Jimmer Fredette Has Earned a Rotation Spot to Start the Season
Entering the preseason it wasn’t hard to see a situation in which Jimmer Fredette found himself once again on the outside looking in at a rotation.
The Pelicans already had three players the team had some type of long-term investment in playing guard in Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers with Tyreke Evans set to play both guard and small forward depending on how the other options at the three spot worked out. With Jimmer signed on for just a single year and with skills that overlapped with Holiday, Gordon and Rivers there just didn’t seem to be a realistic way that he could jump over players to earn consistent minutes.
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Yet something funny has happened four games into preseason play. Jimmer has played so well so far that it is hard to find a good enough reason for him to not be in the rotation come the start of the season, just 12 days from now.
It started in the preseason opener when Jimmer went off for 17 points on 6-9 shooting including a 3-4 effort from behind the arc in addition to three assists. Since that time Jimmer has continued to be a scoring force off the bench by putting up a combined 38 points on 13-34 shooting including a 7-14 mark from the three-point line.
The most encouraging part of things for the Pelicans is that the outburst has come in a backcourt with Rivers, one that could be something the team uses as the basis of a second unit. With Evans now likely to start at small forward with Darius Miller, John Salmons and Luke Babbitt failing at their attempt to win the job, the Pelicans needed to find someone who could bring a scoring punch to the second unit to compliment Ryan Anderson. With Rivers and Fredette able to both handle the ball well enough to get the Pelicans into the offense that allows either of the two to attack a favorable match-up and be that guy.
Jimmer still has his faults. He has struggled to stay in front of his man on defense at times this preseason which continues with his career problem of being a net negative defensively when he plays. In fact during each of his last two seasons in Sacramento the Kings already bad defense gave up over 4 points per 100 possessions more with Jimmer on the floor than when he sat, numbers that typically are only found by bad defending big men.
For the Pelicans, though, that may not matter as much. If Monty Williams gets creative with his rotations (a big if), Fredette could essentially be on the floor at all times with an elite rim protector in either Anthony Davis or Omer Asik. With that protection the defensive limitations of Fredette will be downplayed a bit allowing his real skill of instant offense to shine.
The addition of Fredette to the rotation also allows for the Pelicans to have a second unit that does one thing extremely well instead of a bunch of things decently. During the game against the Rockets the Pelicans trotted out a lineup of Rivers, Fredette, Luke Babbitt, Ryan Anderson and Asik. With that group the Pelicans spread the floor with four players behind the three-point line and used a ton of quick ball movement and dribble drives into the paint to create open threes. While that type of offense won’t necessarily work on a nightly basis the group could very well give the Pelicans a six to eight minute stretch per night where they absolutely blitz opponents with scoring barrages led by Jimmer and Anderson to pad a lead. With how good the Pelicans starting lineup and the lineup with Anderson replacing Asik showing to potential to be dominant units that just might be enough for the Pelicans to make the playoffs.
There is a good chance that as the season goes along Jimmer gets exposed so bad defensively that the Pelicans have no choice but to remove him from the rotation but for now his shooting has made things really hard on the Pelicans. Jimmer has earned himself a chance to get a few minutes per night off the bench as a legit rotation player; we may as well enjoy it while it lasts.