Jimmer watch: Fredette struggles on East Coast road trip

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former BYU great Jimmer Fredette hit a bit of a speed bump during last week's East Coast road trip after a promising start. For the week he connected on just 27.2 percent of his field goals while seeing his scoring average decrease steadily over the trip's four games.

Fredette started the week solid in Sacramento's 103-97 loss to the Detroit Pistons on New Year's Day. He logged 24 minutes and scored 14 points on 4-10 shooting from the field and 3-5 shooting from 3-point range. He also contributed an assist and no turnovers.

Fredette logged 15 minutes in consecutive wins against Cleveland and Toronto, but shot just 1-8 from the field combined and scored six and four points, respectively. He handed out just one assist in both games yet turned the ball over five times.

Fredette wrapped up the week logging just 12 minutes and going scoreless on 0-4 shooting in Sacramento's 113-93 loss at Brooklyn. For the year he's averaging 8.2 points and shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from 3-point range.

There remains rampant speculation that Fredette and his skills could best be utilized on another team. Andy Baily of Bleacher Report was the latest to speculate on which three NBA teams could best use Fredette.

Meanwhile, former Weber State great Damian Lillard remained solid for the Portland Trailblazers, who went 3-1 on their own East Coast road trip. For the week Lillard averaged 17.5 points and 6.75 assists and shot 45 percent from the field. For the season Lillard remains a top candidate for rookie of the year and is averaging 18.2 points and 6.4 assists.

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney