The Kings won’t pick up the contract option on Jimmer Fredette. (GETTY IMAGES)

The Sacramento Kings recently declined to pick up Jimmer Fredette’s contract option for 2014-15, making him an unrestricted free agent after this season. There has been speculation the Kings may try to trade him since he doesn’t fit into their long-term plans after trading for Greivis Vasquez and drafting Ben McClemore, so the Kings’ backcourt is now very crowded.

Fredette is very similar to another player that was thought of as a bust his first few seasons in the NBA, J.J. Redick. It’s way too early to write off Fredette — also known as Jammin’ Jimmer from his days at Brigham Young University.

Redick’s first few seasons with the Orlando Magic:

14.8 minutes per game, 6 points per game, made 41% of his field goals, 38.8% of his 3-pointers, 90% of his free throws, 1.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.3 steals

8.1 mpg, 4.1 ppg, 44.4% fgm, 39.5% 3fg, 79.4% ftm, 0.7 rpg, 0.6 rpg, and 0.1 spg

Jimmer’s first few seasons:

18.6 mpg, 7.6 ppg, 38.6% fgm, 36.1% 3fg, 83.3% ftm, 1.8 apg, 1.2 rpg, and 0.5 spg

14 mpg, 7.2 ppg, 42.1% fgm, 41.7% 3fg, 85.9% ftm, 1.3 apg, 1 rpg 0.4 spg

Redick followed that up with six points in 17 minutes per game in this third season, which is what Fredette is averaging his third season. Redick didn’t really develop until his fourth season when he averaged 9.6 points in 22 minutes and played in all 82 games.

Before his breakout season, Redick was often called a failure or a royal bust. Oftentimes, fans mistakenly think every player has to be an All-Star or great player when they come into the NBA. Redick and Fredette are shooters who are also decent passers, but playing time is needed to evaluate them.

And if you want to go a step further and look at their per-36 minute averages, they show just that.

Redick’s first few seasons (using the per-36 minute stat):

14.6 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.1 apg, and 0.7 spg

18.3 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.1 apg and 0.5 spg

Jimmer’s numbers are very similar:

14.7 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.3 rpg, and 1 spg

18.4 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.6 rpg, and 1.2 spg

Jimmer is a slightly better passer, but he and Redick are pretty much the same player when it comes to scoring. They both remind me of Jeff Hornacek. If you look at Hornacek’s numbers his first tw seasons he would have been called a bust too. He averaged 5.3 and 9.5 points in his first two seasons.

It’s too soon to call Fredette a first-round bust because he hasn’t been given ample opportunity to prove himself. If he gets traded the ideal destination is a no-brainer — the Utah Jazz. He played his college ball in Provo and the Jazz are in rebuilding mode so he should get more playing time.

Gordon Hayward is a small forward masquerading as a shooting guard until Richard Jefferson’s contract comes off the books. Bring in Jimmer as a designated shooter and see what he can do. It’s not like the Jazz are going to be contending any time soon. Bring in the player who had a lot of success in the state of Utah.

Darren Jacks is a regular contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @djroxalot.

The Magic suffered a gut-wrenching 95-92 loss to the Celtics in the Game 2, and the series now shifts to Boston for two games. It could be Orlando’s final two games this season if it doesn’t fix its many issues.

There are plenty of blame to go around and it starts with head coach Stan Van Gundy, detours to Vince Carter’s missed free throws, makes a pit stop at J.J. Redick’s poor clock management and ends with Rashard Lewis’ shooting woes.

Redick was involved in a head-scratching final 10 seconds for Orlando in which the Magic backup guard wasted four precious seconds before finally calling timeout. Down by three with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Van Gundy elected not to foul and forced the Celtics to make a play. After Kevin Garnett missed a long jump shot, Redick grabbed the rebound but inexplicably dribbled to halfcourt before a timeout was called, forcing the Magic to inbound in the backcourt instead of the frontcourt.

Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy talks to backup guard J.J. Redick during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

When asked about needing a timeout sooner rather than later, Van Gundy answered with an emphatic “yes.”

“It was all covered in the timeout,” Van Gundy told reporters during his postgame news conference. “We had a six second differential, we were playing for stop and an immediate timeout. It made big difference because if you watch the last play Rashard [Lewis] got open, but because we were inbounding the ball in the backcourt, [Michael] Finley was back in the passing lane and we could not make the pass to him.”

Van Gundy is quick to blame Redick for not calling timeout, but he could have easily called the timeout himself to avoid any confusion. As it turned out, Redick threw the ball in the backcourt to Jameer Nelson with three seconds remaining on the clock, and Nelson’s desperation heave from midcourt fell short.

“I made a mistake,” Redick told the Associated Press. “I didn’t hear the whistle initially. When I didn’t hear it initially, I just kind of went, then I realized we should have called a timeout. So that was my fault.”

The poor decision overshadowed an otherwise solid game for Redick, who scored 16 points off the bench.

The Magic could have avoided the botched play in the end all together if Lewis made half of his field goals. Lewis followed his six-point performance in the Game 1 with an equally terrible five-point performance in Game 2. Lewis, who had been averaging 15 points in the playoffs, has made just four of 16 shots in the first two games in the series – 1-for-9 from behind the arc.

Van Gundy said he needs to do a better job of getting Lewis the ball in spots where he can do some damage. The way it is situated right now, Kevin Garnett has been able to stay attached to Lewis out in the perimeter because the Magic are reduced to standing around on offense waiting on Dwight Howard to make a move in the low post or waiting on Nelson to drive and kick.

The good news for the Magic is that Howard bounced back from an awful 13-point Game 1 with a solid 30-point performance in Game 2. The bad news for the Magic is the rest of the starters shot just 13-for-42 from the field.

Video courtesy of NBA.com