Jimmer is drafted No. 10, expected to play for the Kings

June 23, 2011 — I won my friendly bet over a fishing trip to Utah's Bear Lake today when Jimmer Fredette was drafted with the No. 10 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Milwaukee chose him for San Diego to complete a trade that was proposed earlier in the afternoon.

Many Utah Jazz fans were sad to see Jimmer leave the state, but at least he'll be playing in the West, so he'll play in Salt Lake City more than once a year.

Jimmer's stock rose rapidly once NBA executives got to see Jimmer play in person rather than watch YouTube clips that emphasize Fredette's uncanny ability to hit 25 to 30-foot shots.

Just as I predicted, he showed the professionals that he is extremely quick, strong and athletic and is bigger than they had thought.

No. 10 picks often wash out in a few years and have short NBA careers. The biggest question mark about Jimmer is his defense, but he reportedly showed good defense skills in the workouts he did for the Pacers, Kings, Jazz, Knicks and Phoenix. He's a hard worker and highly intelligent, as well as competitive, so I'm confident he'll learn to play acceptable defense.

Here in Utah there is a lot of bias for and against Fredette. At a pickup ball game today, one of my basketball buddies said Jimmer can't dribble, can't pass and is slow and unathletic. I gave him a few facts, such as Jimmer ended up No. 3 on the all-time assists list in the Mountain West Conference, but it was obvious that his mind was made up. My suspicion is that he's a Ute fan and hates BYU and also suffers from anti-white bias. He said Jimmer will burn out after 20 games, while I said he'll probably start off a little slow as he learns necessary lessons as a rookie and then start to shine as he gets NBA experience. We didn't make any bets, but I'm guessing that a year or two from now, we'll see that Fredette is a fine NBA player. Sacramento will be lucky to get him.

Here's a comment I posted on a Sacramento basketball blog. I don't know whether it will be approved, but it summarizes my feelings right now:

"I watched almost every BYU game on TV since Jimmer joined the Cougars as well as several in person, including this past season's game at Utah, where the fans gave Jimmer a standing O after he scored 47 and was taken out early.

The kid is an excellent athlete, extremely quick, a great, great scorer, a hard worker, a willing passer, a great dribbler, and a man of good character. I watched him carefully on defense this past year, and while BYU played a zone most of the time, Jimmer did a good job of steering his man toward help. The Cougars play excellent team defense with everybody willing to help the helper, so Jimmer never had to play tough D, but when he needed to keep his guy from rounding the corner or getting to the baseline, he did just fine.

After the Cougars lost one of their top three players early in the season to an injury and then lost their best big man to suspension before the conference playoffs, Jimmer couldn't get into foul trouble as the only real scorer on the team.

Keep in mind that he got BYU within one point of the Elite Eight in the Florida game, even though his teammates shot horribly that night, and even though Jimmer suffered a calf tear early in that game. He was unable to keep in front of his guy after that calf injury, and he also stopped hitting his shot due to the fact that he lost his vertical jump.

You guys are very fortunate to get Fredette. He is a game changer. I was hoping he would stay here in Utah so that I wouldn't have to send extra money to my satellite TV company to watch Jimmer in the pros, but I also won a bet with a friend that Fredette would be gone before Utah's No. 12 pick in the first round. Now my buddy has to buy my gas for a fishing trip to Bear Lake. I hope we catch something.

I think you'll see Jimmer starting at Sacramento within a year or two, and though he'll have a learning curve as a rookie, he is smart and adaptable. Check him out on YouTube.

Note that Jimmer absolutely killed Arizona both of the last two years, scoring 49 the first time and winning by 30, giving the Wildcats (with No. 2 pick Derrick Williams) their worse home loss in history. Jimmer was taken out early or surely would have gone over 50.

Everybody on the Arizona team said they would never let Jimmer beat them again, and then he Jimmered them for the second time.

One of the best defenders who was selected in the first round today, Kawhi Leonard, couldn't stay in front of Jimmer, either, and had to watch his San Diego State squad get Jimmered four times in the past five meetings by a lower-rated Cougar squad.

As Barkley said, Jimmer is the real deal."