http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/bulls/2014/02/28/jimmer-fredette-to-sign-with-chicago-bulls/5917803/
Rough scouting report. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/nba/10/24/kings-nba-season-preview/index.html We have an all-world head coach though that gets the most out of his players, should be interesting. Watching the very fun Bulls-Mavs game last night was a treat. I wonder who Jimmer takes minutes away from? Let's say Jimmer gets 10 minutes a game. Given that he's supposedly not a point guard and is supposedly one of the worst defenders in the league, I wonder whose minutes get cut to play Pax's latest pet.
Well, there's a lot to be excited about and a lot to be concerned about. Jimmer scores with elite efficiency, but he's a very imbalanced player. It's fun to ooh and aaah at his 26 foot jumpers, but I think he shoots them because that's the best place for him to get his shot off........5 feet behind the three point line. He doesn't have the athleticism to put his skills to use, and he just might be a really bad defender. That said, we are a team that's prone to droughts on offense and he shoots 6 3's a game per 36 @ 49%. I see him being a situational player for us this year. When we're in the midst of an 8 point quarter and the game is slipping away we'll stick Jimmer in there and see if he can shoot us back into things. I'm actually not sure if he'll be able to match his production he had in Sacto. I lump him into the Marco/Korver/Dunleavy group of signings, and not the Lucas/CJ/Nate/DJ group of signings, despite his small stature. He's not a dribbler at the NBA level because of his athleticism, and he'll have the role of a shooter on this team. Unathletic shooters seem to have their efficiency drop in Thibs' system, and I'm not sure who he'll replace in the rotation. The easy answer is Snell, but to me they'll play very different roles for the team. I actually think the best prediction is DJ, which might not be good for his game since he seems like a rhythm player.
I'm pretty sure we all remember Craig Hodges. He was a 3pt specialist who played on the first three peat in the Jordan years. The guy was 6'2" and wasn't a shot creator or ball handler or even a good passer. He certainly wasn't a good defender. He played SG for his whole career. Fredette is pretty much the same player. I think DJ will sign a bigger contract elsewhere at the end of the season, so I would say he's in the Lucas/Nate/Marco kind of group. Guys who are rent-a-players. As for Jimmer? Thibs can win with girls and make them look like all-stars. He seems to maximize the strengths of his players and minimize their defects. How else could we start Boozer and have best or near best defense in the league?
"Fredette cannot create his own shot." This is the second time I've heard this in the last couple days. According to 82games.com, Fredette has been assisted on only 32% of his made baskets, a very, very low % for a SG (for comparison, Jimmy Butler has been assisted on 70% of his made baskets). Maybe Fredette can't create his own shot, but by the numbers, no one else is creating his shot 68% of the time. Fredette is scoring 18.7 points per 36 minutes with a very efficient true shooting % of .584. As for defense, this is where Thibs can help. In the Thibodeau defense, Fredette will not be asked to blanket his opponent, only to divert him to one baseline or the other. They'll have to work to avoid switches where Fredette is mismatched. Fortunately, the Bulls bigs are good at this, showing without losing their man. Yeah, this is gonna be fun.
Do you get an assist if you pass it to another player and he makes a 3pt shot from 5 ft beyond the arc? How about on those pull-up 3pt shots on the fast break? It is going to be fun. In a couple months, we'll be posting, "Derrick who?" [video=youtube;wCmdm6DgaW4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCmdm6DgaW4[/video] [video=youtube;0KrUQ083pww]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrUQ083pww[/video]
Who is Loki? Who is DRose? Seriously, though... We can hope he comes back 100%, but until he comes back at all, we should expect he won't.
Seriously though, are you nuts? Rose had a meniscus tear, not an amputation. Of course we should expect him to return at or near 100%.
That's the hope part. The reality part is that he's missed most of 3 seasons and when he did play, he had a PER of 10.0 for us. If we were built to win without him, we'd have a better chance in the playoffs this year. That's more true next season if he does come back.
Done deal, just not announced yet. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-bulls-fredette-reach-000255704--nba.html
The Jimmer Fredette era is about to begin! We need his 3 point shooting. He wont play a hell of a lot. Could give us a couple more wins we may not have had due to his shooting. I hope he will come in handy during out patented scoring droughts we go through.
