Here are five things you may not know about new Clippers sharp-shooting forward Jared Dudley:
1. Dudley is one of the most active participants in social media in the NBA. He was nominated for the HoopsHype “2012 Tweeter of the Year,” an award won by his new teammate Jamal Crawford. However, he did not immediately join the Twitter-sphere. Dudley said future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal got him into it when the two were teammates in Phoenix.
“Another thing that’s cool is something that Shaq kind of got me into, is connecting with fans,” Dudley explained. “My whole thing is, I wish when I was a kid, that I could have got free tickets. I never went to NBA games or baseball games, so it’s a way to connect with the fans.”
2. He grew up in San Diego, attending Horizon High School in Claremont and eventually winning two state championships at the Division IV level. From his freshman to his senior season at Horizon, the now 6-foot-7 Dudley grew nearly a foot taller. According to his high school coach, Zack Jones, Dudley was about 5-foot-10 as a freshman and by the time he was entering the AAU circuit after his senior year he was 6-foot-6.
3. Dudley was not heavily recruited out of high school, but he received more attention after a great showing in the summer AAU circuit with Double Pump basketball. The team included Los Angeles natives Jordan Farmar (Taft High) and Nick Young (Cleveland High).
“We went out to the North Carolina Bob Gibbons tournament, with [a lot of] the top players,��� Dudley said. “We won the championship. We beat Dwight Howard and Josh Smith in the finals. I had like 27 or 28 in the championship game against Josh Smith and I was all-tournament team.
4. One of the television shows he grew up watching was the sitcom “Martin,” starring comedian Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell. Dudley still watches reruns of the show to this day and while he claims to have seen every episode, he still “dies laughing.”
5. He hosts basketball camps across the globe. He started his annual camp in San Diego several years ago, but has moved into the international realm, hosting a camp in Poland this offseason and previously working in the Middle East and other locations.