Julius Hodge

Infobox NBA Player
name = Julius Hodge


caption =
league = NBA
position = Shooting guard/small forward
nickname =
height_ft = 6
height_in = 7
weight_lb = 210
team = New Jersey Nets
nationality = American
birth_date = birth date and age|1983|11|18
birth_place = Harlem, New York, New York
college = North Carolina State
highschool = St. Raymond High School for Boys, the Bronx, New York
draft = 20th overall
draft_year = 2005
draft_team = Denver Nuggets
career_start = 2005
former_teams = Denver Nuggets (2005–2007)
Milwaukee Bucks (2007)
Cimberio Varese (2007)
Legea Scafati (2007)
awards =
career_highlights =
First-team Parade All-American (2001)
McDonald's All-American Team (2001)
Player of the Year (2003-2004)
NBL's Third Team Team (2008)

Julius Melvin Hodge (born November 18, 1983 in Harlem, New York, New York) is an American professional basketball player. He is currently signed to play for the Adelaide 36ers in the Australian NBL. [ [http://www.adelaide36ers.com/36ers/media/news/366/ Adelaide Pura Milk 36ers | Media - 36ers News | Pure Excitement ] ]

Hodge was selected 20th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He played four years at North Carolina State University. ACC Player of the Year during the 2003-2004 season, Hodge finished his college career by leading State to the Sweet 16.

High school

As a senior at St. Raymond High School for Boys, operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, in the Bronx, New York, Hodge was part of the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team and the First-team Parade All-American, New York's "Mr. Basketball", New York Daily News Player of the Year, New York All-Metro Squad, and Sports Illustrated's Old Spice Athlete of the Month. He scored a total of 684 points his senior season, setting the school record at St. Raymond High School, and left rated as the No. 1 shooting guard by ESPN and No. 5 nationally.

College

As a freshman with the Pack, he was the leading freshman scorer in the ACC, avering 10.7 points per game. He was named to second-team All-ACC Tournament team, after averaging 12.3 points. He earned the Lorenzo Charles Offensive Rebounding Award for 2002, Dick Vitale's "Diaper Dandy" and ranked 20th in the ACC in rebounding. He scored a double-double in his first collegiate game and his first ACC game. He was the only Pack player with multiple double-doubles for the 2001-2002 season.

For the 2002-2003 campaign, Hodge was selected as a first team All-ACC player. He recorded four career-highs during the three day run to the finals of the ACC tournament. He recorded his seventh double-double during the ACC final game and ranked seventh in free throw percentage for the season. During this season he recorded the first-ever triple-double in Wolfpack history, and was named ACC Player of the Week after leading the Pack to back-to-back victories against Duke and North Carolina. He was one of 17 finalists to make the U.S. Pan AM games squad and Dick Vitale put him on his "All-Rolls Royce Team". He was one of the 50 preseason candidates for the Wooden Award.

NBA

Hodge was projected to go in the mid to late first round in the 2005 NBA Draft, he was chosen in the first round as the 20th pick by the Denver Nuggets. He appeared in 14 games for the Nuggets in the 2005-06 season while averaging only 0.9 points in 2.4 minutes. [ [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/julius_hodge/career_stats.html Julius Hodge playerfile: career stats] , "nba.com"]

On January 5 2007, Hodge started in his first career NBA game, against the Los Angeles Lakers. Six days later he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Earl Boykins for Steve Blake. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2727760 ESPN - Nuggets deal Boykins, Hodge to Bucks for Blake - NBA ] ] On February 7 of that year, Hodge was waived by the Bucks. [ [http://www.nba.com/nba_news/20070208042744840000201_story.html NBA.com Bucks Waive Hodge, Recall Markota ] ] Later that year he played for the 2007 Seattle SuperSonics summer league team. [ [http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/recap070706.html SONICS: Durant, Green Welcomed to NBA in Summer Opener ] ]

Europe

On August 10, 2007, Hodged signed with Italian Serie A team Cimberio Varese. Midway through the season, he transferred to fellow Serie A team Legea Scafati. [ [http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/20122007/8/scafati-via-romero-hodge-arriva-babrauskas.html Scafati: via Romero e Hodge, arriva Babrauskas - Yahoo! Eurosport IT ] ]

NBL (Australia)

On December 21, 2007, Hodge signed with the Adelaide 36ers in the Australian NBL basketball league as their second import to replace the outgoing Mike Chappell. He finished his contract with Italian Serie A team Legea Scafati and arrived in Adelaide on December 23 after making trips to his hometown New York. He made his debut for the 36ers against the South Dragons helping them to a victory. [ [http://www.adelaide36ers.com/36ers/media/news/366/ Adelaide Pura Milk 36ers | Media - 36ers News | Pure Excitement ] ] On January 29, Hodge was rewarded with the league's player of the week for round 19 after averaging 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the two games the 36ers played, which included a dominant performance of 39 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists against the Cairns Taipans. [ [http://nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=74066 NBL > News ] ] On February 2, Hodge became the first 36er since Robert Rose in 1994 to record a triple double (24 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists). A few days after, on February 5, Hodge won his second and back-to-back player of the week for Round 20 after averaging 31 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists, which also included a performance of 37 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists in the 36ers lost to the Gold Coast Blaze. [ [http://nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=74166 NBL > News ] ] On February 12, Hodge won his third consecutive player of the week for round 21 by having another dominant performance of 31 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists in the 36ers win against the Cairns Taipans. Hodge became just the second player to win the award three times (Chris Anstey is the other player to do so), and the first player to win it three times consecutively during the season. [ [http://nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=74271 NBL > News ] ] Despite only playing half of the season in the league, Hodge was rewarded with the All NBL Third Team for his efforts with the 36ers. Hodge was also the only player to win the NBL Player of the Week three times in the season.

Highway shooting

After visiting a nightclub on April 8 2006, Hodge was on Interstate 76 in north Denver around 2:00 a.m. when another vehicle pulled alongside his and fired several shots. Hodge was told he came within 5 minutes of bleeding to death. [ [http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192559201&path=!sports&s=1037645509200 Winston-Salem Journal | Chilling: Shooting in Denver still haunts Hodge ] ] The case has yet to be solved. hahahha

Personal

Hodge was named by his older brother after NBA legend Julius Erving. [ [http://www.nba.com/draft2005/profiles/JuliusHodge.html NBA.com: ] ]

Notes

External links

*NBA-profile
*basketball-reference