Jabari Parker Is Improving Faster Than You Think
After three months of continuous improvement, Jabari Parker is where he left off last season.
An interesting conversation regarding Jabari Parker’s future/potential cropped up during Sunday’s FSN broadcast in New York.
It began with a dialogue on Parker’s pedigree as a number two overall pick and developed into a discussion about Derrick Williams, the second overall pick in the 2011 draft.
Williams, despite being 24 years old, is considered by many to be a bust. And by NBA standards he is. In six seasons (including 2015-16) he’s played for three different teams (Min, Sac, N.Y.) and has averaged over ten points per game just one season.
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NBA teams dream of landing a Kevin Durant caliber player at number two the same way I dream about driving a BMW i8, grilling a perfect rib eye steak, or writing the next Harry Potter series. Possible, I guess, but not likely.
That’s because Kevin Durant (2007) is the last second overall pick to make an All-Star team. The players following Durant at number two are: Michael Beasley, Hasheem Thabeet, Evan Turner, Derrick Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Victor Oladipo, Jabari Parker, and DeAngelo Russell.
Parker is clearly a different player than the rest of that group, but the overarching fear remains–that he’s another in a long line of second overall busts
Two of those players (Beasley, Thabeet) are out of the league. The rest are considered decent rotation players (though it’s really too early to tell on Oladipo, Parker, and Russell).
Parker is clearly a different player than the rest of that group, but the overarching fear remains–that he’s another in a long line of second overall busts. The most gripping fear is him becoming the next Michael Beasley, who, despite a 19.2 ppg campaign and five double-digit scoring seasons, no longer has a job in the NBA.
Rest assured, Bucks fans. Jabari Parker’s future is still as bright as ever.
It starts, like it always does, with the stats.
After returning to NBA speed faster than anyone thought he would, Parker was handled by management like a carton of eggs. As such, his usage and scoring were significantly down.
He’s essentially still a rookie. And with rookies you look for improvement before anything else. Guess what? He improved.
In November he averaged 9.7 points on 49.5% shooting with 3.4 rebounds in 23.1 minutes. Those numbers are down from his 12.3 point, 5.5 rebound rookie season, but not bad for a kid who just underwent MAJOR reconstructive knee surgery.
He’s essentially still a rookie. And with rookies you look for improvement before anything else. Guess what? He improved.
In December he reached 11.4 points on 44.8% shooting with 4.6 rebounds in 27.3 minutes– a 1.7 ppg increase(albeit at a lower shooting percentage) and a 1.2 rpg improvement over his November line.
It’s slight progress, but progress all the same.
Now we’re in January and he’s taken it up another incremental level, averaging 12.2 ppg on 46.3% shooting, with 5.8 rpg, in 32.6 minutes–essentially where he left off in his calendar rookie season–and .8 ppg, 1.2 rpg higher than his December averages.
If he continues at his current rate he could be scoring over fourteen ppg, and six rpg by April–especially if Monroe or Middleton are forced to miss time.
Much of that improvement relies on a better mid-range jumper. In January he’s shooting just 7-22 (31.8%) on shots taken outside the paint. A number which is buoyed by a good 4-6 outing Sunday in New York.
Unfortunately, mid-range success relies on time and confidence. Don’t expect much improvement in that category until the start of next season at the soonest.
One MAJOR area of improvement in his ball security. Parker turns it over less than once (.8) per game–by far the lowest among starters. That more than halves his rookie season average of 1.9 per game (a relatively low amount for a rookie).
Anything short of Parker scoring twenty per game while calling down dollar bills from the BMO Harris Bradley Center rafters and earning a place on the next NBA Live cover is a disappointment to some fans.
Meanwhile he’s upped his free throw percentage to over 80% (81.8% to be exact) and has shown a level of athletic promise we only caught glimpses of in his first season.
He has yet to improve his scoring and rebounding as dramatically, but remember that the needle IS trending upwards.
He’s finally resumed the form we saw last December–a form that had him competing in a tight battle with Andrew Wiggins for Rookie of the Year (who at the time of Parker’s injury was scoring 12.7 ppg on 40% shooting).
Wiggins has improved exponentially since that point–and so could Parker.
Has Parker met the level of hype inherent to a number two pick? Nope. But anything short of Parker scoring twenty per game while calling down dollar bills from the BMO Harris Bradley Center rafters and earning a place on the next NBA Live cover is a disappointment to some fans.
For now, take heart in the fact his scoring, rebounds, and assists have all increased as the season’s progressed.
If that trend continues through the end of the season any whispers about Parker’s “bust” status will be long forgotten.
Next: PODCAST: In-Depth Analysis of Khris Middleton, Michael Carter-Williams And More
Go Parker. Go Bucks.