Who is the best scorer in Basketball?

On January 27th the NBA’s leading scorer Kevin Durant tweeted ”Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world.” A day later in an interview with ESPN’s Sports Center, Fredette responded with “I think I have to disagree with him on that. I think that he’s the best scorer in the world right now.”

Alright, it’s a tie.

So, for an unbiased opinion, basketball enthusiast and President of the United States Barack Obama was left to decide. When revealing his 2011 NCAA bracket, President Obama had this to say about BYU’s Fredette ‘’Unbelievable. Best scorer obviously in the country. Great talent.’’ Of course, this is not an official title but when the current NBA Scoring Champion and the President make these statements about your ability to score – it says a lot about the talent of the 6’2 Guard from Glens Falls, New York.

Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Durant’s tweet came during the BYU Cougars 71-58 win over the previously undefeated San Diego State, in a nationally televised game where Fredette scored 43 points. On the same night one of Fredette’s peers, Ohio State star forward Jared Sullinger tweeted ‘Yooo Jimmer is going off right now. Pure scorer.’

‘Jimmer Mania’ began after the San Diego State game and Fredette was the hottest name on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Basketball fans wanted to watch Fredette play and when he did, he did not disappoint. Every defender he came up against got ‘Jimmered.’ In the 16 games that preceded the San Diego State game Fredette scored over 30 points on nine occasions, and that included a 52 point performance against New Mexico.

Without question, Jimmer Fredette enters Thursday’s draft as the most popular and talked about player of all those declared. The 2011 National player of the year averaged 28.9 points per game, 4.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game in his final season with BYU before declaring from the draft. It was his ability to score that made him a phenomenon in College. His shooting range was borderline ridiculous, he could get to the basket with ease and he showed great vision to find his teammates when he was double and even triple teamed at times.

Yet, Fredette still has many doubters who do not believe he can make the transition from College basketball to the NBA. There are huge question marks over his defensive abilities. Poor lateral quickness and his size are the two main causes for concern amongst the scouts. Many experts believe Fredette will be at best, a solid bench player in the NBA and very few believe he can be a superstar.

However, Fredette’s stock has risen thanks to a great combine performance and he is moving up in many mock drafts. There is talk Fredette could go as high as pick number seven or as low as pick 20. Many teams will be interested in drafting Fredette but they know the risk of drafting a College superstar. They are not guaranteed get the same production in the NBA.

By the way and in case you didn’t know, Fredette is a Mormon. This will make things very interesting when the Utah Jazz are on the clock at picks three and 12. Fredette’s popularity in Utah is that of a rock star due to his religion and obviously, his time at BYU. The scene of his impressive recent pre draft workout in Salt Lake City was described as the ‘Jimmer Fredette Circus.’

The Jazz/Cougar fans adore him and would love to see their team pick their hero. Utah need to upgrade their back court but they are likely to pick Kentucky Guard Brandon Knight with their first pick. Waiting to see if Fredette falls to them at 12 is a huge risk, but with the draft this Thursday we don’t have long now to find out. Expect to see the name Jimmer Fredette as the hottest name on twitter and Facebook later this week.

Article courtesy of Michael Roberts.