The San Antonio Spurs may have signed the biggest free agent available this offseason, but they still aren't quite done yet. LaMarcus Aldridge was a very nice signing for the Spurs, but now they are looking for ancillary players for the games when Gregg Popovich inevitably sits some of his older players. The reports have been that the Spurs are working hard to find shooters, and they are reportedly finalizing a deal with Jimmer Fredette, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
The reported deal would be for Fredette to get a training camp invite and would include a modest financial guarantee, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Spurs apparently have every intention to give Fredette a real shot to make the team, as they can never have too many shooters.
The way the roster is currently constructed, the Spurs have three point guards and two shooting guards on the team. This would make it hard for Fredette to find minutes, but if he can shoot the ball like we all know he can, he will force his way into minutes. As mentioned before, Popovich likes to rest his players throughout the season, so if Fredette were to make the team, he would likely get a chance for some playing time, at least in those games.
Fredette is 6-foot-2, and while he can play both point guard and shooting guard, he is better off as a shooting guard since he is a scorer first and not much of a distributor.
Fredette played college basketball at BYU and was one of the biggest stars in the nation in his final two years on campus. Between his junior and senior years, Fredette averaged 25.6 points per game while making 41 percent of his threes, many of which were taken from way beyond the college three point line.
Fredette was then drafted with the tenth overall pick in the 2011 draft and has yet to excel in the NBA. In college, Fredette did everything for BYU and always had the ball in his hands. In the NBA, he is probably best suited as a spot up shooter, but he is undersized and unable to guard other shooting guards.
For his NBA career, Fredette has shot 38 percent from three point range while only playing 13.7 minutes per game. If Fredette can make shots, the Spurs will find a spot for him on the team and give him some playing time, regardless of how much of a liability he is on defense. Knowing the way the Spurs are with unheralded players or castoffs, Fredette likely landed in the perfect place to resurrect his career, assuming the deal gets done.
