Jimmer Fredette Must Find Home with New Orleans Pelicans
In his most famous novel, The Lord of the Rings, author J. R. R. Tolkien penned a famous phrase: “Not all those who wander are lost.”
The nomadic Jimmer Fredette, however, is lost. And he’s looking to find a future with the New Orleans Pelicans.
After captivating the college basketball world as a three-point-bombing folk hero, the 25-year-old has played on three teams in his first four years as a pro.
The 6’2” shooter got limited action with the guard-heavy Sacramento Kings for his first two-and-a-half seasons, and then barely saw any minutes during an eight-game tour with the Chicago Bulls late in 2013-14.
Some NBA drifters move around with a purpose. Ray Allen has played on four different teams, and that number will become five if the Cleveland Cavaliers can entice him to suit up alongside LeBron James again.
Shaquille O’Neal, who donned six different uniforms in his playing days, was another purposeful traveler.
Not Fredette.
This year, Jimmer is with New Orleans in search of playing time, a consistent role and, most of all, a home.
Jimmer’s Role with the Pelicans
When Fredette's decision to sign with New Orleans was announced, it really didn’t seem like a great fit.
But he needed a job, so the fourth-year pro signed a sub-$1 million, one-year contract with the Pelicans this past summer.
Here's what B/R's Alec Nathan wrote in July:
"New Orleans' guard quota was filled before Fredette signed, and his addition creates even more of a logjam in the backcourt. As a result, don't be surprised when his role is eventually marginalized.
And given the trajectory of his career arc, it's only natural to expect Fredette's stay in New Orleans to end much the way his time in Sacramento did: full of empty promise.
"
The Pelicans, like the Kings, are a team saturated by guards. With Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers and Russ Smith in the mix, playing time will be hard to come by for the former BYU Cougar.
The team has a three-point assassin in Ryan Anderson, and Holiday, Gordon and Rivers are adept at hitting long-range shots, as well.
But beggars can’t be choosers—despite the fact that this “beggar” has watched his three-point percentage rise from 36.1 to 41.7 to 47.6 through his first three seasons.
Nine games into 2014-15, Fredette is seeing 11.7 minutes a night. He’s scoring just 2.8 points and has hit one of his seven three-point attempts (14.3 percent).
Fredette entered the season with reasonably high expectations. In 18.4 minutes a night, he lit up opposing preseason defenses for 10.2 points on 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
But when the games began to matter and defenses began to care about stopping their opponent, head coach Monty Williams started resorting to other options at guard.
In New Orleans’ opening night showdown against the underrated Orlando Magic, Fredette saw 18 minutes, his preseason usual. But instead of going off, Jimmer was just...off. Way off.
He missed all six of his field goal attempts, including three from downtown.
Here's what Fredette told John Reid of NOLA.com after the win:
"It’s always tough when you don’t shoot the ball well. But when you play long enough, it’s going to happen at some point. You never like it as a shooter. But the good thing about it is that I got good shots. Some of them just [weren’t] failing. But I tried to impact the game in other ways. It was all about getting the win and [moving] on to the next one.
"
If only it were that easy going forward.
Since opening night, Fredette’s minutes have dwindled. He’s tallied a trio of DNPs, too.
But the combo-guard did have a solid showing in the Pelicans’ most impressive so far, a historical stomping of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, Nov. 14.
Granted, it was a blowout—a bloody, not-even-remotely-close blowout. The 139-91 victory included a number of franchise records for the Pelicans: highest point total, most field goals (56), highest shooting percentage (66.7) and widest margin of victory (48).
To his credit, though, Fredette definitely made the most of his 13 minutes against the Timberwolves, hitting three of his seven shots for seven points and knocking down his first three-pointer of the year.
There is going to be a game (probably more than one) in the coming months in which Fredette goes into full-on BYU mode and starts knocking down shots from the third row. It’s inevitable.
In college, he did it seemingly every night, and in the NBA he’s still managed to erupt once in a blue moon. Over the course of his first three professional seasons, Fredette totaled 15 games of 15-plus points, which is impressive given that he saw saw just a hair over 16 minutes a night.
But sporadic explosions aren’t going to get Jimmer a multi-year deal. If he wants to live summer-to-summer and cross his fingers that some team takes a flier on him every 365 days, then he’s traveling at the right pace.
To put himself in a position to land a contract—with the Pelicans or another team—Fredette needs to garner a legitimate role, consistent minutes and play on a team that needs him.
Right now, with the ‘Cans, he doesn’t have any of that.
The Prospect of Overseas
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that Jimmer’s role with New Orleans remains stagnant as the season unfolds.
He gets garbage time minutes, never wiggles his way into the nightly rotation and has another underwhelming season as a pro.
What would he do then?
Pretty soon, the aura around Fredette will stop glowing. For now, though, he appreciates the immense support he gets from fans.
Here's what he said in an interview with Laurent Laborde of MyNewOrleans.com:
"It’s great. I appreciate all the fans that are out there. I was able to get it while I was at BYU; my senior year especially things kind of blew up. I had a great year and my team was doing really well. We were on the national stage a lot. … I have a lot of great fans, and I love seeing the support around the country.
"
Kids squeal “Jimmer range!” as they heave up half court shots—and they’re not talking about his time with the Kings, Bulls or Pelicans. Fans still remember Fredette as a hero of the 2010-11 college basketball season.
But eventually, the Tim Tebow effect, so to speak, will run out. Just as it did for Timmy Terrific.
(Side note: Tebow should still be the NFL. But I digress.)
If Fredette can’t become a consistent NBA player, one who genuinely influences his team’s fate each night, then he’ll fade into the backs of our memory, just as former lottery pick Adam Morrison did.
Maybe Fredette finds a little bit of that BYU magic this year and turns himself in a solid role player the same way that J.J. Redick—another collegiate scoring star who stumbled out of the gate professionally—manged to do.
But Redick is much more athletic than Jimmer, and is also a significantly better defender.
Perhaps it’d be wise for Fredette to take a year or two off from the NBA in the event that he can’t find his footing with the Pelicans this year, with the goal of an eventual return in mind.
He would be a marketable commodity overseas and could easily find a job in one of the better leagues in China, Turkey or another country.
There, Fredette would have a chance to shine as bright as he did in college, put up crazy numbers and force himself back in a position to land another NBA gig.
The transition to playing overseas would certainly not be easy. Learning a new language and culture would be difficult, and leaving family and friends behind in the United States would predictably be even harder.
But if Jimmer continues to fizzle in the NBA, his best bet for a second chance would be jumpstarting his career with a short stint overseas.
Take Alan Anderson as a prime example.
After a disappointing opening to his professional career in 2005, the undrafted four-year starter out of Michigan State bounced between overseas leagues from 2007 to 2011.
In 2012, the Toronto Raptors gave him a shot at a 10-day contract, and he wound up sticking around for another year.
One successful season later, Anderson landed a veteran’s minimum deal with the Brooklyn Nets. Following 2013-14, Brooklyn re-upped with the 32-year-old forward on a two-year, $3 million deal. He’s now a regular member of the Nets’ rotation and accounts for 18.9 minutes a night.
Fredette’s NBA hopes and dreams lie almost entirely in his jumper and ability to run an offense. Anderson is a guy who defends, does the dirty work and gets on the floor.
They’re two completely different players. But if Fredette can't find a home in New Orleans, he could be forced to take Anderson's route back to NBA relevance.
All stats are accurate as of Nov. 17 courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com. Contract information was used via SpotRac.
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