Jabari Parker And The History Of Top Picks Recovering From Injury

T.J. Ford, Milwaukee Bucks, 2003 #8 Pick. 

The eighth pick in the 2003 NBA draft, T.J. Ford brought instant play-making to a Milwaukee Bucks’ offense that was already loaded with the scoring of Michael Redd and the excitement of the high-flying Desmond Mason.

Ford teamed up with Mason at every available turn–even combining for one of the most exciting Bucks’ plays in the pre-Giannis era. Have a look above.

Despite his exciting style, T.J. Ford posted, frankly, ho-hum numbers across the board before going down with a nightmarish spinal cord injury.

Pre-Injury stats: 7.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 6.5 apg, on .384% shooting.

His passing ability notwithstanding, those are numbers befitting a mediocre bench player–not that of a Naismith Trophy winning lottery pick.

Ford’s injury would ultimately cost him his entire sophomore season and it wasn’t until his third year as a pro that Ford saw the court again.

When he made it back he made the most of it–posting markedly improved numbers across the board, making it through the season without another major setback.

Post-Injury stats: 12.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 6.6 apg, on .416% shooting. That’s nearly a 72% increase in scoring from his rookie season to his second season.

If Jabari Parker returns with a similar scoring swell he will score 21.1 ppg from his rookie 12.3 ppg.

I think I speak for Bucks fans when I say we will happily take that.

Jabari Outlook: Very positive.

Next: Ricky Rubio