Here's the deal. Last August, when everyone was on tenterhooks waiting to see if BYU was actually going to go independent in football, I started scouring the interwebs for any news I could find on the subject. It was the first time I had actively gone and looked up sports articles (shocking, I know, what with my love of sports and all). Then there was all the hype about BYU basketball before the season and how good they could be. Then the Jazz had their stint of however many straight double-digit comeback wins (you know, before Sloan resigned, Deron was traded, and they sucked it up). Then Jimmermania exploded and I spent ridiculous amounts of time reading articles about it.
Suffice it to say, I am hooked on sports articles. A vast majority of the people I follow on Twitter are sports analysts (both professional and amateur), and I frequently scroll down my feed and click open half a dozen articles that people have posted. Twitter is pretty much my main source for sports news. I find myself reading all sorts of articles that I never would have cared about before. I've even read articles about soccer. Crazy, I know.
So what does this mean for me? Well, it means that I know more about sports than I probably need to know. I can't rattle off crazy stats or anything, but I can make informed opinions about sports. Especially pertaining to the teams that I really care about (which basically boils down to the Jazz, BYU basketball, and BYU football).
If you don't care about sports and don't care about Jimmer and don't care about what I think of where Jimmer should land in the NBA and why, stop reading. This post will just bore you. But it's my blog, so I'll write about what I want, whether it bores you or not.
Everybody knows I'm obsessed with Jimmer Fredette. That's not exactly a secret. Which obviously means that I've been paying much, much more attention to NBA draft talk this year than I ever have before. Jimmer is a huge question mark in everyone's minds. Will his ridiculous college game translate to the pros? Will he develop some defense so he doesn't get eaten alive on the floor every night? Does he have the right size to actually play point guard, or will he have to be some kind of combo guard? Does he have the ability to truly run an offense as a PG, or will he simply be instant offense off the bench? Is he athletic enough to create shots against the athleticism of NBA players?
Then there's the question of the system that Jimmer should play in. Most people seem to agree that it doesn't really matter how high Jimmer gets drafted—it's more a matter of the team that drafts him. He needs to get in the right system to get a chance to succeed.
Which leads me to my reasons for why the Jazz need to draft Jimmer at number 12. (Come on, you knew this was coming, right?)
1. The kid can shoot. (I like that I say "kid" when he's only a year and a half younger than I am.) Have you seen the Jazz's outside shooting lately? It sucks. Like a lot. The best shooters they've got are probably CJ Miles and Raja Bell. (Blech, did I just write that? Yeah, yeah I did.) Criticize Jimmer's game all you want—you can't argue that he would bring some desperately needed help to the Jazz's shooting plight. Jimmer would be a threat as soon as he crossed half court, meaning that defenders wouldn't be able to ignore him. That opens up the floor for the rest of the players.
2. Jimmer dishes the ball. People argue this point all over the place, but Jimmer isn't a ball hog. I can't count how many times I watched him create plays for his teammates while he was at BYU. Let's look at the top three point guards in the draft: Kemba Walker averaged 4.5 assists per game. Kyrie Irivng averaged 5.1 APG. Brandon Knight averaged 4.2 APG. And Jimmer? He averaged 4.2 APG. Not too shabby, comparatively. Oh yeah, and he also scored 5–10 more points a game than those guys. I think Jimmer distributes just fine.
3. He's more athletic than he looks. Jimmer's a white guy. A white Mormon guy, no less. We all know it, and we all know that people look at him and automatically think he can't really play. But he can. Did you see what he did against double and triple teams all season long? He found a way to get the ball in the basket regardless of who was guarding him, and he played some long, athletic guys. And if he didn't get the ball in the hoop, he drew three guys with him then kicked it out to a teammate. I'm willing to bet that Jimmer won't see double teams as soon as he inbounds the ball in the NBA.
4. Jimmer can create for himself. Jimmer isn't just a shooter; he's a scorer. As Coach Rose always said, Jimmer's a relentless scorer. He knows what he has to do to get a shot off, and he does it over and over, regardless of the defense. He became a master at reading defenses and figuring out what he needed to do in individual situations, whether it be score points himself or draw off the defense and let his teammates get the points. More often than not, Jimmer wouldn't start putting points on the board until a good ten minutes into the first half, after he had figured out what the defense was going to give him. He's also got enough bulk that he can play through contact. And have you seen those off balance jump shots he takes? All he needs is to get his shoulders square, and he can let that ball fly. Remember this picture?
5. The Jazz need a face to the franchise. Stockton and Malone have been gone for years now, and with Deron Williams getting shipped off to the Nets and Sloan retiring, the Jazz have no face. They have no one person that identifies who the team is and how they play. People would argue with Jimmer being the face of a franchise, but what better person could there be for the Jazz? Jimmer's lived in Utah for four years. He likes it here, and he likes the Jazz. The Jazz are known as a classy, well-behaved team, and Jimmer is a classy, well-behaved guy. He's humble and likable. What else could you want as your franchise's front-man?
6. Jimmer's Jazz jerseys would fly off the shelves and his game would put butts in the seats. The Jazz were absolutely abysmal last season. I know everything was falling apart and there was a lot of turmoil and change, but that doesn't change the fact that they sucked, and people stopped coming to games. I know this shouldn't be the main reason the Jazz draft Jimmer—regardless of who's on the team, if they're winning, the seats will be filled. But having Jimmer merch for sale would give a little cushion until the team figures things out and starts winning games again. Jimmer has a ridiculous fan base in Utah, and if he's available and the Jazz think everything else fits, they might as well take advantage.
7. I really just want a chance to take a sign that says "The Lakers got Jimmered" to a game at the ESA. And I'd love to see if the "You Got Jimmered" chant survives into the pros. I feel like it has major potential to break out beyond college students. Everybody was chanting it by the end of last season—I don't see why it couldn't make it in the pros too.
Wow, this post is a lot longer than I expected. If you actually read it all, kudos. I may be rambling and people may think my opinions are crap, but I can't help but think that Jimmer would fit with the Jazz. The Jazz have a history of good guards, and I am so on board with Jimmer being part of that history. Sure, this might be because I'm obsessed and I just want him to stay on my team in my state, but regardless, I think these are some valid points. If Jimmer's there at number 12, I say there's no reason for the Jazz not to roll the dice on him. If given the chance, I think he could do some amazing things as a pro.
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