Jimmer Fredette is a superb, highly entertaining college basketball player.

That's all he is.

It really should be enough. The cult of Jimmer Mania demands more though. And this craziness will force or dupe some NBA general manager into making a franchise-wounding mistake in Thursday night's NBA Draft.

Some team will draft Jimmer with a lottery pick, which is as delusional as expecting Ryan Reynolds to carry a movie with his depth. Fredette doesn't figure to ever be an NBA star or even a legitimate starter on a decent team. He's more likely to be a shooter off the bench — a good sixth or seventh man may be his ultimate upside.

There is nothing wrong with that. You just don't use an NBA lottery pick to get it.

Fredette is a great college scorer who will not find scoring so easy in the NBA. He's short for a two guard (6-foot-2) and he's not quick enough to beat most pro point guards off the dribble. Even the most hopeful draft reports — and everyone wants to be hopeful when it comes to Jimmer — acknowledge this, reporting that Fredette isn't as horrible a defender as many thought, that he may be a better passer than most expected.

It's like they are grading Fredette on a curve while every other prospects endures a straight-up test.

Teams have taken to talking up Fredette's "charisma". Charisma doesn't buy you buckets though and after the initial curiosity factor wears off, it will not give the team that drafts Fredette anything of substance. You lose charisma fast when you're stuck on the bench.

Whether it's because of the desire for a home-state star (the Utah Jazz), feeling the desperate need for a shooter (the New York Knicks) or just plain stupidity (the Sacramento Kings) some franchise is going to draft Fredette way too early.

Duke's J.J. Redick — who was arguably an even better college player than Fredette, one who inarguably played much tougher competition in his college days — developed into a 22-minute-per-game side contributor for the Orlando Magic through five seasons of NBA work. Will Fredette ever even reach that level?

Could he be a Stephen Curry, another sweet college shooter who averaged 18.6 points per game for a horrible Golden State Warriors team as a rookie? Doubtful.

Curry does more than score, He averaged nearly six assists in the NBA as a rookie. Fredette barely averaged more than four assists at BYU despite the relentless double teams he received that should have created easy passing opportunities (nobody will be doubling Fredette in the NBA). Plus, Curry creates some havoc on defense by gambling and getting steals.

The next time Fredette does anything on defense will be the first.

All signs point to Fredette being an immense risk, the type of player that should go in the later third of the first round. Instead, the hype ensures that Fredette will be gone in the lottery. And his crazy devotees will no doubt be offended that he didn't go even higher.

But blind belief doesn't change reality. I wrote about Arizona forward Derrick Williams being a much better player than Fredette back in March. Now, Williams is expected to be the second overall pick and teams like the Houston Rockets should be working to move up and grab this future star.

Williams is assured of being drafted before Fredette. But not enough other players are. Not if the NBA Draft's really about landing difference makers.