Taken with the Celtics lone pick in the 2009 NBA draft, 58th overall, Lester Hudson was a long shot to make the Celtics deep, veteran savvy roster. Even with a strong need for a backup point guard, it’s an uphill battle for any late round draft pick to make the roster.

Hudson, however, is no normal late round draft pick. This proved to be evident when earlier this month Boston made the decision to sign their rookie to a one-year non guaranteed deal.

Coming out of the University of Tennessee-Martin, last season Hudson was the nation’s second leading scorer with 27.5 points per game. A snare behind only the greatly heralded Stephon Curry from Davidson.

Sure he played in the Ohio Valley Conference against the likes of Southeast Missouri State, Murray State and Jacksonville State, but the Memphis, Tennessee native showed he could compete with top of the line Division-I talent. In one of his first games at UT-Martin, Hudson dropped 35 points and snatched 10 rebounds against Derrick Rose and the then third ranked Memphis Tigers.

This remarkable performance alone doesn’t compare to what he did in the third game of his career, amassing something that men’s collegiate basketball had never seen before. A 25 point, 12 board, 10 assist, 10 steal quadruple double.

His yet-to-be-complete life story is one of the more remarkable in modern memory. With a majority of NBA players coming from broken homes and impoverished communities, struggling each and every step on their way towards making it, Hudson exemplifies hardship to an even higher degree. As a 24-year-old sophomore at the UT-Martin, he overcame several situations that would have led him on a severely different, ultimately tragic path. Growing up in one of the most savage neighborhoods that Memphis had to offer, jumping from housing project to housing project, Hudson rarely attended high school, and when he did his grades certainly weren’t anything to brag about.

Beginning his organized basketball career as an 18-year-old junior at Central High School, Hudson was forced to repeat a grade. He soon found himself ineligible his senior season and with that realization, his grades began to stumble once again. He didn’t graduate, but thanks to his high school coaches strong convincing to Southwest Tennessee Community College, his alma mater, Hudson received the offer of a lifetime to continue his career. There he dominated the circuit for two years, but once again ran head first into the unforgiving stone wall that is NCAA academic requirement.

The Division-I schools who were once salivating over his talent started dropping like flies and Hudson found himself again at the bottom looking up. He decided to attend UT-Martin, which was the only school that would take a chance on him due to his academic struggles, and after sitting out a year due to an eligibility issue and paying his own way by various financial aid applications, Hudson simply refused to fail, refused to disappoint.

The 6’2” guard hasn’t let anything hold him back since and with a background tough enough to humble even the most iron willed individual, Hudson should eventually find his place. Maybe even solidifying a permanent spot as Rajon Rondo’s long term backup.

Lester Hudson’s story is not just a source of inspiration, it’s an unfinished tale of success.

With a player like Hudson scrapping in Boston’s backcourt, their won’t be any denying the Celtics heart as they strive for that 18th banner.

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