This July, Jimmer Fredette will become the first athlete that hasn’t even played a game in his respective professional sport to participate in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe. While there, he’ll compete against the likes of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Aaron Rodgers, Jason Kidd and Jerry Rice, just to name a few. So with much on his mind, I had a chance to speak with Jimmer last week about his golf game, workouts and the upcoming NBA Draft.
Dime: On a scale of Jordan (40-1 to win the tournament) to Barkley (500-1), where do you think your golf game ranks?
Jimmer Fredette: Yeah I’m not up to Michael Jordan-level, that’s for sure…I’m probably more towards Barkley. I haven’t played a whole lot. I can hit the ball decent and I’ll hit some decent shots, but in the workout my driving hooked. If I get it straight then I’ll be okay…but I’m glad that I’m there at 40-1 with Michael Jordan, even though he’s probably a lot better than I am.
Dime: What will be more nerve-racking: Waiting for you name to be called at the Draft or your first shot at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in July?
JF: You know that’s a great question, a really great question. Because I’m playing a sport I’m not used to playing on TV, you know? So that will be pretty nerve-racking the first time I get up there with a lot of people watching. But I think the Draft will be just a little more nerve-racking for me just ’cause you never know where you’re gonna go. You never know how long you’re gonna be waiting to hear your name called…and how quick it comes and what team you’re gonna play for.
Dime: How is it going to be for you to make a three-foot put on live national TV instead of a big free throw?
JF: Different…different for sure. Like I said, I never played golf on TV before and I haven’t, you know, played that often. I’m not a regular golfer…like some of these guys are. That’s gonna be nerve-racking for sure. Hopefully I can just dial it in and not worry about the cameras and people watching…just play. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I can get some help from my caddie, read the green a little bit and, you know, put it in the hole.
Dime: How comfortable do you feel in the short game versus driving?
JF: I think my putting game is a little bit better than my driving game. I think I can have some good putts – that’ll be more of my strong point, so hopefully I can rely on that and make some good puts.
Dime: What’s your NBA workout schedule been like?
JF: I worked out for the Pacers (5/31) and then the Knicks (6/2). Then hopefully I’ll have the Kings, the Suns and the Jazz. But…uh…hopefully I’ll get all those teams in and I think that they’re pretty interested. My agency has been doing a great job talking to teams, trying to find out who’s the most interested and what they see me as and how I fit in to the teams.
Dime: You mentioned the Suns as a team you might work out for. What do you think about when you hear that team’s name?
JF: Obviously Steve Nash, and what he’s been able to accomplish…two-time MVP and everything. It’s an up-tempo system, lots of ball screens. They put the ball in the point guard’s hands and let him make decisions, and that’s the way I like to play. It would be a good fit to learn from Steve Nash, one of the greatest of all time, and you know, they play in the exact system that I played in and like to play in.
Dime: What was it like going out there every night knowing that you were the guy the opponent was focusing on? How do you see that changing in the NBA?
JF: It was a challenge. I definitely like challenges. It was a challenging position to be in, the position I was in this year and the last couple of years. The whole defensive scheme to try to get the ball out of my hands, making other players on my team make shots. But we had a very good team, and we made them pay when they were able to do that. And I think that’s why I was able to score the ball as much as I did this year, ’cause I had good teammates and they played well. They could make plays on their own. It was a fun thing knowing I had to bring my best game every single night. If I didn’t, we would get beat.
Going to the NBA, it’ll be different. I don’t expect to be the main scorer. Hopefully I’ll go in and make an impact, be able to score the ball and do whatever the coaches need me to do to help the team out. And then gain more trust and earn a more prominent role on the team. That’s what I’m looking forward to do in my rookie year in the NBA.
Dime: What are your agents telling you to expect with the lockout? Are you doing anything differently because of a potential lockout?
JF: As of right now, I’m not doing anything differently because the draft process is exactly the same so far. You know, doing these workouts and then obviously they’ll have the draft. Everything up to the draft will be exactly the same. So right now it’s all the same things that the guys who entered the draft last year did. Going to these individual workouts, and hopefully showing well there. But they think there’s going to be a lockout. They really believe that that’s going to happen this year. No one knows how long its gonna take for them to resolve this. So we’ll see what happens. You never know with these things. Agents, or anybody that’s involved, you know, really don’t know what’s going to happen. Everybody can talk and say their own opinions…I’ve heard a lot of different things from a lot of different people on how long it’ll be or how short it’ll be. But, really, I don’t think anybody has any idea…it’ll be up to the NBA and Players Association and everybody that matters to figure that out…hopefully it’ll be, uh, not too bad.
Dime: What kind of feedback have you been getting from all these NBA coaches and assistants the last couple of weeks?
JF: You know, I think the biggest thing is knowing I can play offense at the level of an NBA player. I think the biggest thing that they’re concerned with is the defensive end and being able to defend the NBA point guards. And my job is to show them that I can do that in these individual workouts. I did a good job of that on the first workout and I think I’ll do a good job of that for the rest of the time. And hopefully I can silence those types of doubts and be able to go out and be an effective NBA player and a good defensive player in the NBA.
Dime: What do you think of all these criticisms of your defense? Do you think they’re fair?
JF: I mean, I think people, everyone, has a criticism of someone for something. That’s just my criticism that I have gotten for, you know, my entire life basically. And I realize that I do have to continue to work on defense and I think a lot of people have to continue to work on defense. It’s a tough thing to do – especially at the NBA level with how skilled those guys are and not being able to hand check and everything. It’s a screen and roll league, so I just need to continue to work on the defense for the screen and roll and get better at that, offensive and defensively. But I think that I’m very very capable of doing that.
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