(Apologies. Crazy travel day and this entire post did not show up. It should all be here now).
PHILADELPHIA - Ten games into his NBA career there are still some expecting Jimmer Fredette to be the savior of the Kings.
It's really not fair.
Fredette is in the midst of adjusting to the NBA game. Throw in a coaching change after seven games, an NBA lockout and a short training camp, it's been a hectic month or so of NBA life for Fredette.
"It's definitely more difficult when you have a coaching change for anybody, especially as a rookie trying to fit in anyway," Fredette said. "And then to have a coaching change and try to do it all over again during the beginning of the season. It's definitely a transition period but I'll do the best I can to try to go out there and play to the best of my abilities and do whatever the coaches want and what's best for the team.
Fredette started for injured guard Marcus Thornton Tuesday night in the Kings 112-85 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Fredette had seven points on 2-of-7 shooting, three assists and three turnovers.
"It felt got to start," Fredette said. "We didn't start off bad. We got off to a decent start."
The Kings were down 26-22 after the first quarter but the 76ers slowly pulled away in the second before blowing the game open in the third quarters.
"He's still adjusting but we played the game close in the first half when he started so it wasn't an issue there," said coach Keith Smart. "It was just an issue where the game got away from us in the fourth quarter."
The coaching change means Smart is trying new lineups in games. There isn't a lot of practice time so Smart is trying to figure out what lineups he likes during games.
Fredette played a big role late last Thursday in the Kings' win over Milwaukee, but played only 14 minutes in Sunday's loss to Orlando.
Fredettte is averaging 8.4 points, 2.3 assists and 1.8 turnovers. Fredette is shooting 36 percent this season (30.8 percent on three pointers).
"He trying to evaluate all the players out there because everybody's starting with a clean slate and trying to learn a whole new system and trying t figure out where he wants us to go and where guys are going to be on the floor when you penetrate," Fredette said. "It's all a learning process and we don't know 100 percent obviously where everybody's going to be."
Amid all of this, Fredette is still trying to figure out how to play in the NBA, when to look for his shot and when to pass.
"I'm trying to, I'm try to," Fredette said. "It's not there yet, it's only 10 games. So it's still a complete transition trying to be able to find out. It's getting better but now it's a different system and it's a different coach and you have to find out when he wants you to shoot when he wants you to distribute. So it's definitely a learning curve these first couple of games but we'll keep getting better."
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