Lester Hudson Leaving (signing with Memphis)

[mds]

Fair enough...there really is no point in committing to a guy who we don't really need in the future anyway. We need to draft young guys and play them or sign far more legitimate free agents and play them. Hudson is a backup SG at best. Memphis wanted him as insurance for the playoffs.

[mds]

Lloyd's final thought:

Jason Lloyd ‏ @JasonLloydABJ
Hudson exploded during 1st 10 days, cooled a bit during 2nd 10 days. Finished his time in CLE shooting 40% and 23% on 3ptrs.

[Jon]

Congrats to Lester. I'm glad he could find a team to commit some $$$ to him. I'm also glad that wasn't us.

[RonHarperFan]

Does anyone know how many playoff shares a team ends up handing out? My guess would be that the Grizzlies were able to commit to giving him a full playoff share. If the team ends up making the 2nd round, the amount of money they split up is in excess of 500k.

Anyways, good move for him. Wouldn't be the worst thing if we gave him a shot to make the team next fall, though.

[CleveRocks]

Lloyd's final thought:

Jason Lloyd ‏ @JasonLloydABJ
Hudson exploded during 1st 10 days, cooled a bit during 2nd 10 days. Finished his time in CLE shooting 40% and 23% on 3ptrs.

Meanwhile, OJ Mayo is 38% and 29.2% from three. He is making 5.6 million, while Lester is at a few hundred k. They are nearly identical in every other category..

[jvl]

More from Lloyd:

More from Keith Glass, agent for Lester Hudson: "If 10 days ago, they had just done what I thought they should’ve done, which was guarantee the rest of the year, he would’ve signed it and been there." Cavs didn't offer any guaranteed dollars for next year, Glass said, but offered a non-guaranteed deal similar to what Donald Sloan and Manny Harris signed. Glass/Hudson weren't interested in that.

Manny Harris is better. Donald Sloan is a needed back up PG. Money for next year would be foolish for another undersized SG.....we have Boobie. Good luck in Memphis. It was a fun week.

[wuck]

Does anyone know how many playoff shares a team ends up handing out? My guess would be that the Grizzlies were able to commit to giving him a full playoff share. If the team ends up making the 2nd round, the amount of money they split up is in excess of 500k.

Anyways, good move for him. Wouldn't be the worst thing if we gave him a shot to make the team next fall, though.

This is an article from 2009. I'm sure the numbers are different this year. Players vote on who gets a full, partial, or no share, so the numbers for individuals will vary.

----
Just for making the playoffs, the team receives $164,168, which they then divide into shares starting with all 15 players. Assuming there are 20 shares, each player will receive . . . $8,208.40.

The rest of the breakdown: Best record in the NBA ($317,263), Best record in Conference ($277,604 each), Second-best record in conference ($223,126 each), Third-best record in conference ($166,563), Fourth-best record in conference ($130,900), Fifth-best record in conference ($109,074), Sixth-best record in conference ($74,394).

Teams participating in first round ($164,168 each), Teams participating in conference semifinals ($195,337 each), Teams participating in conference finals ($322,792 each), Losing team NBA Finals ($1,290,821), Winning team NBA Finals ($1,948,042).

[CleveRocks]

Cleveland Cavaliers Fan: Letting Lester Hudson Go was a Mistake by the Cavs

By Matt David | Yahoo! Contributor Network

In case you missed it, the Cleveland Cavaliers did not re-sign Lester Hudson after his second 10-day contract expired on April 19. Hudson's effort and intensity were a breath of fresh air. The team needed a spark and he provided it. Hudson scored over 19 points in each of the four games from April 6 th to April 11 th . His minutes were cut after that when the Cavs were less interested in winning and more interested in the draft.
Hudson not perfect
[B]By no means was Hudson going to be a superstar next season. He will soon be 28 years old. He is a bad defender and an average shooter (39.1% from the floor). Hudsanity was a nice story for a week but there were weaknesses in his game that were evident.[B/]
However, he was a solid player with some areas to improve upon. With the Cavs, Hudson averaged 12.7 points per game. He made some games closer than they should have been on a team that doesn't seem interested in winning. He might not have been a starter next season but he is good enough to get into the rotation as a backup shooting guard at least. Letting Hudson go may end up being a mistake, not unlike letting J.J. Hickson (tearing it up for Portland ) or Danny Green (contributing nicely for the Spurs ) get away.
Tanking
It is possible that Hudson was going to help the Cavs win some games this season. He was huge in the win against Toronto and almost helped them overcome New Jersey in overtime. Lets face it, winning games isn't exactly in the Cavs best interest right now. They are in a three way tie for the third worst record in the league. Winning games now could cost them in the draft.
Memphis
Hudson will be signed by the Memphis Grizzlies. This is a great move for Hudson. He was born and raised in Memphis. He played college basketball at Tennessee-Martin. If this helps him get a contract for his hometown team, good for him. The Grizzlies are loaded with guys just like Hudson while the Cavs are thin at shooting guard and might have been a better fit, though. The Griz may dump O.J. Mayo and keep Hudson around. He can do the same thing for less money.
We'll see how this plays out. Don't be surprised if Hudson lights up the Cavs for 25 points next season.

So we should have offered a guaranteed contract to a 28 year old chucker with poor defensive skills? We should have kept JJ, instead of trading him for assfingers and the Sactown first?

[MoFlo]

Cleveland Cavaliers Fan: Letting Lester Hudson Go was a Mistake by the Cavs

By Matt David | Yahoo! Contributor Network

I honestly didn't even continue after this.

These articles are almost always terrible..

[Scholar]

So we should have offered a guaranteed contract to a 28 year old chucker with poor defensive skills? We should have kept JJ, instead of trading him for assfingers and the Sactown first?

I think the author missed the fact that Mr Hickson is in a contract year. That Portland could very well not end up retaining him. He might well sign with another club. Hell, if we really wanted him back, we could resign him and still be owed that 1st round pick from Sacramento.

As for Lester, his production had definitely dropped off after that week. It wasn't just because of a reduction in minutes. While he showed the ability to provide a spark with his energy. He wasn't very efficient. He was below average as a shooter. Not average as the article claimed. I have no problem with how it ended up considering all the factors. Something that author isn't.

[KCOTT]

has he played at all yet with Memphis?

[MoFlo]

has he played at all yet with Memphis?

5 minutes last night in the win vs Portland. 0-3 shooting, 1 turnover.

[foucault87]

5 minutes last night in the win vs Portland. 0-3 shooting, 1 turnover.

Our superstar everybody!

[Kypus]

Letting Hudson go may end up being a mistake, not unlike letting J.J. Hickson (tearing it up for Portland ) get away.

Wow...

[JiggleIt]

Wow...

Well, to a certain extent...he's right. JJ has been tearing it up to an extent he has never done in his career until the last couple weeks. On the other hand, the reality was that the Cavs may not have been able to keep JJ as he'd probably be demanding more than he's worth.

You do have to take into consideration that the Cavs took back a brutally, brutally awful player who will probably be out of the league within the next 2-3 years. He did come with a draft pick...but the Kings are so bad, that it is conceivable that the Cavs will never get the pick as a first rounder (reverts to a second I believe). Regardless, it's highly possible the Cavs won't get it for years and that it won't be very attractive by the time it comes around.

The biggest problem I had with that trade was the protection on the pick given JJ's promise and youth. Sacramento wouldn't have made that trade if they didn't think they at least had a chance to keep him, so I'm a little disappointed the Cavs didn't leverage that a little bit more.