HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Julius Hodge

Hi everybody!

I wanna give big props to my guy Kiki Vandeweghe, who helped me to change my shot. I feel like a young kid again! When I was young all I did was shoot the J each and every time I had the opportunity.

After being named the National Basketball League’s Player of the Week for the second time this season, I’m definitely back to that now. My shot is feeling and looking very good. It has definitely improved.

Just wanna thank Kiki for taking that time for me. Like two or three days before Summer League started in July he told me it would take like five or six months to feel my shot. Then I came here to the NBL and now I feel very confident and very comfortable shooting the pull-ups from anywhere. Now I’m the young Julius knocking down jumpers all day long!

Although I played a good game against the Gold Coast Blaze (29 points, 4 assists) we lost on New Years’ Eve. I can tell you, Shane Heal still can play.

The game before we won against a tough team, the Melbourne Tigers, and coach Scott Ninnis lauded my efforts. What a start I had! 9-9 FGs, 20 points and by half-time the match was as good as over with a commanding 62-38 lead.

I was feeling it. I had some player on me, Rod Grizzard, who went to school in Alabama, and Ebi Ere. Whenever I had Ebi on me I knew he was a smaller guard so I was just shooting right over the top. I got it going early… And once my outside game is going, it really helps me to get to the basket and finish strongly or get my teammates open shots. It was a big game for us.

So I think I’ve beeng making a very strong case for the MVP in terms of what I brought to the team. When I first came here, we were in the last place and now we are one or two wins away from being in third place. So I think I’ve been very valuable to the team.

If I get a call from an NBA team, it might take about 15-20 hours of flight time for me to get there but I’ll be able to play right away. No Stephon Marbury’s buyout! Actually, no buyout.

I hear that some NBA teams are looking for a guard… It is a difficult spot to get adjusted to, but once you’ve got the opportunity… I know for me personally that it’s a spot in which I can definitely play very well and help the team.

Obviously, I saw the Lakers-Celtics on Christmas day. The Lakers are for real! You could say it’s a regular season game, but when those two teams play against each other it’s a special game. Right now the Lakers are the best team in the NBA.

Christmas Day in Australia was a little different for me. It was about 90 degrees and humid as a summer day in New York. I hit the beach in the morning for my mile-run as I usually do, and then I went to my house and watched some cricket and played a little tennis, so it was all good.

Here they have an early dinner, like 4.30 in the afternoon. Then, like I said, I played some tennis. Later in the day I was on the phone with my family because Christmas was just starting for them.

Happy New Year everybody!

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.

In the meantime, I will keep it blogging here.

Thank you, everybody.

Bye!

Hello everybody,

We are right now in training camp and it’s been a blessing for all of us. Learning from Kiki Vandeweghe and coach Lawrence Frank has been very instructive for me in terms of understanding the philosophy, the little tidbits of the offense and also the defensive sets.

I think it’s been a plus that I ran some of our offense in college under Herb Sendek at North Carolina State, and I think it puts me a little bit ahead of the game.

Without getting too specific, practices have been pretty much guys going out playing hard, especially on defense. I think we’re right now a little bit ahead in terms of that because a lot of our guys want to play defense. They are like, “OK, we are the underdogs but this year will definitely be a good one for us.”

There are some guys here – like Bobby Simmons or Yi Jianlian – that are eager to show everybody their value. Sean Williams has been finishing every play, every alley oop he catches, and dunking amazingly. He’s so tough to box out, he’s all over the offensive boards, and he’s making shots around the basket. He’s definitely a big plus for us during this training camp. I think we’ll jell quickly. Even Rod Thorn, who had a knee replacement surgery, has spent some time with us.

As I said before, I believe I can fill the third point guard spot. During and after practice, coach Frank talks to me and tells me he knows that I wanna make the right play every time, and he lets me know that I just have to take a little step back, just breathe, relax and run a set. Also, Keyon Dooling has helped me a lot.

Sometimes there might be a set call but the defense may not be ready, so I take the extra second or two to get a set up. I just let the offense come and run it smoothly. I think I’ve been doing a good job at that with the help of the coach.

This group of guys, I give a lot of credit to Kiki and the entire organization building this team, because we all get along. I know that Vince Carter said that Chris Douglas-Roberts, Brian Hamilton and me are like The Three Stooges. Well, you know… We’re young! We practice hard and we are cracking jokes as well.

The next week we will travel to Europe to play against the Miami Heat so it will be really fun. I hope we play good and continue improving as a team. And of course I hope we will do some sightseeing in Paris and London!

That’s all for now.

Bye!