New York Knicks: Top 3 Players In Westchester Knicks History
3. Jimmer Fredette
The Westchester Knicks finished at the bottom of the NBA D-League during the 2014-15 season. Westchester managed to pick up just 10 wins during its inaugural season.
After a season like that— losing their final 10 games that season— the Knicks needed talent.
Then, the Knicks were looking forward to the 2015 D-League Draft. The Idaho Stampede had the first pick and selected former NBA forward Jeff Ayers. Westchester was on the clock. With the second pick, the Knicks selected former No.10 overall NBA Draft pick Jimmer Fredette.
Before the 2015-16 D-League season tipped off, Fredette was signed by the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans used the NBA hardship exemption due to the injuries the team suffered.
The guard wasn’t seen in Westchester until the sixth game of the season.
With their 2015 second overall pick not on the team, the Knicks needed others to step up in the scoring department. DaJuan Summers took over the scoring load during the first couple of games before getting knocked down with a left Achilles tendon injury.
When Summers was ruled out for the season, a group of players stepped up.
Nine days after signing with the Pelicans, he was waived. The Glens Falls, New York native was set to make his debut. Westchester started off the season 6-0 and were set to host the Grand Rapids Drive, the Detroit Pistons affiliate.
The Westchester County Center, home of the Westchester Knicks, was ready to see the former NBA guard in action. Fredette was ready to give his home state a show that it would never forget.
The 6’2” guard totaled 37 points, eight assists, and four rebounds in 40 minutes of action. In addition, Fredette shot 71 percent (12/17) from the field in his debut.
Floyd Mayweather, who was in attendance to watch Jordon Crawford, wanted to Fredette to keep shooting.
“He just kept telling me to shoot it,” Fredette said to Ian Beglay of ESPN New York. “And I was like, ‘All right, I’ll shoot it.’”
Fredette continued his productivity throughout the season.
During All-Star Weekend, Canada was treated to the D-League All-Star Game. Fredette, along with Jordan Bachynski, represented the Westchester Knicks in the D-League All-Star Game.
Before the All-Star Game took place, the three-point shooting contest was one of the events that highlighted the D-League All-Star weekend. Freddete, Reggie Hearn, Andre Ingram, Omari Johnson, Nick Minnerath, and Scott Suggs were the participants for the contest.
The six battled with the hopes of proving who the best shooter in the D-League was. When four were knocked out, Jimmer Fredette was still standing. He had only one player standing between him and the trophy: Ingram
Ingram was on fire out of the gate in the finals, as he connected on his first 13 shots. When the final clock hit zero, Ingram finished with 27 points and was the victor.
Then, the top D-League players took the stage at the Ricoh Coliseum. Fredette, like his lone season in the D-League, looked impressive in the D-League All-Star Game. Coming off the bench, he finished the game with 35 points, six rebounds, eight assists and one steal in 25 minutes.
In the process, Fredette won the 2016 D-League All-Star Game MVP award.
The D-League All-Star Game was over. Westchester, New York was his next stop, but he had another destination on his mind: Manhattan. After his performance at the All-Star Game, it was expected that the New York Knicks would offer him a 10-day contract.
And that’s what happened.
On February 22, the Knicks signed the Westchester guard a 10-day contract. The Knicks were fading out of playoff contention with a 24-33 record and wanted to see what Fredette could do. The first chance he had to knock down a shot, he did it in Jimmer fashion.
The crowd was off their feet. While that was a positive since he needed to make the most of the very few shots he was going to get, that turned out to be the only shot he would take in a Knicks uniform. During the 10-day contract, Fredette played five minutes in two games.
Former Knicks head coach Kurt Rambis believed the Knicks were trying to win as many games as possible at that point. There were four guards— Jose Calderon, Sasha Vujacic, Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant— who were taking up the majority of the minutes.
When the 10-day contract expired, New York didn’t offer him a second contract. On March 6, the BYU product returned to the Westchester County Center. When he returned, Fredette returned to a team that was in the hunt for the D-League playoffs.
The Knicks finished the season with a 5-6 record. The Westchester guard looked solid during the two playoff games, but the team was outmatched. Fredette struggled in Game 1 and only shot 6-of-16 from the field. He managed to score 20 points in that game.
When the season concluded, he was named to the All-NBA D-League Second Team. Fredette finished the season with averages of 21.1 points, 5.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 35.8 minutes per game. In addition, he shot 41 percent from beyond the arc.
In his lone season in the D-League, he was one of the players who led the Westchester Knicks to their first playoff appearance.