Jimmer Mania Officially Comes to Chicago

Jimmer Fredette completed his buyout with the Sacramento Kings on Thursday and cleared waivers Saturday afternoon. This opened the door for the former BYU star to sign to a prorated veteran minimum salary contract for the reminder of the season with the Chicago Bulls, the team officially announced Sunday.

“We are very excited to add a player like Jimmer to our roster,” Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman said in a statment. “We’ve followed him closely throughout his collegiate and professional career, and believe he’ll be the type of player that will fit in with our group and be an asset to the team.”

Fredette was the national player of the year in 2011 and the 10th player taken overall in the NBA Draft that same year. However, since joining the Kings the sharpshooter, who currently leads the league in three-point field goal percentage, has had difficulty duplicating the success he had college at the pro level.

But if the signing of DJ Augustin to the Bulls is any indication, sometimes a change of scenery and another opportunity to prove their value, is all a player needs to regain their confidence and jumpstart their careers.

“There are a number of guys who are good, and sometimes, as you see with D.J., it's an opportunity to step in and add to what a team may need,” said Tom Thibodeau, alluding to, at the time, the potential signing of Fredette. “Whoever we sign, if we do sign someone, we want to play to their strengths and cover up their weaknesses.”

Jimmer Fredette’s ability to shoot the ball and create off the dribble is one that needn’t be questioned, and it will be an asset to a Bulls team that struggles to score consistently and wins nearly all of their games on the defensive side of the ball.

“The more shooting you have, the more it opens up the floor," said Thibodeau. "We want to open things up to attack off the dribble, with our cuts, things of that nature. We feel that is an area of need."