I am truely amazed at the defensive skills that Jimmer has exhibited. No he’s not the quickest guard but he’s fast enough. He knows how to funnel his man into the teeth of the defense, even if the help is slow to come. But, he is excellent in his help defense and in defending the passing lane.

His switch onto Scola and block of Scola’s pass lead to a foul and turnover when Scola had to grab him to stop the break away.

And, he was quick enough to give Lowry trouble.

Jimmer should have to yell to get his teammates to pass him the ball, that fault doesn’t fall on him but on his teammates. And, it is the overwhelming fault of this teams offense that they don’t pass the ball even when their shooting under 40% themselves.

Yes, Jimmer isn’t perfect, yet. He dribbles into a crowd with no idea what he’s going to do, and he jumps in the air to pass. But, nobody else knows what’s going on or what to do either. We still don’t even try to run a pick and roll where the ball goes to the roller. If Jimmer is uncomfortable with the offense, it’s probably because it’s less organized that it was in college.

Should Jimmer shot more, probably. But first we’ve got to convince Salmons and JJ to shot less.

Somewhere along the way, Jimmer stopped believing in Jimmermania. While trying to be a good teammate or fit into an NBA locker room, Jimmer forgot what made him great – he forgot that when fans in the crowd started yelling at him to shoot, it went in a high percentage of the time.

I have several issues with this post, the above statement being first and foremost. Players don’t succeed because they buy into their own press clippings, because they are trying to appease their hometown, religious or ethnic fan base, or by shooting the basketball when the crowd says “shoot”.

Jimmer did not lead the nation in scoring and become a lottery pick because he relied on the influence of others to dictate his level of success. All successful players learn to rely upon their own internal guidance system to make the best decisions possible in the mist of competition. Being receptive to coaching matters too, but smart players continually learn from success and setback, and expand and improve their game in response to the lessons extracted as result.

This is what I would expect to happen. And this is all Jimmer needs to do. It is what he did to go from role player at BYU to Naismith Winner.

Jimmer is a smart guy. More importantly, he is really talented. He will figure it out. And to imply that he has stopped believing in himself is ridiculous. Is his confidence down? Perhaps, but there has been no demonstrative or repeated displays of frustration or anxiety that would suggest serious issues of self-doubt. His poise and demeanor have been strong even when his play has not.

I am encouraged that Jimmer has shown play making skills and evidence of being capable defender. I am glad he’s seeking balance between taking shots and creating shots, and trying to be a complete player, and not an offensive black hole. I would be concerned if Jimmer was shooting decently but obviously lacking in other areas of the game.

But the last thing Jimmer should do is turn to any outside influence that is utterly irrelevant to success on the court, or start second guessing his own instincts. Those instincts made him the best player in college basketball. They will serve him well going forward.

Jimmer does not need to start believing in Jimmermania, because it never played a role in his success to begin with.

Finally, watching your embedded video, only on the last possession did he pass up a clean look at the hoop. And he was 3-4 feet behind the line. The other clips he had larger defenders running at him to a bother possible jumper. This is not compelling evidence of hesitant play. Instead it is a player seeking to find a high percentage shot within the context of the play. The poor result is function of lack of familiarity, increased level of competition and disjointed execution, not a player hesitant to shoot the ball.