The struggling Melbourne Tigers have finally placed that call for the cavalry to save the day — and riding over the horizon is former Adelaide 36ers super-import, Julius Hodge. The versatile 6’7″ swingman comes with a tonne of talent and plenty of controversy. In short, he’s perfect for the Tigers.
Melbourne’s soap-opera season has seen them go from pre-season huge favourites, after they snared Boomer Mark Worthington from former cross-town rivals, the South Dragons, to now finding themselves with a 3-6 record and paddling in dire straits. First came the pre-season injury to centre Chris Anstey, which was then followed by a quad injury to his repacement, Ben Knight. Now comes the news that point guard Nathan Crosswell will miss up to a month with turf toe.
Tigers coach Al Westover thinks Hodge fits the bill:
”Nate Crosswell is out for a couple of weeks with his toes so we’re kind of thin in the back court at the moment so whoever we bring out will have to be able to play guard right away and then when Nate comes back then maybe have [to] play a multitude of positions.
”Julius Hodge will fit that role. He’s more of a small forward, but he’s been known to dribble the ball … and he’s an all-round player, he’s a scorer, a passer and a defender.
”The one thing that attracts about Julius besides his all-round game is that he’s been out here and knows the league a bit.”
Wednesday night’s loss to league leaders the Wollongong Hawks pushed things to panic stations, forcing the Tigers to abandon their All-Australian pledge for the 2009/10 season. The “family club” has become renowned for their mid-season moves in order to keep them in position as perennial title-contenders and as such, it has only been a matter of when — not if — they would make a move. The Adelaide Advertiser’s Boti Nagy and Gaze.com.au’s Daniel Eade both mentioned that the move was on the cards in recent days, as speculation had come for weeks that the Tigers would be forced into making some move into improving their poor fortunes.
Hodge of course returns to Australia under a cloud of controversy, with his most recent delve into the NBL ending with a he-said-she-said saga as his former employers the 36ers claimed that he had skipped out on his contract, whilst he and his agent maintained that he had not been paid his rightful dues. The common perception was that Hodge had been pushing his way out of Oz in order to chase an NBA contract. 11 months later, he’s back.
Of course Hodge enters the Tigers with every chance to contribute immediately. He knows the league from his two previous stints with the Sixers and even entered the New Jersey Nets’ training camp prior to the 2008/09 season with Breakers import Awvee Storey. He enters a Tigers squad that is familiar with versatile swingmen — with players such as Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland, David Barlow, Ebi Ere in the past and current players Worthington and Sam Mackinnon acting as swiss army knives in the same way that Hodge will be asked to. He has shown the ability to push for triple-doubles with alarming frequency and will be asked to do it all for this team, as they attempt to put on a run to pull themselves out of an unfamiliar position: the NBL’s cellar.
The controversy that greets Hodge will be likely be lapped up by the former NC State star. Indeed, he has proven himself to be bullet-proof in the past, surviving an April 8 2006 shooting in Denver where he came within five minutes of bleeding to death. Originally from Harlem in New York City, he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft and played with them through 2007 before having stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as Italian Serie A teams Cimberio Varese and Legea Scafati.
The Tigers’ press release states that the team hopes to have the 25-year-old “in Melbourne by Sunday and on the training court Monday the 9th of November.”
The core of the Tigers squad will now involve combo guard Luke Kendall, shooting guard Daryl Corletto, Mackinnon, Worthington, Hodge and big man Daniel Johnson, whilst they wait for the Christmas return of star centre Anstey and point guard Crosswell.
