The Chicago Bulls are paying Jabari Parker $20 million this season. Do the Bulls regret signing the hometown kid?
Jabari Parker is from Chicago.
Parker is currently playing for the team that he grew up rooting for. It’s a cool story and everything, but I believe that the Chicago Bulls made the wrong decision by signing Jabari.
I will never question a players contract, because I’m all for players getting paid as much as they can.
When the Chicago Bulls introduced Jabari Parker, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson had this to say about why the organization signed Jabari.
"“This is an exciting day for the Bulls organization and we view this as a very important signing for our franchise,” John Paxson said via Bulls.com. “We feel this signing fits perfectly into the direction we chose. We’re adding another young talented player to our roster, someone with great versatility, someone who is very skilled as far as passing, handling, can play in a team system offense. So it is exciting to add to the current young guys that we have.”"
15 games into the regular season, and I guarantee you that John Paxson isn’t happy from what he has seen from Jabari Parker. Jabari is averaging 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
If you just look at his stats, then you would think that he’s had a pretty solid season. The stats don’t tell the whole story.
Jabari Parker is 23-years-old, but he plays like he’s 50-years-old. Parker started the preseason as a starter, but it only took two preseason games for Fred Hoiberg to decide to bench him. Parker was reportedly not happy about being demoted.
Let’s be real here, Jabari looks out of shape and doesn’t look comfortable in Hoiberg’s system. Offensively, it’s been iso basketball from Jabari.
Turnovers have been a problem for him. 15 games in, and he has already committed 48 turnovers. He has turned the ball over three or more times in seven games. That’s unacceptable and it’s even worse when Parker turns the ball over and doesn’t even try to hustle back.
Don’t get me started on Jabari Parker playing defense. If I was the coach for the other team, I would go after Parker every single time.
Defense isn’t Jabari Parker’s strength. He doesn’t try on defense, and he barely contest shots. You will barely see hustle, and effort from him. I understand if a player sometimes struggles to make a shot, but at least show some effort on defense.
Parker has had games where he has struggled offensively and defensively. To make things short, Jabari can’t play defense. He just doesn’t know how defend. He has been brutal to watch.
Jabari Parker has been a problem for the Chicago Bulls, but it’s only going to get worse. Here’s why I think it’s only going to get worse for the Bulls and Jabari.
The Bulls currently have four key players injured. Bobby Portis, Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn, and Denzel Valentine are all out, so that’s why your seeing Jabari starting.
Markkanen, Portis, and Dunn are close to returning. No one knows when Valentine is going to come back.
What I’m interested to see is what Hoiberg does with Jabari when Bobby and Markkanen come back. Where will Jabari play, and how many minutes will he play?
Markkanen and Portis can both play the power forward and the center position. Jabari is most comfortable playing the power forward position, but Hoiberg is definitely going to play Markkanen and Portis over Parker at that position.
Will Jabari become a distraction if he doesn’t get the minutes that he thinks he deserves? He was vocal about being demoted in the preseason, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Parker is vocal again if Hoiberg doesn’t play him a lot.
Parker is currently averaging 30 minutes a game, but I would think that he’s minutes would go down a lot when Markkanen and Portis both come back.
I have a feeling that this isn’t going to end well for Jabari Parker and the Chicago Bulls. We will find out sooner rather than later.