BYU basketball: How is Jimmer Fredette not in the NBA?

BYU basketball’s Jimmer Fredette is dominating the CBA. But how is the former Cougar not in the National Basketball Association?

There exist many great mysteries on the planet we currently reside. How were the Egyptian pyramids built? Where did the Moai statues on Easter Island come from? Who designed Stonehenge?

Recently, a new mystery has surfaced.

How in the world is former BYU basketball great Jimmer Fredette not playing in the NBA?

After an incredible collegiate campaign where he was named Player of the Year and led BYU basketball to a 32-5 record, Fredette’s NBA career curiously fizzled out.

Attempts by multiple coaches to use him as an off the bench shooting guard failed, while others simply gave up on using him in any other capacity.

In a desperate move to prove himself, Fredette signed a contract to play basketball professionally in China. There he was selected an All-Star, averaged 37.4 points per game, and was given the league’s international MVP award.

His team’s arena of 5,000 seat capacity, went from an average attendance of 1,000 to sold out in weeks. He even received a nickname from fans to honor his amazing performances: Jimo Dashen-the Lonely God.

Despite his accomplishments, the NBA seemingly ignored him. He garnered little, if any attention from scouts.

Now, it’s obvious the Chinese Basketball Association has nowhere near the talent of the NBA. Made up of NBA “has beens” – American players that never made it in the NBA, and the nation’s best homegrown options, the CBA doesn’t compare.

Still, to think that Fredette couldn’t be a dynamic scorer in the NBA, after what he doing over there, is head-scratching to me. How can nobody in “the Association” not want or need that?

Are NBA owners and coaches that closeminded to think that such production could not transfer into their league?  Jimmer Fredette has proven he can still play at a world class level, albeit against lesser talent.

It is also evident, that he does it with the ball in his hands, as a point guard, off the dribble. Many teams already have that guy. It would be illogical for him to play for more than half of the teams that have that position covered.

Of course, I’m not talking about those teams. But, as we all know, there are plenty of teams in the NBA that do not. These perennial division bottom dwellers sell few tickets, give fans little to cheer for, and have no prayer of making the playoffs.

To this group I ask, why? Why not Jimmer?

Jimmer Fredette is the type of player that could instantly put a team like yours in a position to improve. Or at least sell some tickets. In a best-case scenario, Jimmer turns into Jeremy Lin in New York.

Can those teams in a position to bring in BYU basketball’s most prolific alumni back, lack the foresight to see the impact he could make on their organization?

They must, or he’d already be here.

The saddest part of this situation is that Jimmer’s time is slipping away. He’ll be 29 in February, leaving three or four more years in his prime. What a shame it is, that this tragedy is actually coming to fruition.

I realize there are many naysayers of Jimmer Fredette. In fact, on my ride home from work, Bomani Jones of “The Right Time with Bomani Jones” on ESPN radio talked of Jimmer’s recent 50-point performance.

After discounting it by alluding to the assumption that everybody in the CBA averages high point totals, he then talked about the recent altercation with Stephon Marbury. He claimed that Jimmer really shouldn’t push a “legend” that the Chinese revere as a national hero.

Many may agree with Mr. Jones, but I on the other hand, feel his opinion and his comments are absolutely ludicrous.

He, along with others who share in this insanity, are surely part of the reason why Jimmer is overseas.

But still, there has got to be somebody in the NBA that sees what this guy could do. Doesn’t there?