Jimmer Fredette won the 2010-11 Oscar Robertson Trophy, annually presented to the National Player of the Year in college basketball. Drafted by the Sacramento Kings, he never quite fit in there. Jimmer is an undersized shooting guard who doesn’t have the skill set to play the one. The Kings released him, and now the Chicago Bulls have signed him.
Both the Chicago Tribune and USA Today are mong the multiple sources reporting this. Fredette has cleared waivers and he is en route to joining the team.
The Bulls have made the announcement, saying Jimmer Fredette is signed for the rest of the season.
“We are very excited to add a player like Jimmer to our roster,” said Chicago Bulls General Manager Gar Forman. “We’ve followed him closely throughout his collegiate and professional career, and believe he’ll be the type of player that will fit in with our group and be an asset to the team.”
Jimmer Fredette’s amazing college career inspired “Jimmermania” which in turn led to the usage of the term Jimmer as a verb and a metaphor for greatness in the winter of 2011.
However, in two and a half seasons in the NBA he hasn’t been able to duplicate that. You can make some legitimate JJ Redick comparisons. JJ struggled at first to catch on in the league. However, he made “the leap” in his third and fourth seasons.
Perhaps Jimmer Fredette will do the same?
Jimmer Fredette also inspired the greatest Sports Illustrated cover ever.
And then his team was eliminated in the very next game after its release, once again giving more credibility to the “SI Cover Jinx” idea. His NBA career being a mere footnote thus far has not done anything to change that.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)