w/ one of our 2nds I think that'd be a steal... I think Anderson might be the most underrated player in America.

wizmentor

really sounds like a player you want to bring in with others to work out
against. Interesting prospect.

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"Bayless is going to be that guy where, you know, Nate goes 'Oh you put in your second unit to give your starters a rest? Well, watch this.' And he's going to throw in Bayless and he's going to point to that second unit point guard and he's going to say 'Eat Him Alive', and Jarryd probably will."

---Dave Deckard of BlazersEdge

Shaq: Hey Thorpe, I'm getting sized for a thumb ring
SportsNation David Thorpe: I guess your wife is back in your life. Congrats.

Fork

I've been reading about him for a few weeks now, still haven't been able to watch any games. That quad double he got? Yikes, evidently he can play.

His win score number is 2nd in the country for guards, tops for PG prospects. On paper, he reminds me a lot of Rodney Stuckey, but maybe just a little better all around. I think as we get closer to the draft, we may see him start to get projected higher than he is now.

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BenDavis503

I agree!!! We gotta get this guy!!!

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glazeduck