By George Orfanakis/ info@eurohoops.net
On July 3, the American journalist Mark Medina reported that Jimmer Fredette was leaving the Summer League and the Warriors, after receiving serious offers from abroad.
“What if?” many Panathinaikos fans thought, aware of the long-time love Dimitrios Giannakopoulos has for the American. Besides, we’re talking about a player whose name has been linked to Panathinakos multiple times in the past and now the time for a definitive deal has come.
Sure enough, about seven days later, Eurohoops broke out the news of the spectacular and very costly signing that takes the Greens’ backcourt on a higher level and places – finally – a genuine scorer next to Nick Calathes.
And when we say genuine scorer, we mean a guy who, in the past, has scored 24 points with the Knicks, 73 points with the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese league and who, in the last 3 years, counts 37.3, 37.4 and 36.9 points on average, in that order. After all, it’s not by chance you receive an offer that reaches 2.5 million dollars!
He attracted a lot of attention with the BYU Cougars
Love, cough and… basketball talent cannot be hid. We don’t know about the first two but, regarding the third, Jimmer Fredette has a lot of it and he was sure to put it on display from the first seasons of his college career.
In his first season he was a bit “slack” in terms of his offensive contribution, with 7 points on average, but then he began to show his real self on the court. Three-pointers, shots off the dribble, drives and a rich offensive repertoire allowed him to put on some amazing offensive performances but also to reach an average of 29 points in the last season (2010-2011).
It’s telling that in Fredette’s junior and senior years, Kevin Durant showered him with praise twice, in a way that, even eight years later, is impressive.
The first time, “KD” characterized Jimmer as a basketball “monster” and then didn’t hesitate to follow up with a comment that he’s “the best scorer in the world!!” If we’re honest, it’s obvious that the Nets’ superstar was exaggerating – maybe he didn’t really believe what he wrote – but, at the same time, it says a lot about the skills Fredette possessed from very early on.
How many points is Jimmer Fredette gonna score tonight? He is a monster…
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) 20 Μαρτίου 2010
Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world!!
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 27, 2011
The performance that Jimmer Fredette will certainly never forget came on March 11, 2011. He only stopped at 52 points, with a total of 22-for-37 shots, 7 made three-pointers and one free throw against New Mexico’s defense, who are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.
This is, of course, a record performance that, to this day, no BYU player has managed to outdo. But that’s not the only one he holds in that team: He’s the guy with the most points scored in one game (52), in a season (1068), the most three-point field goals made (296), most 30-point games (24) and most 40-point games (6). Not bad at all…
He was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 draft
Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Isaiah Thomas and several other big names were chosen lower than Jimmer Fredette, who reached No.10 in the 2011 draft.
This, of course, is an element that doesn’t necessarily say something about the subsequent course of these players, who are certainly having better careers than the Greens’ American. At the same time, though, it confirms the amazing skills the 30-year-old scorer had and still has.
His first season in the NBA went very well, without any injuries and with over 18 minutes of playing time. Averaging 7.6 points, 1.6 assists and 36.1% in three-point field goals, Fredette was satisfying and he put out signals that what was to come was going to be even better.
But after a while, things didn’t go as well. On March 2, 2014, he signed a contract with the Chicago Bulls and in the few games that were left until the end of the season he scored only 4 points.
Two equally mediocre seasons followed, with very few appearances and performances that were disproportionate to his talent with the Pelicans and the Knicks, before the player made the decision to leave for China.
Fredette’s presence in the NBA was essentially completed – for now at least – with a total of 241 games and an average of 6 points and 1.4 assists. If something had to be highlighted, that would be his consistency in three-point shooting, which is a basic feature of his game, with a career average of 37.2% in the NBA and 42.2% in the CBA.
The hacked account and the fake news
One of the most silly events – it’s almost not worth being commented upon – in Jimmer Fredette’s career came through social media. A brainless hacker managed to break into the player’s account when he was playing in China and make some noise with this tweet: “I will quit basketball because of my boyfriend. And yes, I’m gay #GoodbyeJimmer.” It got big fast and without too much scrutiny, as it usually happens in these cases…
The truth came a few hours later from Fredette himself, when he finally managed to regain control of his account: “Sorry guys, my twitter got hacked. I think we were able to get it fixed. I’m not quitting basketball haha.”
And in this way, the incident was over, with Jimmer having today a very beautiful family with 2 kids…
Sorry guys my twitter got hacked. I think we were able to get it fixed. I’m not quitting basketball haha.
— Jimmer Fredette (@jimmerfredette) January 15, 2017
Especially beloved in the USA, a superstar in China
In the summer of 2016, after a season that found him – among other places – in the D-League Knicks team together with Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Jimmer Fredette chose to sign a hefty contract in China and take his career into a different direction.
Right away he became the absolute superstar of the Shanghai Sharks, where, like we said above, he scored 37.3, 37.4 and 36.9 in the last three seasons, won an MVP award (2017) and top scorer award (2019).
Essentially, he only got halfway through the plan that wanted him going to the CBA temporarily to make a bang, raise his stocks again and then return to the NBA stronger. The first part was achieved but the return never quite materialized.
We say ‘quite’ because the finale of the 2018-2019 season found him playing in the colors of the Suns, even if it was for 6 games with an average of 3.7 points. As for the love that American fans still have for him?
The video of him being cheered in his return on the courts of the NBA says it all. Please note that Fredette didn’t return to the court of a former team but played in Utah with Phoenix. Look at the reaction…
Panathinaikos got what Rick Pitino had (also) stressed
Rick Pitino’s presence at Panathinaikos was accompanied by a series of recommendations that had to do with the Greens’ game but also the way Greek basketball is generally played.
One advice, then, was about the need to acquire charismatic shooters that would complement Nick Calathes and provide a lot of breathing room in offense for the entire team. That’s exactly what Jimmer Fredette is!
A born scorer whose main asset is his shooting ability – especially off the dribble but also coming out of a screen – and who is expected to punish the defenses of the EuroLeague in the new season. To what extent will he do this? The answer will be provided by life itself from October onwards, by Panathinaikos’s overall function but also the motivation that the player will have.
At any rate, the EuroLeague is a competition that relies heavily on three-point shooting and the players who can create for themselves and break down defenses are quite valuable. Jimmer Fredette has these skills and the only thing that remains to be seen is whether he will put them on display on the court.
If you’d like, you can enjoy a documentary titled “The Lonely Master” that ESPN has made about Jimmer Fredette…