Jimmer Fredette Will Be Solid In The NBA

The NBA players and owners finally reached a tentative, handshake agreement early Saturday morning to end the 149-day NBA lockout. Although the deal still needs to be ratified by both the players and owners, it appears that the training camps and free agency will begin on December 9th and the 66 game season will begin on Christmas Day. With a tentative deal in place, attention can finally turn from meetings and negations to the court and what is a better way to begin talking about the hardwood than discussing Jimmermania.

Jimmer Fredette had an outstanding four-year collegiate career with the BYU Cougars. Following his junior season, where he scored 22.1 points per game, Fredette led Division I in scoring with 28.5 points per game in his senior year. Since 2002, only Stephen Curry in 2008-2009 averaged more points per game in a season than Jimmer. As a result of his phenomenal year, Fredette won every major National Player of the Year award. With the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks selected Fredette and then traded him to the Sacramento Kings as apart of a previous draft day trade. Although many people doubt Fredette's capability to play in the NBA, Jimmer will definitely be a solid pro.

Many people compare Jimmer Fredette to J.J. Redick. Redick, who was taken 11th by the Orlando Magic in the 2006 NBA draft, is a prolific shooter like Fredette. However, Jimmer is a much more effective scorer than J.J. and considering that Redick has had a pretty good NBA career so far, there is no reason to think that Jimmer will not be solid in the pros. Redick relays heavily on the three point ball, while Jimmer can score in many different ways. In his senior year at Duke, 51 percent of the shots Redick attempted were threes. In Jimmer's senior season, just 40 percent of the shots he attempted were threes. Also, when Jimmer does shoot the three ball, he can do it in many different ways. Fredette can be a spot up shooter but he also can create space for his own three point shot. Redick is predominately a stand still shooter and can't create his own shot like Fredette has the ability to do. Lastly, Fredette's ability to create off the dribble allows him to get his other teammates involved in the game. In his final three seasons at BYU, Jimmer averaged at least 4 assists in every season. Redick never averaged more than 2.6 assists per game in college.

Most of the doubt surrounding Fredette is not about his offense, but rather about his defense and whether he can defend NBA talent. Many doubters point to the fact that Jimmer didn't play great defense in college but he did average more than 1 steal and 3 rebouns per game in each of his final three years at BYU. It can't be overlooked how much the Cougars relied on Fredette on the offense end of the floor, as he played more than 35 minutes per game for BYU and took over 20 shots per game. Therefore, Jimmer was often exhausted on the defense side of the floor.

There are many people around the NBA who also believe that Fredette will be a very good pro. An Eastern Conference GM said, "You know what the negatives are - defense, he is 6-2 and not all that athletic, all of that stuff. But you have a guy who can put the ball in the basket, and everybody needs someone like that. Even if you use him as a sixth man, a guy like Jason Terry or Ben Gordon, whatever their limitations are as point guards or defensively, you love the scoring they give you."An NBA executive said about Jimmer, "He was Jimmer Fredette. He shot the ball well, he handled the point and he played at different speeds. He needs to get better defensively. He is a tough kid, he is mature, he is very poised."