Kings' Fredette enjoying rookie NBA season

HE STILL looks like he belongs in a high school hallway, trying to steal a kiss from his girlfriend between classes. And his listed height of 6-2 appears to be a pretty good exaggeration.

Nonetheless, rookie Jimmer Fredette, who wowed the college basketball nation last season at Brigham Young, was in the Sacramento Kings' starting lineup last night against the 76ers.

The consensus college player of the year last season, when he averaged just under 29 points a game, Fredette was taken by the Kings with the 10th overall pick in the draft. He has struggled early, not yet able to find his mark from long range, shooting below 30 percent from beyond the arc.

For any newcomer to the league, the first season is more of a learning session than anything. It's been no different for Fredette, who got quite a response from the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center last night.

"It's been great, been a lot of fun," he said. "It's pretty much what I expected, but you don't really know until you go through it, all the stuff that you have to go through, off the court, too, not just during games and practices. It's been a great transition for me. I'm just fortunate to be in the position and I'm happy to be an NBA basketball player.

"It's definitely crazy, with the amount of games in a smaller time frame than normal. It's a difference. You just have to be able to be ready to go every night that you can."

Fredette had to be ready last night, as normal starting guard Marcus Thornton was scratched due to a thigh contusion. Thornton leads Sacramento with 18.7 points a game.

In last night's 112-85 loss to the Sixers, Fredette shot 2-for-7 and scored seven points in 24 minutes.

"I feel pretty good. I don't feel too bad yet," Fredette said. "We'll see how it goes once we get about 35 games into the season. Things have been good so far."

If this were a normal season and there were actually some time between games to heal the aches that crop up during a season, Spencer Hawes probably would have missed a game or two with his back strain. As it is, he has mostly played through the pain, before having to miss the second half of last night's win with a lower back strain.

Hawes suffered the injury on Saturday night against Toronto, limited to just 19 minutes in that game. He stuggled through until it stiffened up at halftime last night, forcing him to call it an early night after posting 0 points in 11 pretty inactive minutes.

"It's just something that I'm going through," he said. "I just gotta keep working with the training staff and keep doing what I have to do until it gets back to 100 percent. It's part of the game, part of what you have to go through. No one goes through the season 100 percent all of the time.

"I'm working on core stuff, flexibility, massage, whatever you can to try and keep it as loose as possible, as flexible as possible."

Veteran forward Elton Brand is a man of routine. He'll get onto the floor a couple of hours before the game, head to the foul line, then shoot midrange jumpers for a long while, until he feels he's in his groove. He then will head to his locker, wipe himself down, perhaps talk with the media for a minute or two, then head to the training room.

This season, though, Brand is out of sorts a bit. Because of the condensed schedule, coach Doug Collins wants Brand to save his legs as much as possible. It has thrown quite a wrench into Brand's normal schedule.

Tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Sixers will play their third game in as many nights.

"Back-to-back-to-backs is something that we have to deal with," Brand said. "It's tough, just preparation-wise. You don't get to practice, you don't get to shootaround, you don't get to get familiar with the opposing court. It's just a whole bunch of things.

"It's kind of like I have to feel it out. Thirteen years in the league and I have to feel it out. It's like they're saying, 'We're cutting your minutes, we're cutting your pregame prep, don't shoot too much before the game.' You just feel it out. You don't know what to expect."

It could be part of the reason Brand has started the season slowly, averaging 8.1 points and 7.1 rebounds.