Negotiations—which ostensibly involve how much of Fredette's remaining salary for this season the Kings will pick up—are still ongoing, and D'Alessandro was quick to point out nothing was finalized. However, barring a major surprise, Fredette's nearly three-year run with the Kings should conclude with a whimper. Fredette has essentially vanished from Mike Malone's rotation for rookie Ray McCallum, earning just four minutes since the All-Star break.
It's an unfortunate end for both Fredette and the franchise, both of whom saw one another as a match made in heaven just three years ago. Then, Fredette was a collegiate superstar coming off two straight unbelievable scoring seasons at BYU. The Kings were a desperate franchise, pulling off a funky (and inexplicable) three-way trade that landed Jimmer and John Salmons in Sacramento.
Paul Westphal, an innovative thinker who spearheaded some of
the 1990s' most exciting teams in Phoenix and Seattle, was in place as
head coach. Westphal wasn't the type to force his players to fit
into rigid definitions. That seemed perfect for Fredette, a score-first
combo guard without the handles to be an NBA point guard or the size to guard 2s. If anyone could find a happy medium, Westphal was that guy. "We are an exciting team that likes to get up and down and score the basketball, so it's a great fit," Fredette said at the time.
Instead, Westphal was fired seven games into Fredette's rookie season. Sacramento hired then-assistant Keith Smart, a more rigid thinker who still hasn't found a square peg he hasn't tried fitting into his desired circle.
Smart, though just 49, was a "my way or the highway" thinker whose 93-170 record as a head coach speaks for itself. By April of last season, Kings players were openly complaining about Smart's lack of consistency, and at times, befuddling rotations.
Fredette was the epitome of jerked around in the Smart era. One night, he'd play 25 minutes. The next, five. The next, maybe he wouldn't see the floor at all. It didn't help that Fredette wasn't scoring at his collegiate heights and still wasn't an elite defender, but Smart did little to help matters. Even after Smart was canned this offseason and replaced by Malone, the writing was on the wall.
The Kings declined Fredette's option for 2014-15 before the season and openly shopped him pretty much every second since. Unable to find a team willing to give up a draft pick for his services, the situation looks bound for an understandable divorce.
The only question remains: What's next for Jimmer Fredette?
The Fredette market should materialize quickly as well. All released or bought-out players who wish to be eligible for the postseason must be off their current roster by a Saturday cutoff, according to the league's collective bargaining agreement.
That doesn't leave much room for dilly-dallying. The Kings and Fredette have until midnight Saturday to get this thing over with.
As for why contenders would have interest, the answer
is simple: shooting. Fredette doesn't have enough attempts to qualify
among league leaders, but his 49.3 three-point percentage would top
Anthony Morrow for best in the league. Now more than ever, NBA teams need shooting. As more coaches adopt Tom Thibodeauian, hybrid defensive schemes that meld zone and man concepts, having floor-spacers around the perimeter is no longer an option—it's a must to field a competent offense.
Fredette has an effective field-goal percentage of 65.4 on catch-and-shoot opportunities this season, per SportVU data (collected by STATS, Inc. and distributed by the NBA). Opportunity limits the sample size here again—Fredette averages just one catch-and-shoot chance per game—but his eFG% would rank among the 10 best in the league if he could double those attempts.
Sample size works both ways, of course. One could say Fredette hasn't gotten enough opportunities, but an easy counter would be that his splits would take a hit with more attempts. There isn't much statistical data that proves the latter point.
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