KF Kings Prediction Poll #7: Where does it go from here for Jimmer?

[Bricklayer]

The 7th of our prediction polls (links to the other 6 below). What is Jimmer's future in the league?

Less than a month to camp peeps!

Previous Polls
Poll #1: How Will Reke Do This Year?
Poll #2: TRob's Rookie Season
Poll #3: How Does Our PG Position Play Out
Poll #4: Marcus Thornton's Future Role
Poll #5: Will DMC Be an All Star This Year
Poll #6: Where will We Finish in the West This Year

 

[funkykingston]

I think the most surprising aspect of Jimmer's rough transition to the NBA was seeing him struggle to handle the ball against pressure. I think we all expected to see some growing pains with regards to getting his shot off against bigger, more athletic defenders and we all knew he'd have a tough adjustment going from undisputed star and offensive focus in college to a roleplayer for the Kings but he was constantly gameplanned against in college and didn't seem nearly as uncomfortable as he did whenever an opposing guard got a little aggressive defensively last season.

And his struggles in other aspects reduced his confidence in his one absolutely bankable NBA skill - shooting the basketball. If he can't get that back he will be out of the NBA. If he can, he'll at the very least carve out an NBA career as a spot shooter. To be anything more than that he'll have to improve his defense and playmaking considerably. I'd like to be wrong because I like the kid, but I have a hard time ever seeing him as a starter in the NBA at this point.

 

[HndsmCelt]

I just don't see Jimmer ever being much more than a back up 2 guard. He may get the consistent 3 down, and become a good scorer off the bench bu givne his pathetic defense and relatively poor ball handling I don't see him as a starter.

 

[bajaden]

I think its far to early to predict Jimmer's future. I will admit to being surprised at his struggles with bringing the ball up the court, but I think that had more to do with his lack of confidence than it did his skillset. I saw him split his way out of traps in college. He was a lot more aggressive in college. Once Jimmer started playing defensively, he's was in trouble. I still think he can be a PG in this league. I'm not worried about his shooting or ballhandling as much as I worry about his ability to defend.

In any event, if he can approach the game the same way he played the last two games in summer league, he'll be fine. My advice to Jimmer is, don't try to be something your not. Dance with the one you brought. I'd also like to point out that the Kings did little to help him bring the ball up. I don't know how many of you remember, but Miller, Pollard and occasionally Webb, would set picks for Bibby when he got pressured. Miller was particularly good at setting blind picks.

 

[DesertFox]

JJ Redick struggled his first couple years, and had to make a lot of improvements to turn himself into a very solid 3rd guard.

Jimmer has looked even worse so far, showing less PG skills than JJ (who was a no question SG), and he was drafted higher too.

He will eventually carve out a 4th guard bench role somewhere, and I'm saying that only because he seems like a really good kid, rather than because of anything he has shown in the NBA.

 

[rainmaker]

Hopefully a Redick role. Keep trying to force him to be an NBA PG and he might end up on either another team or in Europe. I thought he'd do better with the ball in his hands when drafted, but his ball handling is not near NBA PG level. I also don't see him improving much in that area, as again ball handling is like a first touch in soccer, you develop it at a young age.He might be a hard worker, which I don't doubt, but that doesn't equate to improving his ball handling which I don't think can be done at his age.

Move him off the ball,run him off screens, run misdirection and get him open on the wing, and use him similarly to Redick or Korver. He'll have to improve defensively to get on the court as much as those two, but in that role I think he has a future in this league. But playing him at point is fitting a round peg into a square hole, imo, which this organization seems addicted to doing.

Trying to turn Jimmer into an NBA PG while at the same time trying to turn Reke into a spot up shooter, off the ball player is something I highly question. I'd do the opposite and be patient while they take their lumps.

 

[Trueblood]

I just don't see where he fits on the current roster. Of course, there could be trades but as of now, he has no role here so I voted for him being a solid, role playing bench guy for someone else.

 

[mac]

Hopefully a Redick role. Keep trying to force him to be an NBA PG and he might end up on either another team or in Europe. I thought he'd do better with the ball in his hands when drafted, but his ball handling is not near NBA PG level. I also don't see him improving much in that area, as again ball handling is like a first touch in soccer, you develop it at a young age.He might be a hard worker, which I don't doubt, but that doesn't equate to improving his ball handling which I don't think can be done at his age.

Move him off the ball,run him off screens, run misdirection and get him open on the wing, and use him similarly to Redick or Korver. He'll have to improve defensively to get on the court as much as those two, but in that role I think he has a future in this league. But playing him at point is fitting a round peg into a square hole, imo, which this organization seems addicted to doing.

Trying to turn Jimmer into an NBA PG while at the same time trying to turn Reke into a spot up shooter, off the ball player is something I highly question. I'd do the opposite and be patient while they take their lumps.

Redick has developed decent playmaking skills though. Not quite as a PG setting people up, but rather that he is able to recognise and make the correct play on a consistent basis. I would say Jimmer probably has even better court sense and vision than JJ, but has yet to get a feel for the NBA to know when he should pass and things like that. Redick also tries pretty hard on defense. A few years ago he was chasing Ray Allen all over the court when the Magic were playing the Celts in the playoffs, and did a pretty good job of it.

 

[pshn80]

Even if his ball handling and dribbling and court vision all improve as I expect they will, his foot speed will lead him to another profession at an early date. And I've never heard of a way to improve foot spefed.

 

[Hadlowe]

Even if his ball handling and dribbling and court vision all improve as I expect they will, his foot speed will lead him to another profession at an early date. And I've never heard of a way to improve foot spefed.

His combine numbers were pretty solid in that regard.

re: defense. His iso defense last season was above average, if I recall. Where he gets burned is in pick and roll situations where Cousins and our bench bigs were atrocious at hedging the pick. Young team, yadda yadda. It also didn't help that when Jimmer was in, he was generally put in small ball lineups with Thomas or Thornton in the backcourt. He was routinely targeted and abused on switches in those lineups.

I'm not trying to say that he was a good defender by any stretch of the imagination, but we were such a lousy defensive team last year that Fredette is an easy target for a massive team breakdown in that regard.

Offensively, the dude has game. The super-long range stuff is a neat trick, but he relies on it too much (buying into his own hype). In college, he scored the way he did by being a crafty offensive player as well as a long-range threat. He would get into the lane on cuts or off picks and ball-fake opponents into the air for easy free throws. It's tougher to do that in the NBA as a young fella. The older defenders have seen the fakes before and have the training to not bite on the obvious ones. In order to replicate his college success, he is going to need to get blocked inside a few more times to learn the limitations of the older defenders.

I think he'll eventually start as point guard for another team, although I continue to maintain that he is exactly the type of player you want in a backcourt with Tyreke, and Jimmer's departure in favor of Thomas/Brooks means that Tyreke will continue without a place on this team.

 

[bajaden]

Hopefully a Redick role. Keep trying to force him to be an NBA PG and he might end up on either another team or in Europe. I thought he'd do better with the ball in his hands when drafted, but his ball handling is not near NBA PG level. I also don't see him improving much in that area, as again ball handling is like a first touch in soccer, you develop it at a young age.He might be a hard worker, which I don't doubt, but that doesn't equate to improving his ball handling which I don't think can be done at his age.

Move him off the ball,run him off screens, run misdirection and get him open on the wing, and use him similarly to Redick or Korver. He'll have to improve defensively to get on the court as much as those two, but in that role I think he has a future in this league. But playing him at point is fitting a round peg into a square hole, imo, which this organization seems addicted to doing.

Trying to turn Jimmer into an NBA PG while at the same time trying to turn Reke into a spot up shooter, off the ball player is something I highly question. I'd do the opposite and be patient while they take their lumps.

I think it depends on what kind of PG you want him to be. I happen to know that the type of player they want him to mimic is Bobby Jackson. Someone that can come off the bench and put up points, but still handle the ball. I disagree about not being able to improve ballhandling skills. A persons imprinting ability doesn't suddenly turn off at age 21. I don't care what age you are, if you practice something enough, your going to get better at it. I certainly don't disagree that your at somewhat of a disadvantage to players that were born with a basketball in their hands. But he doesn't have to be J. Will.

If he can approach the game the same way he did his last summer league game, with that same type of aggression, he'll be fine. I still believe that most of his problem was between his ears. 50% of just about every sport is confidence. Once you lose it, you start pressing, and it affects just about every other aspect of you game. I think the speed of the NBA surprised him, and then intimidated him. Once he was back on his heels, he was in trouble. I watched almost every game this kid played his last two years in college, and he's better than he showed last season. Or I'm just a bad judge of talent.

 

[Kingster]

Jimmer is currently the 3rd point guard off the bench and the 3rd 2-guard off the bench. I could easily see him packaged in a deal because he's just not going to get the playing time with the current roster.

As far as his ballhandling, it's not a surprise to me. He was maybe an average to good ballhander in college, and the NBA isn't college. His lack of speed and quickness doesn't help him any. If you can't separate from a defender, it's going to put that much more pressure on you as a dribbler. Oftentimes I look at Jimmer and the guy guarding him is all over him, just sticking to him like glue. He definitely needs to work on coming hard off of screens without the ball (like Kyle Korver). Eventually, I think he'll find a home as a spot player, but I doubt it's with the Kings.