An unscheduled Sunday drive into the lane was unleashed upon the NBA by
some of its most distinguished point guards.
Deron
Williams scored 57 points for a New Jersey Nets squad that, in four previous games this year, had managed to scrape together fewer than 80.
Rajon Rondo spiked his trade value for the Boston Celtics by providing
triple-double trouble for Linsanity and the New York Knicks. Derrick
Rose put up 35 points for the Chicago Bulls, Denver's Ty Lawson flirted
with a triple-double of his own and Chris Paul went for 28 and 10 dimes
in the L.A. Clippers' win over the Houston
Rockets.
And before the ultimate sage, Steve Nash,
knocked in 19 points during the Phoenix Suns' victory over the
Sacramento Kings, a kid sitting in the visitor's locker room was
contemplating what it will take just to secure his place in the
league.
A year ago, Jimmer Fredette was gunning the
BYU Cougars into March Madness and accelerating a national hoop debate
regarding his potential as an NBA player. Now, 33 games into his rookie
season with the Kings, the 10th overall pick in last summer's draft
isn't even working at point guard. Sacramento has turned to Isaiah
Thomas, the diminutive whirlwind out of Washington, to run its offense.
Thomas, selected 50 spots (last pick, second round) later in the same
draft, has provided the Kings with a sometimes-dynamic
option.
In Sunday's game with the Suns, Fredette
spent the majority of his 10 minutes sort of loitering in the corner
while other Kings -- including John Salmons -- attempted to initiate
Sacramento's offense in relief of the relentless Thomas. Fredette, who
had made 8 of 14 shots from the field in back-to-back double-digit
scoring efforts against the two Los Angeles teams, didn't do much (no
points, 0 for 1 from the field, one rebound) during his time in
Phoenix.
This three-game contrast defines his first
spin through the NBA.
"It's been up and
down ... up and down," Fredette said when asked to assess his rookie
production. "I've had some really good nights and some not-so-good
nights."
One season after leading NCAA Division I
players in scoring (28.9 points per game), Jimmer is giving the Kings
7.9 points per game and making a reasonably good 39 percent of his
3-point attempts. But 39 also represents his overall field-goal
percentage.
The adjustments have been a struggle.
While Fredette was working as backup point guard for coach Paul Westphal
to start the season, Westphal made some public declarations about the
questionable professionalism of Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings
made a coaching change, promoting assistant Keith Smart. Now that Smart
is in the big chair, Thomas has produced some big moments for the
Kings, with former starting point guard Tyreke Evans (a former Rookie of
the Year) sliding over when Thomas sits
down.
Fredette, who demonstrated the ability to
create opportunities with the ball in college, has been on a slower
learning curve off the dribble in the bigger, badder NBA. His ability to
make deep shots has, for now, limited his participation to that of
spot-up shooter.
"There's a lot of different things I
need to work on," Fredette said. "But just continuing to work in
decision-making ... when to shoot it, when to pass it in different
areas, and then keep working defensively."
Defense
was the greatest concern NBA personnel sharpies had regarding Jimmer's
adjustment to professional basketball. At BYU, his work at that end of
the floor often appeared to be painfully rare. In Sunday's game against
the Suns, Fredette spent most of his time trailing lane penetration by
Nash and Sebastian Telfair, situations made worse by what appeared to be
defensive-tactic uncertainty by teammates defending the
screen.
It was another in a season of lessons for
Fredette, who has scored 10 or more points in 11 games this season,
including four consecutive games in late January that included efforts
of 19 and 20.
"I think the biggest thing is just the
talent level," he said of his assimilation, "the fact that you play
against a great player every night and you have to be ready to play
every night.
"It's being more consistent, especially
when you don't know how many minutes you're going to get every night. So
you just have to try to be ready every night ... go out and be
aggressive and try to play your
game."
DEAD(LINE)
SPIN
With the clock ticking down in the NBA
trade marketplace, Nash-related rumors will continue to
surface.
He and the Suns have been pretty effective
at convincing league watchdogs that everyone should exhale rather than
spend time anticipating a deal. But the usual suspects -- and don't
count out the potential for inspired speculation involving new teams --
will be linked to Nash as March 15 approaches.
The
Suns' current three-game winning streak has halted some of the chatter
over the last couple of days, but back-to-back games with the Oklahoma
City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks could provoke some writers into
thinking Phoenix will more motivated to swap.
While
the NBA executives I know aren't exactly salivating at the opportunity
to raid the Suns' roster, one scribe from the consistently stellar site
Hoopsworld.com thinks Phoenix is swimming in trade chips. Here's
the link.
Robin Lopez certainly
could draw interest from contending teams beatin' the bushes for six
additional post fouls to have during playoff scrums, but the long-term
deals of Channing Frye (three years, $19-plus million after this
season), Josh Childresss (three years, $21 million) and Hakim Warrick
(two years, $9-plus million) make them less than attractive for most
potential suitors.
Those guys aren't exactly priced
to fetch something in return that would convince the Suns to compromise
this summer's cap flexibility. Players with expiring contracts (the
Suns' catnip) are more valuable to their existing teams in that regard
than the Phoenix trio is talented.
But you never know
when some team might take a whiff of that good ol' playoff aroma and
get jumpy.
SLIMMER
PICKIN'S
The latest edition of
draftexpress.com's 2012 mock draft has the Suns sitting in the 11th spot
and selecting ... Kentucky forward Terrence
Jones.
Jones, a 6-9, 240-pound sophomore, is a lefty
with similar skills (if a bit more advanced, especially off the bounce)
to those of Suns rookie Markieff Morris. His career at UK has been
marked by a frequently reported inconsistency of (let's call it)
focus.
A December story on Jones in a Louisville
newspaper was introduced by a headline that included the words
'inexplicable lapses.'
He seems like a dandy
choice.
The latest mock from NBADraft.net (from back
on Feb. 24) had the Suns picking ninth and choosing ... Kentucky forward
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
OK, most Suns fans who
follow college hoops would celebrate that outcome. But, if he leaves
Kentucky after this season, MKG might have to whiff on some of his
pre-draft workouts to still be on the board at nine.
