First of all... Jimmer today is simply not the same player we saw in college. The biggest attribute that made Jimmer so special at BYU was supreme confidence. He simply doesn't have that lethal confidence any more. The NBA has been tough on him and has robbed him of that special confidence he once had. He shoots afraid to miss now because he is very aware of what a short leash he is on (his career low in 3-point shooting % this year is a direct result).

NBA coaches haven't given Jimmer more playing time because they perceive 2 major issues with Jimmer's game at the NBA level:

A) Defensive liability -- NBA point guards are really, really quick and Jimmer's coaches have never had confidence that he can stay in front of his man consistently and he's too small to guard 2-guards.
B) He's a 'tweener -- not a true point guard (his ball handling is not great by NBA point guard standards) but he's too small to be a shooting guard. Great examples of other big time scoring guards in college who fell into this same 'tweener trap in the NBA are Shawn Respert and Randolph Childress.

Making it in the NBA requires a lot of luck. You simply must go to a team and coach that is the right fit. Unfortunately Jimmer has never had that. I never thought he would be an NBA star because of the limitations outlined above but I always felt confident that he could be a terrific instant offense combo guard off the bench and spot starter and parlay his scoring ability into a long NBA career as an effective role player.

The one chance Jimmer had to shine in the NBA was taken away by two players:

Demarcus Cousins = Paul Westphal was high on Jimmer, he was his draft pick. He was giving Jimmer about 27 minutes per game and Jimmer was averaging 10.5 points. Westphal was willing to get Jimmer on the court and develop him. Unfortunately for Jimmer, Westphal was fired 6 games into his rookie season directly because of the feud between Westphal and Cousins. Keith Smart took over and the rest is history. If Boogie Cousins never gets Westphal fired then Jimmer's rookie year, and his career thereafter in Sacto would have been much different.

Isaiah Thomas = If the Kings never draft Isaiah Thomas with the #60 pick in the draft that year then Jimmer gets all of those minutes Thomas essentially stole. Thomas earned those minutes, his game was more NBA-ready as a rookie (remember Jimmer never had summer leagues or pre-season to get acclimated to the NBA game). If Thomas wasn't on the Kings then Jimmer would have been given much more opportunities to develop in Sacto.

It's been such a bummer to watch Jimmer's NBA career go the way it has, but it will never change what kind of amazing college player he was. Many other National Player of the Year winners have also gone on to have disappointing NBA careers, so Jimmer has company.