I have no hard feelings about Jimmer starting, one way or the other. I think it would be interesting to see how well he would work with Tyreke and Cousins, but its hard to flat out say that he's done anything outstanding enough on a regular basis to warrant it. Of course I could come close to making that statement about Thomas and Brooks as well. No one on this team has a desirable assist to turnover ratio, so to pick one, and say this guy deserves to be our starter is just plain ridiculous.
But, back to Jimmer. I watched him play three years at BYU, and during those three years, I saw a player with good BBIQ, and with PG instincts. In a strange way, it was unfortunate for him that he was also a very good shooter, and he played on a team that lacked anyone else that could score consistently. Again, unfortunately, his team couldn't afford to have him sitting on the bench, so he was asked to not even try to play defense. So he came into the league with the reputation as a chucker, and a lousey defender, and someone that couldn't handle the ball well. Well, in truth, he was a lousey defender, and his ballhandling, while not horrible, wasn't ready for the pressure he would be getting as a lead guard. Where I would dispute his assumed reputation, is in his being nothing but a chucker.
If you watched him play at BYU, you would know that he spent large portions of the game trying to set up his teammates. There were many games where he only took a few shots in the first half. But in the second half, because his team needed points, he would take the bulk of the shots. I personally think he has better PG instincts than either IT, who I also watched play a lot at Washington, or Brooks. And in case anyone hasn't noticed, Jimmer's ballhandling has improved greatly this season. I do believe it was Jimmer that almost screwed John Wall into the floor with a crossover spin move and a left handed layup. I should also point out, that stats show Jimmer is the least turnover prone guard out of himself, IT, Brooks, and Tyreke. Jimmer turns the ball over one time every 15 minutes, while Brooks and IT turn it over once every 13.7 minutes, and Tyreke comes in at once every 13.8 minutes. When it comes to assist to turnover ratio, none of them would blow anyone's socks off. Of late, I don't recall Jimmer having any trouble bringing the ball up the floor. And as pointed out, if he's on the floor with Tyreke, they can trade off when necessary.
Defensively is where Jimmer still has a lot of work to do, but to be honest, and I know this will offend the sensitivities of some, but IT's defense has been struggling quite a bit of late. As a matter of fact, the reason Jimmer got an early call at the 2 minute mark of the second half in the Wizard game, was because IT kept leaving his man wide open for 3 pt'ers. One thing the league has figured out, is that IT has trouble getting through screens. Not that Jimmer is outstanding at that either. In the last game Jimmer played, they were setting double screens which Jimmer, Brooks, and IT all struggled getting through. So I guess my point is, that I'm not sure our overall defense would be that greatly affected by sticking Jimmer into the starting lineup. It sure would be nice to have someone like Anthony Davis out there next to Cuz though.