A former NBA scout and a well-known sports columnist connected Jimmer Fredette's popularity and to him being picked in the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery to "white supremacy" during a podcast that was released last week.
While discussing a wide variety of sports and social topics on the podcast, "Bill Rhoden on Sports," Khalid Green of the Brooklyn Nets and The New York Times's Bill Rhoden both claimed Jimmermania was based on the country's search for the next "Great White Hope."
This hot topic was the subject of an article titled "Is 'white supremacy' to blame for Jimmer Fredette mania?" that appeared in the New York Post.
"I never got caught up in that hype. Hype, he was slow and they were pushing (Fredette) too hard," Green told the show's host during the “Bill Rhoden On Sports” podcast (starting at 58:15).
"I actually had a conversation," Green continued. "One of the scouts at the time was like, ‘Well, if he was a black guy, you’d really like him.’ This was in a meeting and I was kind of new at the time, but I was like, ‘Nah, I wouldn’t have liked him because he can’t guard.’ He’s not going to be able to guard and he’s not going to be able to get his shot off, and he wasn’t athletic. And I knew what it was. I knew it was a Great White Hope-type of situation.
“That’s where the intrinsic bias comes in, because they a lot of times people want that guy to succeed to make a statement on behalf of the whole race.”
Rhoden added, "I guess you've got this dominant culture just desperate to see itself in anything."
Fredette, who grew up in Glens Falls, New York, played for BYU from 2007-11 and exploded onto the national scene during his junior season with performances like his 49-point night in a win at Arizona's McKale Center.
That success and acclaim grew as a senior in the 2010-11 season, when Fredette — known for his long-ball acumen — led the nation in scoring with 28.9 points per game, made 124 3-pointers and won several national player of the year awards, including the prestigious Naismith Award.
Coming off that success, Fredette was selected 10th overall in the 2011 NBA Draft and headed to the Sacramento Kings. Unlike his college days, though, the points didn't come as fast and furious. His rookie NBA season provided his best statistical averages (7.6 points, 18.6 minutes, 2.8 field goals and 1.3 3-pointers per game). Over the next five seasons, he saw his numbers diminish as he bounced from the Kings to Chicago to New Orleans to New York, last playing in an NBA game in early 2016.
Fredette found his pro success at the lower levels, including in the NBA D-League with the Winchester Knicks (he was named a D-League All-Star) before moving on to China and the Shanghai Sharks, where he's played since 2016. He was named the Chinese Basketball Association MVP in 2017 and has established himself again as a high-scoring threat.
The trajectory of his career — even as he fell out of the NBA and into the D-Leauge and CBA — had continued to garner national headlines. That occurred again this summer, when he played for Team Fredette in The Basketball Tournament, an annual 5-on-5 tournament with a $2 million winner-take-all prize at stake.
Co-host Jamal Murphy said it goes both ways.
"I could get caught up in it, too. Black people get caught up in that. It's something different, right? You see a white guy dropping 50, even black people get caught up in it. 'Oh, that dude! He's nice!"
Rhoden then claimed this way of thinking is part of the "slave mentality."
"That's white supremacy," Rhoden said.
"Yes," Green said. "Absolutely."
"In a snapshot," Rhoden added, "that's what white supremacy is — we need to see white superiority in every single thing."
A Nets spokesman told The New York Post that Green does community outreach but hasn't been employed in the scouting department or basketball operations for the past year.