HE’S JIMMER DANDY!
Ex-Knick scores 73 in Chinese league game
MUCH LIKE Stephon Marbury, Jimmer Fredette is finding success in China.
Fredette, the former Knick and Glens Falls, N.Y., product, scored 73 points in a Chinese Basketball Association game Sunday. Fredette’s Shanghai Sharks lost in double overtime to the Guangsha Lions. He shot 25 of 49 from the field.
The outburst is the fourth-highest point total in CBA history. Errick McCollum (82), Quincy Douby (75) and Bobby Brown (74) are the only players to score more than Fredette in a game.
Fredette, who spent a majority of last season with the Westchester Knicks, signed with the Sharks in August. He’s averaging 36.3 points per game, third-best in the league, and has led Shanghai to a 29-6 record this season.
An elite scorer in college at BYU, Fredette couldn’t find his way in the NBA. He was drafted by the Kings and later spent time with the Bulls, Pelicans and Knicks. He never averaged more than eight points per game in a season.
But China has presented new opportunities.
“I think it’s just being able to go out and play and obviously having the green light to go out there and score the basketball and just do what you do on the court,” Fredette told The Vertical in January. “I know if I have that confidence to be able to go out and shoot — and I’ve always been like that since growing up — I know I will have an opportunity to play.”
Fredette could be at the start of a long career in the CBA. Marbury left the NBA for China in 2010 and is still playing for the Beijing Ducks.
Marbury has won three championships in the CBA, developing into a cult hero among Chinese fans. He’s averaging 21.2 points per game this year.