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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sacramento Kings halted a six-game losing streak by coming from behind to beat the Washington Wizards 115- 107 on Wednesday.
Former BYU star Jimmer Fredette played 12 minutes, all in the first half, and scored eight points on the night, going a perfect 3 for 3 from the free-throw line and 1 of 2 from behind the arc.
Fredette is averaging less than 10 minutes a game for the month of February and hasn’t participated four games in the month. Before Wednesday’s matchup Fredette played five minutes vs. Cleveland on Sunday and didn’t get in the ball game against the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
Can we please get rid of this interim coach who should be an assistant at best and bring in a real head coach!!
–Tweet from TJ Fredette
Fredette’s older brother, TJ, wasn’t very happy with Jimmer not logging any minutes against the Heat, and sounded off by tweeting his frustrations late Tuesday evening.
TJ Fredette tweeted, “can we please get rid of this interim coach who should be an assistant at best and bring in a real head coach!!”
Wednesday TJ issued an apology and Jimmer issued his own apology as well.
“When I got aware of it, I definitely talked to him about it," Jimmer Fredette said. "He obviously regrets it. He's sorry and I'm sorry on behalf of him as well. It's something that will never happen again. It will be controlled, and he realizes that. We just apologize to everybody, coaches, teammates and everybody."
That is just another example of the things Fredette has had to learn about since being in the NBA.
AP reporter Tim Reynolds focused on how Fredette’s rookie season has been full of new experiences, but the toughest he has had to deal with is losing.“Over the last six years — his four college seasons at BYU and his final two starring at Glens Falls High School in upstate New York — Fredette's teams went 158-31," Reynolds wrote. "The Kings (took) a 10-21 record into their game Tuesday in Miami. … At the team's current rate, Fredette will experience far more losses this season than he had in the past half-dozen combined.”
What does Fredette need to do to battle through the defeats?
"Keep playing hard and eventually things will turn around," he said. "You've just got to instill a winning attitude within the team. Everybody's got to have it."
Reynolds notes that Fredette has been putting in extra time on the court after practices and Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom noticed Fredette doing some extra studying with coach Keith Smart at practice as well.
All are confident that Fredette will continue to figure things out — even superstar LeBron James.
(Fredette's) explosive when he has his opportunity. His opportunity right now has been going up and down.
–LeBron James
"He knows how to play the game and he knows how to score the ball," James said about Fredette. “He's explosive when he has his opportunity. His opportunity right now has been going up and down. Of course, we've all seen that. But when he's had an opportunity, he's known how to play."
The Kings head into the all-star break with an 11-22 record and Fredette headed back to Utah to spend his break with his fiancé and family. Sacramento will return to action next Tuesday when they host the Jazz.
