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Former local college standouts Jimmer Fredette and Damian Lillard head into this weekend’s NBA All-Star break with very different plans.
Lillard was the No. 1 overall pick in the Rising Stars Challenge draft and will play for Team Shaq alongside last year’s Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving. Additionally, Lillard will compete for the best time in the Skills Challenge against the likes of Jeremy Lin, Tony Parker and others.
The break will be welcomed by the Portland Trail Blazers, who are currently riding a four-game losing streak including a 117-104 loss to Miami last night. Lillard scored a game-high 33 points just two nights after shooting an abysmal 1-for-16 in a loss to Orlando.
“I think the biggest thing is just moving on,” Lillard said about his poor shooting performance in an interview with Jim Rome. “Any time you think about a bad shooting night, any time something didn't go well, it tends to carry over and I might have another night like that because I'm thinking about what happened in Orlando. We play so many games, it's an 82-game season so there's a quick opportunity to come out and have a better shooting night.”
Rome and Lillard talked about the rookie’s time in Ogden, difference between the pros and college and his lack of playing time at a private high school in Oakland.
“Sometimes I would play two or three minutes or other times I wouldn't see the floor,” Lillard said. “It was tough for me, because everywhere I had been, I wasn't always the best player, but I played.”
Jimmer Fredette is currently in that same situation in his second year with the Sacramento Kings.
Just two weeks ago, Fredette played 23 minutes and scored 14 points in a 39-point loss to the New York Knicks. However, last night the former BYU standout didn’t see any playing time as the Kings had a two-game win-streak ended with a 108-101 loss to Memphis.
Riley Schmitt of Rant Sports feels that the Sacramento Kings are to blame for Fredette’s lack of success so far in his career and believes that the organization is holding him back.
“With a lot of teams looking for a guy who can come off the bench and score, Fredette should be a popular name at the upcoming trade deadline. The sad thing is that he could be a key member to the team he is currently on, but they keep playing players that have no future with the team.”
Sim Risso of the Bleacher Report has some ideas on how the Kings can revamp their roster and believes that Fredette is an important piece of the puzzle.
“But he's capable of being a solid role player on the Kings. He's also shown enough to where picking up his option for 2014-15 seems like a good investment. With that being the case, the Kings should see how he develops over the next few seasons.”
Fredette was hoping to be included in the 3-point Shootout as a part of All-Star weekend, but was left off as a competitor because his percentage wasn’t high enough and he hadn’t attempted enough shots. Instead he will get a chance to take a break from basketball for a few days. The NBA begins the second half of league play next week with Fredette and the Kings hosting the San Antonio Spurs, while Lillard and the Blazers will welcome the Phoenix Suns.
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
