I know, its obvious Jimmer’s was off to a ruff start and looks hesitant and lacks confidence. But I really believe I have seen some improvement in him over the last few games. Last game against Portland he came in and contributed right away hitting shots (He shot at 71 %) on 5 of 7 shots (4 of those shots being 3 pointers, in which he made 3 of them). The game before that against Memphis he had 20 points on 40% shooting and added 6 assists and was single handedly getting us back in the game and we yanked him out. We all know we need a consistent shooter. And we all know Jimmer can shoot. While I don’t believe he is a great defender I think his lack of defense is being over played. Maybe even start him and bring in Thornton off the bench. It will raise his confidence tremendously and Thornton will be a huge spark coming off the bench (To be honest I’ve always seen Thornton more as a Jason Terry-off bench type player anyways)..

Here is the number of minutes he’s gotten over the last six games.

Jan 23-20 minutes

Jan 21- 30 minutes

Jan 20- 11 minutes

Jan 18- 6 minutes

Jan 16- 15 minutes

=Very inconsistent minutes

Don’t count him out this early in his NBA career, I know this excuse is being made to about everything in the NBA but its true, its a season with really no training camp or a summer league especially for rookies who needs it the most. Plus he’s already on his second head coach already.

I know we tried to start him 3 games and he didn’t produce. But lets try again under Smart and this time not take him out if he makes a couple bad mistakes so he doesn’t have to play looking over his shoulder worried too much about making a mistake and instead let him play ball. And I know a lot of you will disagree with me. But he has it in him to shoot the lights out. I honestly believe he can get it going quickly with more trust and more minutes. Some players need more minutes in a game just to start getting into the ‘groove’ and he’s one of them. He’s new to the NBA and sure he is getting anxious and he panics at times and has caused some dumb turnovers. But he’s a rookie. That’s expected. That being said, Jimmer is a smart kid. He will figure it out and he will start to adapt and produce. The simple fact is we are losing games and something needs to change anyways and we need a shooter and we have one by the name of Jimmer.