The Bulls big offseason acquisition was Jabari Parker. The Chicago kid coming home to restart his career after two season ending knee injuries stunted his growth as a player. Parker has the pedigree to be an all star in the NBA. Starting with winning four state championships at Simeon. Then being one of the most heavily recruited players out of high school before deciding to go to Duke. He played one season for the Blue Devils before entering the draft where he was the second overall pick by the Bucks. He tore us ACL in December of his rookie year. Then again in 2017. It’s but been a rough road for Parker but when he has been healthy he has put numbers.
Jabari can score in bunches. He is a skilled player with above average athleticism that allows him to score in the paint or behind the arc. Parker has played the overwhelming majority of his minutes at 4 (power forward) so he has had to guard slower bigger guys in the NBA. This is where the question marks come in because the Bulls will be asking Parker to play the 3 (small forward) this year.
The small forward position in the NBA is filled with possibly the best athletes in the world. Slashers that can speed past you, shoot over you, and dunk on top of you. Defense has never been Parker’s strong suit. Fred Hoiberg has been talking about implementing a heavy switch defense especially when rookie Wendel Carter is on the floor. This might play to the Bulls advantage because the Bulls have 2 big guards in Lavine and Dunn and two mobile big men in Markkanen and Carter.
I believe Jabari will be able to score on the offensive end. He has always had the talent. Now he has to have the “want to” to defend his newly assigned position.
If Jabari Parker stays healthy, and that’s a big if due to his history, he will put up numbers on the offensive end. Will he be able to defend the 3 enough to stay out there long enough to put up volume numbers? That I’m not so sure about.
Projected 2018-2019 Line
GP: 70 PPG: 18.5 APG: 3.5 RPG 4
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