Atlanta Hawks: After a rocky start to his career, Jabari Parker has finally found his niche

After an up-and-down start to his young career, it appears that Jabari Parker has finally found his niche with the Atlanta Hawks

After a widely acclaimed amateur career, which culminated in being the second selection in the highly lauded 2014 NBA Draft, Jabari Parker’s first five years in the league can best be described as star-crossed. He was expected by many to become this generation’s Carmelo Anthony or Paul Pierce; a smooth 6-foot-8 forward who may not be the quickest or most explosive, but uses size and guile to score at all three levels.

Unfortunately, leaguewide changes to how the game is played have rendered many versions of this player obsolete. Gone are the days where points per game determine one’s standing in the league. And in have come the days of versatility, defending in space, and range shooting.

Jabari Parker still had a lot of things going for him coming into the NBA, but his progress in many key areas stalled. He never focused on his defense. His promising jump shot at Duke never developed. He struggled to fit-in in a Giannis-centric environment in Milwaukee. He lost two years of development from tearing his left ACL two separate times (once his rookie year and once his third year). He showed great promise as a dynamic perimeter player in 2016-17, only to have his season ended by the second ACL tear.

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Labeling Jabari Parker’s NBA career as doomed from the start is lazy and irresponsible to be sure, but he definitely did not come up in the right era.

Parker’s four-year tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks ended in a rather unceremoniously fashion, and his subsequent return to his hometown to play for the Chicago Bulls did not work out. He played a total of 39 games for the Bulls, before being an afterthought in the Otto Porter trade with the Washington Wizards.

Parker’s NBA career was seemingly on the brink; another cautionary tale of offense-only players who need the ball and can’t defend. Only his move to Washington breathed new life into his teetering career.

It only took being on his third team in five seasons, but Jabari Parker finally realized his destiny as a second-unit wrecking ball who lives in the paint. He has largely eschewed the cute pull-up twos and instead is feasting on opponents at the rim. Just look at this wild change in his shot profile. So far this overhaul in play style is bearing fruit in his offensive production.

Parker is shooting an eye-popping 70 percent on shots inside the arc (second in the league behind Mo Wagner). If you expand the date range to include last season, he still ranks in the top 40 in the NBA in 2-point field goal percentage, two spots behind a guy named LeBron James. The only players in 2019-20 to average more points per 36 minutes than Jabari Parker while also scoring more efficiently are Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brandon Ingram, Devin Booker, and Montrezl Harrell.

Many viewed Parker’s two-year/$13 million contract with a player option on the second season as a head-scratching move by Travis Schlenk and the Atlanta Hawks front office, but it is quite clear that he fits into the vision of the team. He gives them an injection of size and athleticism that is needed next to budding star point guard Trae Young and a cast of “3-and-D” perimeter players. John Collins is the only other player on the team with more than above-average pop athletically.

Parker started the season coming off the bench and playing with fellow reserves Kevin Huerter and DeAndre’ Bembry in many lineups. Coach Lloyd Pierce staggers many of the starters’ minutes, so Parker still saw plenty of action with Young.

It was clear from the get-go that the main role for Jabari Parker was to play as the roll man in the pick and roll in Pierce’s four-out system. And instead of hanging out at the elbows or dunker’s spot as he did in his Milwaukee days, Parker is almost always parked in the corner when he is not involved in the action.

Jabari Parker receiving the ball on the move toward the basket is a scary sight for opposing defenses. Look how much open space is here on this roll for him to get a full head of steam towards the rim. He and Young already have good chemistry together, and with Collins suspended for 25 games they should get even more opportunity to play together. He is a nifty cutter as well. It’s not just his own offense that Parker is generating from these dives, watch here how his gravity opens up Bruno Fernando (a center!) for a wide-open trey.

The Hawks are scoring 7.6 more points per 100 possessions with Parker on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass (admittedly it’s difficult to parse out the impact of Trae Young in this with the season only being eight games in).

While we will likely never see the old Jabari Parker in terms of creativity with the ball or nuclear athleticism, he still has flashes of explosiveness. He can overpower a lot of wings with straight-line drives to the basket and post-ups on the low block. Parker appears rejuvenated as a grab-and-go guy. He also has gotten a few buckets this season from getting deep seals in early transition offense. Lloyd Pierce has even had him run a few 4-5 pick and rolls as the ball handler, with mixed results.

The versatility to his scoring game is still there, so he should continue to maintain this role as a dynamo off the bench given he keeps playing with this level of ferocity. Hopefully, the knee problems are behind him. While it may seem to be a far cry from the 25 a-night guy that many projected him to be, this can still be a useful player.

Parker still has many weaknesses in his game that limit his overall impact. His idiosyncratic game makes it difficult at times for his teammates to read and play off of him. He will miss shooters and have some ugly turnovers. His assist to usage ratio is in the 24th percentile among bigs, according to Cleaning the Glass. Teams will continue to stray away from him in the corner until his jump shot comes around. Parker has shown he can be lethal attacking even half-hearted closeouts. His poor rebounding makes playing center in possible small-ball lineups out of the picture.

While Jabari Parker has had a positive prognosis on the offensive side of the floor, his defense is still quite lacking to put it kindly. He has had his moments competing there so far this season but otherwise has shown very little growth. The Hawks usually hide him on punch-less wings or stretch big men. He still has very poor help instincts and anticipation off the ball. Even when he is in the right position, he often has little effect on opposing ball-handlers or dribble penetration. With this being Parker’s sixth season in the league and two serious knee injuries in the rearview mirror, there is likely no hope for him even ever being a net neutral on the defensive end of the floor.

Not all NBA careers go completely as planned and develop according to schedule, Jabari Parker epitomizes this. At age 24, it is very encouraging that he realized his owned shortcomings and carved out a role for himself that plays to his current strengths. So what is the apex form of Jabari Parker going to look like? I could see him eventually becoming the power forward version of Montrezl Harrell; an incredible play finisher who has more skill and nuance to his craft than people give him credit for. His finishing around the rim truly can be breathtaking.

Considering the variety of moves that Parker used to have in his bag, perhaps his isolation scoring game cannot be completely written off. He was also averaging 2.8 assists per game in 2017 prior to the second knee injury. Although this type of player is valuable, especially in the regular season, there’s a reason that even an actualized Jabari Parker is still a fringe starter or high-end reserve. The defensive issues make it difficult to play someone like him heavy minutes against the top contenders.

Unless he can really round out his offensive game, it is tough to envision Parker playing more than 20 minutes per game at the highest levels of playoff basketball, even in his prime. And that’s fine. There is still an 82-game regular season, and most teams can only ever aspire to get to that level of the playoffs. The journey has been rocky, but Jabari Parker has finally found his niche.

(*stats reflect Hawks’ first 10 games of the season)