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SALT LAKE CITY — As a senior at Weber State, Damian Lillard only lost seven games. Jimmer Fredette lost just five in his final year at BYU. One of the biggest adjustments for the two former college all-stars has been dealing with losing so many games.
Both the Blazers and Kings have records below .500 and would miss the playoffs if they started today. Sacramento is in last place in the Western Conference and has lost eight of its last 10 games while Portland is 3.5 games out of the eighth and final spot in the playoffs and is slipping down the stretch, having lost nine of its last 12.
However, Lillard still has a strong hold on the Rookie of the Year race and recently won his fourth Rookie of the Month award, for the month of February. So far in March, the Oakland native is averaging 21.3 ppg and five assists, but one Western Conference scout believes Lillard still has areas where he can improve.
"I think Lillard is a very solid piece," a Western Conference scout told Sean Deveney of SportingNews.com. "He is quick, he is confident with the ball. He needs to improve his playmaking, but he is an excellent scorer.”
Meanwhile, Dime Magazine featured Lillard on its cover last month and called him the most exciting NBA rookie since LeBron James.
“He isn’t perfect but rarely beats himself by forcing a pass or taking ill-advised shots. His self-confidence is not also a blinder; he knows when to defer to Aldridge, Nicolas Batum or Wesley Matthews. Discovering the right combination of drive or pass and push pace or hold is the nuance every player takes time to master. Again, Lillard is just at an accelerated rate in his learning curve.”
The Blazers made a trade for former Jazzman Eric Maynor before last month’s deadline to act as a reliable backup for Lillard and lighten his load.
The Kings also made some backcourt personnel moves, acquiring Toney Douglas from Houston in a trade and releasing Aaron Brooks. However, Jimmer Fredette's position on the Sacramento bench is unchanged, much to the dismay of many of his fans. He is receiving only sporadic minutes as the second or third string point guard.
He recently celebrated his 24th birthday and the International Business Times was hoping more playing time would come as a present, but it hasn’t and Fredette has recorded two DNP’s since.
Cowbell Kingdom's Jason Ham and Jonathan Santiago recently featured articles identifying two areas Fredette could improve: his vocal game and his defense.
“Becoming more vocal has been a process for the sophomore guard,” Santiago writes. “On a team full of larger-than-life personalities, Fredette is modest and unassuming. He’s fits in rather than stands out.”
Fredette standouts on defense, but it is usually because his man blows by him. But Ham writes that the second-year guard shouldn’t always get the blame.
“Jimmer is developing, but he is a player that might find greater success on a team with a true defensive stopper in the middle. He can hang as a team defender, but the Kings consistently leave the lane wide open for the taking, which further exposes Jimmer’s biggest weakness.”
Fredette and the Kings take on the Phoenix Suns Friday night while Lillard and the Blazers square off against the San Antonio Spurs.
Andrew Devey is a BYU senior studying communications. You can follow him on Twitter @adevey or watch him following Fredette and Lillard's NBA season at bit.ly/JimmerLillard
