NBA Draft 2011 Media Day: Kyrie Irving, Jimmer Fredette And Enes Kanter Talk About Futures

NEW YORK - Jimmermania was in full effect at the media day of the 2011 NBA Draft. The scrum surrounding Jimmer Fredette was humongous, with one scribe suggesting that it was 10 times as big as the one surrounding likely No. 1 pick Kyrie Irving at times. Therefore, there were a bunch of typical questions about whether Fredette can handle the pressure, which is silly because he was under incredible pressure at BYU.

But there were also some instructive questions about his game and where he might fit in. During the whole process, Fredette wanted to make one thing very clear: he is a point guard, and he will be a point guard in the NBA.

"I never really played shooting guard in college or high school or anything, so I don't know what people have seen," Fredette said. "I've always handled the ball. If they watched the games at BYU, that's what I've done."

"I played point guard growing up, all the way out through college, I played point guard," he said earlier. "That's my position and that's where I want to play."

In that vein, Fredette mentioned two of the league's best point guards as players he tries to emulate, painting similarities between his game and the games of Deron Williams and Steve Nash.

"I'm similar to Deron Williams. He's about my size. He's got a great crossover and stepback. I watched him play in Utah, so I tried to emulate his game. He's obviously a very good point guard," he said. "I'm [also] somewhat a Steve Nash type. I can get my shot off quickly, especially in the lane, shooting all those different shots in my arsenal. I'm not at their level yet, but some of that stuff is in my game."

Fredette said that teams have been working him out as a point guard, and the biggest thing he's working on is ball screens, whether it's on offense or defense. Specifically, he said he identified five teams as good fits for his skills and decided to only work out for them. Those five teams: Sacramento (seventh), Utah (third and 12th), Phoenix (13th), Indiana (15th) and New York (17th).

"I think [I fit] all five of them really well, and I think that's why we chose those five to go work out for," he said. "They're all a type of tempo, a lot of ball screens and up tempo teams. I think I'd fit in really well with all of them and their personnel."

Of the five, the hometown Jazz are obviously the one most people buzz about. Fredette was even asked if he felt the Jazz were in a "tough situation" in deciding whether to take him, which he predictably downplayed.

"Maybe a little bit, but I think they're fine," he said. "Kevin O'Conner has been doing this for a long time. He's experienced, he knows what he's doing. I don't think he worries too much about what the fans are thinking. He worries about his team. He knows that winning translates to happy fans. So whoever he thinks is going to be the best fit for his team, that's who he'll pick. So we'll see."

Mostly, it seemed like Fredette's mission during the session was to identify himself as a point guard, not a combo guard. A fellow well-known combo-guard type empathizes with Fredette's plight.

"Me and Jimmer are really good friends," UConn's Kemba Walker said when asked about Fredette. "Me and him basically get the same criticism. 'We're combo guards, scorers and things like that. We're not true point guards, we don't play defense,' etc. But we don't talk about things like that."

NEW YORK - Enes Kanter is a bit of a mystery even to NBA teams picking in the 2011 NBA Draft, because he has not played in an organized game in nearly a year after being ruled ineligible for his freshman season at Kentucky for receiving compensation while playing in Turkey. Nobody really knows exactly what to expect from him at his point.

So because of his status, Kanter decided to go on the offensive during Wednesday's media session. He was exceedingly confident throughout his 30-minute interview, making a bold declaration midway through that jarred a lot of people there.

"I believe if I could have played [at Kentucky], I would go with the No. 1 pick," he said. "I believe I am the best player in this draft."

The consensus of most NBA Mock Drafts is that Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams are the best players in this draft, with Kanter falling somewhere in the mix behind them. But there's a chance that may be changing. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who hold the No. 2 pick and already have players similar to Williams, are reportedly considering Kanter with the No. 2 pick. He could also go to Utah at No. 3 and Cleveland at No. 4, and the Wizards at No. 6 are enamored with him as well.

At first, Kanter was melancholy about his forced year off, saying it robbed him of the very reason he came to America from Turkey.

"When the NCAA told me, 'No, you cannot play,' it just makes me sad because I couldn't help my teammates, I couldn't help my coaches and I couldn't help Kentucky," he said. "I came here for an education too, because you cannot do that in Turkey. You have to pick basketball, or you have to pick education. I wanted to do both, so that's why I came here. For them to tell me, 'No, you cannot play' just makes me really sad."

Later, though, he downplayed the significance of sitting out a year.

"I'm not worried about anything," he said. "Even if I could have played, I would have just played like, 22-24 games, because we'd have won many games by 30. I don't think I missed anything."

Kanter did have to prepare in an entirely different way, though, to get to the NBA Draft. He took coach John Calipari's message that "every practice is your game" to heart, pushing himself harder then "because I couldn't play in the games." He also spent time with Tim Grover in Chicago, where he helped maintain his conditioning.

When asked about specific teams, Kanter said he would love to go to the Jazz, and was particularly enamored with the prospect of playing in Washington D.C. with the Wizards because of the presence of fellow Kentucky product John Wall and because "it's an international city, and Obama loves basketball." But he couldn't help but drift back again to the year he missed and what might have been had he stayed at Kentucky.

"We would have won the National title," he blurted out at one point.

A reporter followed up. "Easily?"

"Yes," was the immediate response.