Jimmer Watch Game Two: He may have just signed his waiver papers
By Adam Maynes
Jimmer Fredette played in his second game as a member of the Phoenix Suns, and for some fans his performance was worthy of his immediate waiver.
The Phoenix Suns brought Jimmer Fredette in for a short and very cheap end of season tryout, probably hoping that he could be a cheap replacement to Troy Daniels who is likely playing his final games in the purple and orange.
All that the Suns and their fans want to see out of Jimmer is that he shoots 3’s, and makes them at a decent clip (Daniels is a career 40% outside shooter, so he should start there).
Unlike his first appearance in Sacramento where he only had one four-minute stretch at the start of the second quarter, against the Utah Jazz, Jimmer had a couple of stints, and took a crazy 10 FGA in 14 minutes.
Suffice it to say, he chucked them up.
Phoenix Suns
And then he bricked them as well.
Finishing only 1-10 from the field and 0-5 from beyond the arc (for 6 total points) is information enough to question his viability on this roster heading into next year.
However, it was the timing of a number of his shots that got under the skin of Suns fans.
With 2:57 remaining in the game and Devin Booker sitting on 56 points, Head Coach Igor Kokoskov brought Book back it (when it appeared he was done for the night), just to make one final push for 60.
With Jimmer on the court, it actually started out looking like the perfect opportunity to see the two players together, something that a lot of fans are/were hoping that could be a high-scoring backcourt duo in 2019-20.
Yet Jimmer screwed it up. Big time.
Everyone in that arena, watching on television, and listening on the radio, knew that Devin Booker returned to the court to score four more points. He was potentially two possessions away from reaching that total and it seemed almost a lock that he would have the opportunities to get there.
But while the Utah Jazz defense smothered him (they triple-teamed Book on almost every possession), Booker also had to fight a sixth defender.
Ironically not an official as one might expect.
Devin Booker had to fight his teammate Jimmer Fredette.
A BYU superstar, Jimmer came home last night playing in Salt Lake City, and the fans treated him with a hero’s welcome.
Even before checking in for the final time, Jimmer received a standing ovation, and knowing that the game was out of reach, the fans let him know full well that they wanted to see their former Cougar star score as much as their own Jazz players – and he played to their will.
In those final 2:57, Jimmer Fredette took five shots, making one and being fouled on two others, using up five additional opportunities that Devin Booker could have had at reaching 60.
To be fair, at one point (after Book had made a technical free throw and an incredible fadeaway baseline jumper to reach 59 points), Eddie Johnson defended Fredette on the television broadcast saying that he does not believe that Jimmer knew that Book was only one point away from 60.
Personally, I love EJ and believe that he is the best in the league at his job, but I also think that he was being too soft on Jimmer.
I do not believe (and based on the comments I was receiving on Twitter, nor do most fans), that Jimmer was ignorant to the situation.
Jimmer was playing for Jimmer (maybe it was ust the emotion of his return to Utah, or maybe he felt a little jealous that Booker was able to score the way he is in an NBA game and Jimmer can only pull that off similar statlines in a sub-par league in China), and at no point did he make an effort to find Booker, get him the ball, play the good teammate, and get out of the way.
Heck, maybe had Booker reached the threshold we all wanted him too quickly, Book would have sat down and Jimmer could have played to a crowd that so eagerly wanted to see him score totally freely!
(EJ even noted too that in those final moments, the arena suddenly sounded like a Phoenix Suns home game with the fans screaming in support of Jimmer and Book.)
Now, I have no idea how vindictive Booker might be; I have no idea how much he really cares about that particular number; I do not really know if Jimmer knew or didn’t know that Booker was so close to a historic scoring total; but based on the selfishness of his play when his other three teammates were obviously attempting to set Book up to reach the 60-point-plateau, I would also not be shocked if as soon as the season is over (unless Jimmer finds his stroke and suddenly lights it up at a near-magical rate), that he is waived, and everyone of us on the outside can point to the final 2:57 against Utah and question if his anti-Booker blinders were the cause of his setting from the Suns.
Must Read. Jamal Crawford has high praise for Head Coach Igor Kokoskov. light