NBA Scouts Agree: Jimmer Fredette Is Very, Very White

The best part about yesterday's foreseeable on Jimmer Fredette wasn't the obvious notion that Fredette might make for a less-than-dominant NBA player. Far better and more obvious was the list of less-than-dominant NBA players that several front-office types used to assess Fredette: Jeff Hornacek, Steve Kerr, Kyle Korver, and Jason Kapono. (Adam Morrison makes an appearance later in the story; how J.J. Redick doesn't is a mystery.) Notice a common theme?

Interviews with a half-dozen N.B.A. scouts and front-office personnel provide a portrait of Fredette as a professional prospect. He is generally considered offensively gifted, defensively challenged and destined to be a solid rotation player in the N.B.A....

"I think he'll be a really good pro, but not great," said a Western Conference executive, who would not be named because he is not permitted to talk about prospects. "He'll be a guy who is a better Steve Kerr, a better Kyle Korver. A better Kapono. Both those guys can't put the ball on the floor."

Not permitted to talk about prospects or not permitted to talk about Fredette without likening him to white players? It's a shame there isn't a more apt comparison out there. You know, a tweener college shooting guard who led the nation in scoring and shot his team deep into the NCAA Tournament all while people questioned his defense, his size, his athleticism, and his pro prospects in general. Someone who created space for himself with an array of crafty feints and footwork. Someone other than Stephen Curry, I mean, since he's not white.

N.B.A. Scouting Report on Fredette: Good but Not Great [New York Times]