Sacramento Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette doesn’t fancy leaving USA – NBA Update
While many established NBA stars and rookies alike are heading overseas to get a chance to play competitive basketball during the lockout, Jimmer Fredette has no such plans.
Fredette aka ‘The Jimmer’ who was the 11th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, made by the Milwaukee Bucks and immediately traded to the Sacramento Kings, doesn’t have an inclination to follow suit of NBA stars like
Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets in making a move overseas.
The player spent four years in college perfecting his craft and rose to super stardom status in the NCAA circuit. He seems content to bide his time now for finally realizing the dream of being an NBA player. As Fredette is a rookie
and doesn’t have an NBA contract yet, leaving to play in a foreign team could be risky for him.
While unlike other rookies there is little chance that Fredette could lose out on the NBA contract, still an injury would jeopardize his situation and cause him to lose plenty of playing time in the U.S.A.
Therefore Fredette is keeping his feet on the ground and just concentrating on the upcoming NBA season. His father discussed the regimen that he is following and the expectations he has from the NBA,
“There’s a few ex-NBA and current NBA players out there in that Utah area,” said Fredette’s father, Al. “Jimmer needs to be in great shape so he works real hard. He does a lot of sprints for running. He doesn’t do any distance,
but very high-end sprints. Then he does jumping drills, rebounding, works on agility, practices defensive slides, dribbling drills and shooting. He really covers them all. He’s really working hard trying to stay in top condition. That’s important, especially
if you’re going to be a running team, which I think they will be.”
It certainly will be important considering in mind that the Sacramento Kings have quite a young squad full of runners. Players like Tyreke Evans and John Salmons are hard to keep pace with for many in the NBA, so Fredette needs
to be in top condition for when the season starts.
The man responsible for “Jimmermania”, his popularity became a sensation last season, couldn’t get his favoured number 32 on a Sacramento jersey as it was already occupied. His father revealed that Fredette thus settled on the
number 7 for next season.
“Number 32 was already taken, so he said, ‘Well let’s keep it simple. I like 7,’ so that’s what he picked,”
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