Jimmer Fredette

James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player.

He last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Fredette also has an older sister, Lindsay, Miss Teen New York 1998.

Fredette's father became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 18 after meeting missionary Kimball Rogers, who would end up being the father of Fredette's BYU teammate Stephen Rogers.

Fredette's mother is a Catholic.

Fredette, along with his two older siblings, chose to become Latter-day Saints after their parents allowed them to choose their religion.

Fredette was ranked among the nation's top 75 shooting guards by ESPN.com in high school.

Fredette averaged 25 points per game to help the Rocks to a third-place win over the Minnesota Magic at the 2006 AAU National Championships.

Despite his high school accolades, he went largely unnoticed by the traditional "basketball powers".

He received offers from 12 schools and ultimately chose to attend BYU, which was his sister Lindsay's alma mater.

Fredette played basketball collegiately at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2007 to 2011.

He wore jersey number 32 and majored in American studies.

Fredette played in all 35 games for the BYU Cougars as a true freshman, helping BYU earn a 27–8 record and capture the Mountain West Conference regular season championship.

He averaged 18.5 minutes, 7.0 points, 1.7 assists, 1.1 rebounds per game, and was the team's fifth-leading scorer.

Fredette played in all 33 games of his sophomore season starting 32 of them.

He was second on the team in scoring (16.2), three-point shooting percentage (.382), three-point makes (52), and free throw percentage (.847), and first in steals (1.5) and assists (4.1).

Fredette was the 2011 National Player of the Year in college basketball after ranking as the leading scorer in all of NCAA Division I during his senior season for the BYU Cougars.

He was subsequently selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, but only played limited minutes across four teams over five NBA seasons.

He spent the majority of the 2015–16 season in the NBA Development League, during which he won the All-Star Game MVP.

Until February 24, 2015, Fredette held the all-time Section 2 high school record, when he was surpassed by Lake George senior Joel Wincowski.

Fredette was named first-team all-state by the New York State Sportswriters Association and the Times Union as a junior and senior.

He had several memorable on-court moments in his career at Glens Falls, including 12 different 40-point performances in his senior season, and a shot against Voorheesville High School's Andrew Catellier in the season opener of his junior year in which he banked a three-pointer off the glass and in with his opposite hand to force overtime at the end of regulation.

In his senior season Fredette led his team to a 25–2 record and the Class A State Championship game which they lost, 58–48, to a Peekskill High School team led by future Syracuse University forward Mookie Jones.

He played AAU for the Albany City Rocks alongside future Penn State University point guard Talor Battle and Mark Domaracki.

In 2016, Fredette joined the CBA's Shanghai Sharks, and during the 2016–17 CBA season, he led the league in scoring, at 37.6 points per game, counting all phases of the season (although Errick McCollum was the league's scoring champion, as only regular season stats count toward that award).

He also won the CBA International MVP award that season.

Fredette was born in Glens Falls, New York to parents Al and Kay Fredette, as the youngest of three children.

His mother wanted to call him something unique and nicknamed him "Jimmer".

From his early childhood, Fredette showed unusual dedication to athletics.

His older brother TJ recalled, "He was the most determined, competitive four-year-old I had ever seen."

TJ helped him train for his basketball career since before kindergarten.

He regularly played with TJ, seven years older, and TJ's friends on the family's backyard court.

Fredette was able to hit three-pointers at age 5, and developed moves to get around his larger opponents.

TJ also remembered that his brother "willed himself to find ways to win, even if he was physically outmatched. From the time he was 10, I was telling everybody he was going to make the NBA."

Other family members assisted Fredette in his development.

His father, a financial adviser, introduced him to schoolyard competition against adults at age eight.

As Fredette developed, his father took him on occasional road trips to Hartford and New York City for more intense competition, and also helped to coach his AAU teams.

His mother allowed him to bounce basketballs throughout the house, and even built a dribbling studio for him in their basement.

Her brother Lee Taft, a personal trainer who now operates a speed training school in Indianapolis, started him on running drills as a five-year-old, and still works with Fredette.

He was Glens Falls High School's all-time leading scorer, ranking 16th on New York's all-time scoring list, with 2,404 points.