After a successful basketball career, former Saluki and NBA point guard Troy Hudson became a writer, a rapper and even wrote a movie script.

Hudson played at SIU from 1995-1997 and played with five NBA teams, including his longest stint of five years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He last played in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors in the 2007-2008 season, but attempted a comeback in 2012 when he signed with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Developmental League before he retired in 2013.

“A lot of people didn’t expect me to be at that level,” Hudson said. “I cherish it every moment that I got to play with some of the greatest players of all time.”

Hudson returned to SIU Saturday for his new book signing of “Blood, Money, and Spirit”.

He said the book is about athletes and entertainers who come from minority neighborhoods and go broke after the paychecks stop coming.

“It’s like 85 percent of retired players go broke after five years post play,” Hudson said. “There’s many reasons why they go broke, but I think if we find a way to instill the value of finances in our neighborhoods and our homes, I think that number would really go down.”

While Hudson said he is financially comfortable, the book has several personal reflections. He said during his career, he heard many stories of other people in his industry struggling with financial decisions.

He said he wrote a journal and when he read it, he thought it would be a good book.

“I wrote this book in eight years,” Hudson said. “A lot of the things in the book were personal feelings, personal situations that I was going through with friends and family.”

After his basketball career Hudson blogged for Huffington Post and became a gospel rapper. Hudson said he wrote a basketball movie he is pitching and he intends to buy a gym in Carbondale to make a performing arts school for kids.

Hudson said part of the reason he is working on other things is to keep making money to sustain himself and his family.

“I have got to stay busy,” Hudson said. “If I’m not doing something, I’ll go crazy.”

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], on Twitter @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269