Mock draft has Suns selecting The Jimmer
May 5, 2011, 4:52 PM | Updated: 6:03 pm
Jimmer-mania in Phoenix?
Well, that would be the case according to the first mock draft produced by ESPN’s Chad Ford.
The list, of course, doesn’t factor in any changes that could happen with the draft lottery. However, the Suns are not likely to move up from their current spot(they have a 0.6 percent chance of winning the lottery), so odds are they’ll be selecting 13th.
Steve Nash won’t be around forever, and if the Suns want to continue to play their run-and-gun style, Fredette might be a great option. Like Nash, he is a dead-eye from long range and has a high basketball IQ.
He doesn’t have the ballhandling skills or court vision of Nash yet … but neither did Nash when he was drafted out of Santa Clara. Fredette’s terrible defense raises concerns, but at least he’s a fit on a team that has been willing to overlook Nash’s weakness in that area for years.
Great.
There are a lot of concerns about Jimmer, though his ability to shoot isn’t one of them. That said, some of the great college shooters have struggled to transition to the NBA (see Redick, J.J. and Morrison, Adam), as a lack of elite athletic ability makes it difficult to get the same looks they had in college.
Furthermore, while being a poor defender would seem to make him a good fit for the Suns, the logic that his problems there would be overlooked just as Nash’s were is flawed. After all, does anyone think people would be OK with Nash being a sieve on defense if he wasn’t so great on offense? Doubtful.
Will the Suns take the scoring machine from BYU on June 23rd? Nobody knows for sure. But if he’s on the board when they are up it is possible they could look to him as Nash’s replacement, albeit in a likely poor man’s variety.
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