I recently signed for the remainder of the season with French team Besançon. After leaving Australia I was able to go home and be with my family and friends in NYC. Then about a week later I was heading to Europe.
The city seems to be good but honestly I haven’t seen pretty much. My whole routine consists on going from my hotel room to practice, focusing on learning the offense and defensive system of the team.
Coach told me he wants me to get to the lane and create good shots for the other guys. You know the drill… Play hard, distribute well, effective shooting, guarding the best point guard and most importantly: running the team.
And talking about my teammates… There are really good players, but there is a really, really good young player called Justin Hawkins. This kid really can play. He has a smooth stroke, like Carmelo Anthony’s. This kid has a lot of potential.
We worked out for an hour and after the second practice we went together to lift weights. I feel good knowing that he also loves being in the gym. We’re gonna push each other to get better. This is a plus in this situation.
But I mean it: this kid has game. We can complement each other very well on the court.
I have no NBA opt-out clause this time. I will focus for the remainder of the season on Besançon.
This can be a very positive situation, coming to a team that desperately needs some help.
About the stuff that happened in Australia… I wish the team luck. I think it was a good situation for the most part… And I wish my former teammates and coaching staff the best of luck in the future.
Anyway, I don’t think this will hurt any chances to come back to the Australian League someday.
Honestly right now I’m focused on doing the best in the French League. This is definitely a situation that could help my career… Playing some combo guard, a lot of point guard, helping the team getting Ws.
That’s all for now.
Bye!
UPDATE: My first game went really good: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and only one turnover in 24 minutes playing the point guard position. We won by 2points. I defended Brian Laing, a St. Raymonds High School teammate of mine, university of Seton Hall graduate. I must admit it wasn’t as easy-going at first but I got into a good rythm by the 2nd half and our up-tempo offense allowed me to get in transition, throw alley-oops and set my teammates up for easy scores. It was tough leading and running our offense so quickly in just a few days but leading and running a team has never been a challenge for me.
Back in Australia… I had a number of offers in Europe, but the loyalty from the Adelaide 36ers‘ staff and the fans was tremendous and helped me in my decision.
I’m a man on a mission: I’m really appreciative of the opportunity the Nets offered me and I will love in the near future to be a part of their family. But if it’s not them, maybe another team in the NBA. You know at the end of the day, the goal is to be back there.
Here I am doing early morning cardio running alongside the ocean and I would say one hour and a half before practice, I work really hard in designed point guard workouts. My late nights? They just consist on overdoses of jumpers. Big fun, you see?
Just like a mad doctor in his lab, I stay in the gym.
Playing out here in Australia I want to be considered a ringer. It’ something we say in NYC. It means you play so well it looks like the other guys are from a younger age group.
After the season I will head to Europe and I will finish the year taking part in the playoffs for a European team.
While in Australia, I will try to get these guys a championship. We have good talent here in Luke Schenscher (who you may remember from Georgia Tech), Aaron Bruce and Adam Ballinger.
We have a new coach, Scott Ninnis, who is a very good guy, very easy-going and very intense on the sideline. He stresses defense… I love to play defense, so I think everything will go well.
Obviously I’m following the NBA season, especially the Nets. I think that Devin Harris is playing tremendous, and if he continues playing this good they will win a lot of games. You didn’t see that coming, huh?
Vince Carter is playing well too, but that’s the type of player he is… He can knock down shots and be a great leader. The sky’s the limit for them.
I’ve been really impressed with Rudy Fernandez so far. He’s such a young player and he’s doing crazy moves! I saw him in the Olympic finals against the USA… He was killing!
We play Friday on the road in Sydney and we come back and play on Saturday against the South Dragons, which are run by the Australian National Team coach (Brian Goorjian). They have a really good young player, Joe Ingles, who played against the U.S. in Beijing. I believe he can be a high pick in the NBA Draft next June.
Definitely, I’m schocked and disappointed. I didn’t make the regular season roster but you know, at the end of the day I gave it 100 percent. So at the start of the next morning I knew it would still be a bright day.
I spoke with Kiki Vandeweghe and he said I really improved and had a trade been made, I would still be on the team. He said that it pretty much came down to a numbers game in the end.
I still have a positive outlook of it. It was definitely a very good experience for me. I got my foot back on the door, I was almost right around the corner… Next time I would definitely have a better showing. I know I’ll still have many opportunities out there for me.
I learned that I was going to be waived last Thursday afternoon. Coach Lawrence Frank told me about the bad news. I felt that I gave a 100 percent effort and he let me know that I was doing a great job. There was a situation of 15 guaranteed contracts and a trade wasn’t made, so it left me in a position where I was not going to be on the roster.
After all, I always try to look at the glass as being half-full, not half-empty. That’s my mindset. Half the guys on the team gave me a call or texted me after being waived, saying that they felt I should be on the team. They told coach Frank: “We need Julius Hodge on this team.” But like I said, it was a numbers game.
I’m definitely happy with my progression. I got a lot better. I learned a lot and it has made me a better player.
My plans right now? I’m talking with my agent and I have received interest from two Euroleague teams, two ULEB teams and a couple of teams from Australia. I’m going through this process and we hope we make the best decision. Anyway, I’ll make sure that there is an NBA opt-out clause in my next contract so if an NBA team calls me up for a 10-day contract or they want to give me a chance, there won’t be any problems with me leaving and returning to the NBA right away.
The D-League route was an option but right now I’m focused on different options.
It’s been a great ride. It would have been so much of a blessing staying on the Nets roster and being close to my friends and my family, but the NBA is a businesss and this was a business decision.
When I played an extended amount of time on the court against the Knicks, I think I showed my NBA talent. I felt very comfortable out there, running the team, calling out plays, playing good defense against Nate Robinson and Mardy Collins, and leading the team on a late rally in which we eventually came up short. The guys got heart, and I wish them the best this year.
I know I will be back. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.
This is Julius Hodge, ACC Player of the Year in 2004 and former member of the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks. I will be blogging here at HoopsHype.com all through the summer about my experiences as a free agent. Hope you enjoy it.
As some of you may already know, I’m now trying to get back in the NBA and have been working out with the Nets the last three months in order to prove that I belong in the league. I know there are another couple of teams that are interested, but I’m really liking the situation here in New Jersey. All these weeks with the Nets, I really think they have been very benefitial to me. The coaching staff is great and my guy Kiki Vandeweghe is helping me a lot. My jump shot, which is probably the weakest part of my game, has gotten a lot better. I’ve probably never worked as much or as hard any other time in my career.
I didn’t have much much success (or playing time for that matter) in my first two years in the NBA with Denver and Milwaukee. But I’m not bitter about it. It was hard at the beginning, I’ll admit that. You get from always being the main guy to not playing much and that’s a hard pill to swallow. But all in all, it was a learning experience. And besides, when you’re close to death, as it was my case with the shooting incident, it changes your whole perspective. You’re grateful about anything that’s given to you. You appreciate it’s a blessing just to get a chance to make a living playing basketball.
Physically, the shooting incident was a setback. Mentally, though, it was an inflection point. I believe I’m a better person now. More humble, more generous… I think not only I can help a team on the floor, but also in the locker room.
I know I have offers from teams overseas, but at this point… It’s just the NBA for me. There’s no such thing as a backup plan for me because I’m so focused in getting a job in the league right now. It’s not that my experience abroad wasn’t good. I played in Australia last season and I enjoyed it. It was pretty much my first time outside of the States and I had some adjustments to make, but life was good there. I was actually leading my team on the court and loved to be The Man again. Away from the court, it was nice also. It was 100 degrees pretty much every day, always with your shades on… Besides, I didn’t have to go through the language barrier most American players abroad have to.
Even though FIBA ball is fine, like I said my goal is the NBA. I can be a third point guard, a defensive stopper… Really, I can be an anything guy. And with all the adversity I have had to go through before, I can guarantee I’ll be a good guy anywhere I am.
Hi everybody,