Jimmer Fredette's return shows he's still an NBA work in progress

SALT LAKE CITY — The Jimmer Reloaded Tour arrived at EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday, guaranteed to draw a crowd. The love (and some loathing) still flows in Utah.

Never mind Jimmer Fredette is having a bumpy start to his pro career. Utah is where the spaceship was launched. Why should it be any different a year later?

Fredette nearly brought Jimmermadness back in a 96-93 Sacramento loss to the Jazz. But as it turned out, the former BYU All-America finished the night with an air ball: a 25-foot try that landed short amid allegations of an Earl Watson foul. True to form, Fredette avoided controversy, choosing instead to say there was "contact possibly, maybe not, but the ball didn't go in, that's what happened."

So it was, things continued as they have all year for Fredette, with mixed results. He was booed as well as cheered. He was in the game and out.

This much was obvious from his first NBA game at ESA: He isn't a ready-mix formula.

It will take awhile for him to figure out just where he fits into this fast new league in which he is playing.

While Fredette admits he has been up and down, the crowd seemed as conflicted as anyone. He received a mishmash of boos and cheers, though it was heavier on the cheers during introductions. Once the game began, much of the noise was of the razzing variety. Apparently not everyone in Salt Lake is a Jimmermaniac.

Still, they boo whenever Kobe Bryant touches the ball, too.

So Fredette is in good company.

His game was as complicated as the crowd. He missed four of his first five shots and nearly lost the dribble on one play, fell out of bounds with the ball on another. He got stuffed on a couple of driving shots, clanged a 3-pointer and double-clutched a shot that didn't get to the rim. His first basket didn't arrive until late in the first quarter.

Still, he made two 3-pointers in the first half, just one fewer than the entire Jazz team. He did respectably on the catch-and-shoot en route to a 14-point night. Yet he sat out all but the final seconds of the fourth quarter. In the final minute, Kings coach Keith Smart subbed him back in, then took him out, then put him back in.

Was it something he said?

With 4.2 seconds left and the Jazz up by two, Fredette launched his trey, which was contested by a semi-guilty-looking Earl Watson.