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Grantland’s Sebastian Pruiti on Jimmer’s play off-the-ball

January 26th, 2012 Leave a comment Go to comments

Fantastic observation from Sebastian Pruiti of Grantland on how Sacramento Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette moves without the basketball:

Think about how Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton use screens. You can get dizzy watching them, let alone trying to defend them. When Fredette moves without the ball, he runs in straight lines, rarely changes his pace, and almost never creates contact with his defender. This allows his defenders to “lock and trail” him, so when Fredette receives a pass the defense is already smothering him. With the defense too close for a catch-and-shoot, Fredette is forced to create a shot using his dribble. Once that happens, the defense has already won – they’ve forced Fredette away from his strength, which is shooting, and right back to his weakness, which is creating his own shot with the dribble.

Read more of Sebastian’s breakdown of Jimmer’s season so far over at Grantland.

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  • NJ

    I think one of Jimmer’s strengths is being able to create his shot off of the dribble. You obviously havent watched him very much if you dont know that.

  • jj11

    Did you watch Jimmer in college? We would be triple teamed from half court with guys like Leonard, now forward of the San Antonio Spurs, draped all over him. He still led the country in scoring, and he did it creating his own shot. I would say his strength is creating his shot, which is why he doesn’t use the screens like Ray Allen. He needs to be coached to use the screens like Allen, because when you are always the guy with the ball you don’t learn to use screens, which is what his career has been like so for him, from grade school through college. You didn’t draft a catch and shoot guy. He is a good shooter, but he has never been catch and shoot. If that’s what you are looking for you should go back to his BYU game film.

  • jj11

    Did you watch Jimmer in college? We would be triple teamed from half court with guys like Leonard, now forward of the San Antonio Spurs, draped all over him. He still led the country in scoring, and he did it creating his own shot. I would say his strength is creating his shot, which is why he doesn’t use the screens like Ray Allen. He needs to be coached to use the screens like Allen, because when you are always the guy with the ball you don’t learn to use screens, which is what his career has been like so for him, from grade school through college. You didn’t draft a catch and shoot guy. He is a good shooter, but he has never been catch and shoot. If that’s what you are looking for you should go back to his BYU game film.

  • Jdunn09

    This is 100% correct. college is different than the NBA. If you believe his strength is creating his own shot in college you are correct. If you think his strength is creating his own shot in the NBA, you could not be more wrong.

  • Anonymous

    That pretty much sums it up. Despite what he did in college he just appears to small and to slow to be effective point guard in the NBA. And it is not like he makes up for it on the defensive end.

  • Calgtr

    How ’bout we give him more than a few weeks in the NBA before we draw such drastic conclusions? Did anyone catch his 15 (or was it 12? – anyway, it was a bunch) point, 6 assist performance in a single quarter the other night? Maybe he’s growing and developing – give him time.

  • Calvin Wells

    Signed in with another account this time to continue my thoughts:

    And another thing – take a look at Nash’s first few years. In year one, Nash played 10 minutes a game and averaged 3.3 points, 2 assists, and 1 turnover. The next couple years of Nash’s career weren’t much better, if at all, than what Jimmer is doing right now (all season, not just counting his hot streak).

    I have no idea if Jimmer can develop like Nash did. My point is that it took time for Nash to blossom. Gotta give a talent like Jimmer time to adjust and figure things out.

  • M8

    uhhh you write this after he has had three good games in a row? You are quite the writer lol

  • http://twitter.com/Kingsguru21 Nate Hughart

    Excellent points made by Pruiti on this. Jimmer has a long ways to go as a hybrid G, although I wouldn’t be so quick to blame the coaching staff for this train wreck of a team. It’s hard to run plays if your 2 cornerstones consistently sabotage you game in game out.

    That said, it’s clear Jimmer is still figuring out the speed of the NBA game. On a better team with actual leadership, I suspect that Jimmer would rate as a Jason Terry level player. Which, in my opinion, is not a bad thing.

    Steve Nash? Not even close. And I’m talking about a guy that played with significantly less talent on a Santa Clara team that got drafted 15th in arguably the deepest draft of all time. Nash didn’t become a quality player in 2004 8 years into his NBA career. Nash was an All-Star caliber player (or an actual All-Star) from his 3rd year on. Nash also played behind quality stars like Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd early in his career. So let’s not get crazy with that comparison.

    Jimmer has NBA talent, but let’s be realistic about this: Jimmer is not a NBA star nor did he ever project to be. Some can’t figure this out; others know it because we follow the NBA. It’s not like Jimmer is the first popular prospect to have a not-star quality NBA career. He’ll just be the latest in a long line of guys to do so.

  • bobbyjo

    No doubt but Kings have no coaching, passing, team play, defense or shooting.

    Reggie Miller would not thrive on this team.

    Give the man time to develop

  • Jasonjones

    Disagree completely. Jimmer is a point guard. Most point guards pass first and that sets up their shot. A lot of time Jimmer will use pick and rolls and will score first and open up the pass. A guard like Mark Price comes to mind. I think this could be his high end. He is a great shooter, but we shouldn’t peg his as a 2 guard, as he has never played this position.

  • jlew

    Dude I totally agree…I think Jimmer’s issue is that he got drafted to the worst team possible! He is trying to fit his style in with Evans, Thorton, Cousins and Salmons who are ALL one on one players. This team is full of guys who create their own shots and Jimmer doesn’t get dibs on the ball like he did with BYU. I think Jimmer can be awesome in the NBA but not on this team! And I am a die-hard Kings fan and Jimmer fan but he won’t succeed without some kind of change!!

  • BBallFan

    Jimmer was known for creating his own shot in college. This guy is a moron and he just lost all of his credibility. Pick a new career Sebatian.

  • CelticFan

    Jimmer is a currently a ROOKIE POINT GUARD without a green light and I doubt has been given a yellow light because of who his 1 and 2 guards are. Coming off the bench cold for limited play doesn’t create rhythm and his current assignment is to create shots for others as a point guard and give the other guards a blow. His numbers pretty much mirror Steve Nashes numbers in his first several years under similar circumstances. If he hopped in the game and started launching, he’d be hated by his teammates and would probably be pulled immediately. It’s still TBD, but give him a chance to get his NBA legs and learn. Steve Young had to bide his time until after he was 30 and now he’s in the Hall of Fame. Again TBD

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