Jimmer watch: Fredette sees steady minutes, unsteady production

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Week 7 saw Fredette's minutes stay steady, but his shooting from the field fall off a bit. The former BYU great averaged 6.8 points per game and 14 minutes played in Sacramento's four contests on the week. He shot .375 from the field and .222 from 3-point range and handed out just two assists total.

The Kings continued with their struggles, losing at Dallas (119-96), at Milwaukee (98-85), at Oklahoma City (113-103) and at home against Denver (122-97). Fredette's best two games were against Milwaukee and Denver where he scored nine and 10 points respectively and shot just shy of .500 from the field.

Fredette didn't enter the Denver game until the second half which drew questions from the Sacramento media. Coach Keith Smart blew off the questions regarding when he chose to play Fredette and others saying, "They got in the game when they got in the game, you know? It was the decision I made at that time."

Smart's postgame comments can be found here.

The Kings will play four games next week starting at Phoenix Monday night. They'll then come back home to take on red-hot Golden State on Wednesday, play at the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday and finish out against at home against Portland on Sunday.

Lillard with another impressive week

Former Weber State great Damian Lillard is putting together a very impressive rookie campaign and is a top candidate for Rookie of the year honors. Lillard has started at point for the Portland Trailblazers and is averaging 18.8 points per game and 6.3 assists.

This past week he came up big in a nationally televised game against the San Antonio Spurs. The Blazers upset the Spurs 98-90, and Lillard led the way with 29 points and six assists.

He followed up his great outing against the Spurs by hitting a three-point basket with 0.3 seconds remaining to lift Portland to a 95-94 victory over New Orleans.

"I was excited to win the game," Lillard told the Seattle Times following the game. "We had a big lead, we let them fight back and tie the game up and we were looking at overtime, so I was kind of relieved and excited at the same time."

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney