Sacramento Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette fades out of the limelight – NBA Update
The 23 years old California sweet heart Jimmer Fredette hasn’t exactly set the NBA on fire this season since joining up with the Sacramento Kings. The way he was projected and cheered by fans before stepping into the league; it seemed that he will perform wonders on the court.
However over three months have gone by and the charm is dwindling gradually, though there are still some “Jimmermaniacs” in every Sacramento Kings game, with Fredette bobble heads and play cards saying “We want Jimmer”.
The former BYU sensation helped Cougars to earn a 27-8 record, grabbing the Mountain West Conference Championship a year ago. But in NBA, he has hardly made an impact. His playing time has been sporadic, averaging 18.7 minutes per game during which he collected 7.4 points,1.9 assists and 1.2 turnovers. He had played for 15 minutes or fewer in 20 games while in 4, he played the role of a bench warmer.
It seems that he has lost his signature style 3-pointers, as he is connecting on 37.7% from the 3 point line in a total of 38.4% overall shooting average.
That transformed him from somebody to nobody in March.
“It's definitely not as crazy as last year," said Fredette, nearing the end of a quiet rookie season. "It's just a different phase of your life, and I've gone through that before."
A year ago things were quiet opposite; he was being tweeted by big stars of NBA and was mentioned by President Barack Obama. He was even bestowed upon with The Associated Press' player of the year honour.
Jimmer has been overshadowed by Isaiah Thomas, last year’s last pick who is now playing as a starting point guard for Kings. The 5’9’’ point guard is averaging 10.5 points, 3.7 assists and 2.5 boards in a total of 49 games. He started 29 of those while he scored 28 and dished out 10 assists on March 28th.
Clearly he is a way better option the Jimmer as he averaged 7.2 points, 1.1 board and 1.8 assists in 45 games, starting only 6 of those.
However this has led to aggravations in his fans, they blame the coach for his plight as he doesn’t allow him to spend more time on the court.
One of the more interesting events in this season erupted after the game against Miami Heat on February 21. Jimmer sat through the 48 minutes of play time and his brother tweeted.
“Can we please get rid of this interim coach who should be an assistant at best and bring in a real head coach."
Jimmer had to pull a retraction immediately and apologized on the behalf of his brother.
Coach Keith Smart has a plan of his own and despite consistent requests from fans on and off the court to let Jimmer play; he is teaching him the virtue of patience.
"You're making a transition of trying to get everybody else involved while still playing your own game," Smart said. "When you haven't done that, the NBA is a tough place to figure that out."
Tags: