Giannis mentioned that Jabari Parker was such an incredibly talented player that his goal was to at least outwork him, making it a point to always practice more than Jabari. He said Jabari was the biggest motivator of his career.
Imagine a healthy Jabari Parker playing with Giannis today without those ACL injuries man.
Another ‘What if’. Remember the hype between Wiggins and Jabari. Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Edit: WAIT. GIANNIS AND JABARI WERE DRAFTED IN CONSECUTIVE YEAR! Imagine. Bucks Fans how do you feel about that? Also, 2013⁄2014 seems ages ago.
Gods, I’ve woken up today and realized I’m that old
Lebron was drafted as I was graduating high school, this is I have for comparison for the rest of my life.
LeBron is just a few months younger than me - as long as he remains an effective professional basketball player my dreams are not dead and I will still be an astronaut someday.
shoot i think was in middle school when he got drafted i might’ve had the L2s as well
i cant remember though because that was about 23 years ago
Lebron got drafted the same year I experienced my first heartbreak. Now it is ingrained in my memory forever. Thanks Lebron!
I pick you, king.
I was a freshman in college when he was drafted and my roommate was from Akron. We talked about LeBron versus Carmelo a fair bit, and I clearly thought Carmelo would be better in the end.
I’ve had a pretty full life since then, and LeBron is still playing at a high level in the NBA.
Jayson Tatum is still 12 right???
I feel like the 2014 draft hype was a good comparaison to this year’s draft. Funny the 41th pick turned out to be the best player
Wiggins and Jabari for a hot minute got LeBron and Melo comps.
Tbf that 41st pick would be best player in like 90% of drafts
LMAO. The Burger king Ad Draft.
Taco Bell
My bad. Yeah Taco bell.
Forty-firth
“Riggin for Wiggins” “sorry for Jabari.” What a time
Impede for Embiid. Same draft.
I forgot about that one 🤣🤣
I thought it was “Conceed for Embiid”
Bleed for Embiid
I was fully a Wiggins guy going into that draft class, but Parker as a rookie totally blew me away. That dude had this explosiveness that I just didn’t realize. He had refined technique and footwork, played worth physicality above his age, and was less of a straight checker than I expected. Injuries absolutely sapped him of a superstar ceiling, but I have to give him credit, what he did later in his career adapting his game to a role player was actually a solid player. Just a crazy what if of this century
Yeah Parker was in that LeBron/Zion mold of guy who is either too quick or too strong for anyone that guards him.
Both of them are ‘raw’ but Parker is more NBA ready than Maple Jordan.
Those are the 2 players who got me into high school basketball.
I remember watching Jabari’s HS team get absolutely trounced by the team with Anthony Bennett who was injured that game
Jabari had clear issues in his game: a bad 3pt shooter, bad playmaking, and worst of all he sucked (or didnt care) on defence.
He would have had to still develop his skills a lot. And I believe even without the injuries he wouldnt have grown into a player like Tatum. More like a player like DeRozan. Talented player, but clearly not a #1 player on a team, and not a good #2 either because of his lack of shooting and defence.
Bucks would still have had to trade a healthy Jabari, he probably would have been sent out in the Jrue trade.
Is coaching an issue also during those time? I remember J.Kidd experimented with Gianni’s and made him a-la- Point Forward. Do you think Kidd also can develop Jabari into a more complete player sans injuries?
I don’t think Kidd would have gotten him to be a plus defender ever in his career, although Jabari did no favors at all in his limited playing time. He truly looked like he did not care at all to play defense.
Unfortunately I dont think coaching had much impact. He had character issues, which caused the lack of playmaking and defence in his game.
He was extremely talented, but I dont think in any timeline he is a major piece in a championship team. He would have been a good stats, bad team kind of a player if he had stayed healthy.
Ahh the Zach LaVine archetype
Kidd allegedly didn’t like Jabari and he certainly didn’t try to expand Jabari’s game - Jabari had his most success as a Buck as a play finishing PF. He was an awful fit on the court with Giannis until they experimented with Giannis at PG, cause they both were PFs.
I do think national fans who didn’t have to watch Jabari overrate his ability and underrate his flaws. He was a genuinely clueless defender, not just a limited one, his instincts on defense were really bad. He also never developed his perimeter skills on offense much and so never became a real perimeter playmaker and didn’t shoot as well from deep as was expected entering the league. And he notably appeared to quit on the Bucks before he left, complaining about his role to the media and then visibly pouting on the court in the first couple games of Bucks 2018 seties vs Boston (Worth mentioning he faced public criticism from teammates after that and tried as hard he ever did on defense over the latter portion of that series).
I do think if he didn’t get hurt and so had a longer career, he could have had a chance to develop better if he matured and started taking his craft more seriously. I think he entered the league believing he just needed to be a scorer while also not having the work ethic needed to succeed and so he needed a wake up call to succeed.
WAIT. GIANNIS AND JABARI WERE DRAFTED IN CONSECUTIVE YEAR!
And Damien Inglis !
Jabari fell so Khris could rise. It all worked out for us.
I’m less harsh on Jabari than a lot of people because I think some of his mental red flags are more related to the fact that he had massive turbulence right at the beginning of his career than it is to problems that always existed.
That being said I’m more upset for him personally than I am for the Bucks. We won a championship without him, it’s hard to say “what if” when you’re competing with a championship.
I mean, once we picked up Brook for free off the scrap heap we had all the pieces to dominate for a decade, but injuries suck. Jabari’s ACL’s are one thing, but I honestly think Middleton could have been a HOFer if not for his hamstring tearing off his bone, limiting his athleticism for the rest of his career. And then obviously the drum beat of injuries to Giannis in the last few years.
We got the ship, so, it’ll still be a period remembered fondly, but Giannis era is still a “what could have been”.
#tank4Wiggins #tank4Parker
Something terrible happens*
You - How do you feel about that???
Unpopular, but he wouldve neved worked out. He was a score first dude who never played a lick of defense. At least middleton was just slightly below average
He wouldve been nice as a 6th man tho
To be fair, they didn’t pay him to play defense
they would have been a nightmare for the rest of the east. it’s wild to look back and remember that Jabari was drafted to be the polished franchise savior while Giannis was just the raw project.
Jabari parker was such a fkn dawg man.
They were my sleeper 2k team that year. Jabari Parker giannis and thon maker were op
Don’t forget Larry Sanders
Bro grabbed like 10 Off boards lol good times
I’ll die on the hill that bro could’ve been a star if he gave 2 shits about basketball
And John Henson.
John Hammond loved the long arms.
Lmaoo 2k17 right?
Jabari was talented but dawg is one of the worst ways possible to describe him lol
“They don’t pay people to play defense”
I wanted him and Giannis to run the league so bad man 😭
Jabari was a straight dawg on the court.
Well, on one side of it.
A dog is still a dog even if it only barks on one side of the street.
bars
This feels like an expression that can be applied to anything but it really can only be applied to this one specific thing
It really makes sense the less you think about it.
it works anytime someone is duplicitous
e.g. if someone is constantly mean to me but you try to reassure me by saying they’re always nice to you, I might say:
Except when he played defense.
Jabari’s first week with the Bulls a reporter asked him about his low effort on the court whenever he didn’t have the ball in his hands. His exact response, “I didn’t come to Chicago to get rebounds”.
I mean, fine, but don’t say that. Also, disqualification for “dog” status.
Lol I feel like people are romanticizing him as a player. His quote about defense (“they don’t pay guys to play defense”) says a lot about what his mindset was with respect to caring about winning vs. personal stats. Someone who doesn’t give a shit about defense can never be a “dawg” in my mind…
There was a post back then of the scars of Jabari’s knee and it was just so sad.
Dang, you ain’t exaggerating. Shows how committed he was to trying to get back on the court.
As much as fans love to dog a lot of these guys for their seemingly low work ethic, you don’t come back to an elite level after injuries like that without unreal dedication.
Parker never returned to elite level though.
I’d consider getting back on the nba floor relatively elite.
You want me to PUT DOWN THE HAMMER?
yikes
I just googled it. Holy fuck.
Jabari was such a good dude
He seems happy in Europe.
I think more fans need to realize that playing overseas is not a bad thing.
You’re still getting paid to do what you love to do.
Happy in Europe? Dude was getting whistled, booed and blamed for making the GOAT Euroleague coach leave Partizan. I haven’t seen a foreign player being hated in Partizan, but Parker has managed to do it.
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Serbia is in the Balkans, the birthplace of the word Europe. Close to Greece geographically, culturally and religiously, to Austria and Germany in educational reform, France in revolutionary past and flag, with the longest European river Danube passing through it’s two biggest cities, a birth spot of 18 Roman Emperors, on the border between two former Empires (Habsburg and Ottoman), with the language and alphabet formed and influenced by the old Slavs, Latins, Thracians, Illyrians and Greeks inhabiting this region for centuries, with people as lazy as any Southern European from South Italy and Spain. We also play most popular European sports like basketball, football and tennis, and not some fucking hockey, we don’t drink votka but rakija and wine, we said no to Soviets once when Lenin took over in 1917 and once to Stalin after WW2, we said no to Russian priests in 1800s and we are 2000 km away from them or any of their influence.
Serbia was not Soviet. Absolute embarrassment of a comment.
this…is really off. He cried on TV when he was asked about playing overseas after his NBA journey ended, and he’s widely hated in Serbia
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And then gave a response a day later where he said that he got overwhelmed by emotions and that those are happy tears. That seemed fake as fuck, but people bought it for some reason.
Yeah, I don’t buy it at all. I can imagine how crushing it must be to his self-esteem to play in the “minor leagues” after being touted as a future face of the league all his life. Still not the best mindset to coast and do the bare minimum
Partizan isn’t minor leagues. Obviously nowhere near NBA but it ain’t like the G-league
Then he gets no sympathy from me.
I mean, there’s a reason I put it in quotes. It’s minor compared to the NBA, but obviously the skill levels are pretty high
Two things can be true at the same time - it was tough reflecting on his dream of playing in the NBA vanishing, and he’s happy he’s still playing in Europe. I don’t think it’s fair to him for those tears to be some indictment on his time overseas, but there’s no way he grew up dreaming about it the same way.
I mean, sure, but looking at how he’s been phoning it in over there, I can’t imagine him being that happy. He’s probably glad he can put his skills to use for money, but that’s about it
Its not a bad thing if you justify your salary.
Jabari did not and Im pretty sure he is the most hated foreign player in Serbia
Context?
Context is that he was signed as the biggest signing of Partizan or record wages only to be so incredibly shit. One of the reasons why the GOAT coach of Euroleage resigned. Serbian fans hold grudge like no others and they let you know.
The atmosphere is different over there. No such thing in the US
I don’t think that’s a fan thing. More so a player thing where they always dreamed about the NBA so they don’t want to give up even if they have to take less money and play in the g league plus maybe don’t want to live abroad
Yeah, playing overseas became more widely popular for American players just in the, let’s say, last 5-10 years.
It coincided with the fact that young talented European (and overall international) players are getting snapped up by the NBA (and now the NCAA) as soon as they show a glimpse of potential, when before that you had them being leaders of their teams in Europe for years before coming to the NBA (if they ever came to the NBA).
So because the NBA has become a lot more international than before, taking those players away from European teams, the teams in Europe have to make up for that by taking the American players whose spots in the NBA those international players, directly or indirectly, took.
It’s an exchange basically.
That’s also the fact that playing in Europe has become more mainstream for American players now (way more money than in the G League, showcasing your game in a big role against still quality competition etc).
Funny. My coworker is from Belgrade. He says Partizan fans hate Jabari. He’s one of the highest paid players in the league, and isn’t one of the best players on the team. Multiple guys with better production than him. Hero to Giannis. Villain to Belgrade fans.
His stint at Partizan was horrible, he was the biggest problem in that locker room which was the primary reason that ended legendary coach Obradovic’s tenure there
Even Giannis got annoyed with him when they were actually teammates. Jabari complained about his role publicly and showed extremely poor effort at times, Giannis, without mentioning his name but obviously, called him out for that once during the playoffs.
Once again highlighting how Giannis is a great player but pretty bad at evaluating other players’ talent.
Has anybody watched the Euroleague for the past few years? I understand Jabari had injuries but the “I am not getting paid to play defence” attitude really showed up in Europe, burning bridges with all the franchises he played for. Even without the injuries Jabari was a mini Melo in the making
I can’t believe there are people here saying he was a dawg when he literally said that about his defense. Yeah injuries added up but he certainly didn’t help himself out.
These kids just see 20 PPG and the knee issues and assume he was destined for stardom
It has to be kids, right? I was on this sub when he was an active NBA player and this was absolutely not the narrative he had lol. Just looking at highlights and scoring numbers I guess.
100%, I was around during that time too and “dawg” was never used to describe him. He was a fantastic prospect because his offensive skillset was so advanced for his age but he never showed much on the other side of the ball.
Bro was a monster on my 2k save though
Absolutely. “Dawg” is the last word anyone would or should use to describe a player who so openly gave zero shit about playing defense. He wasn’t destined for stardom even fully healthy: his mindset with regards to winning vs. personal stats was terrible.
It’s kids who didn’t see him play or only watched highlights. Jabari was exactly Carmelo Anthony, with knee injuries preventing him from reaching full-Carmelo.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, who saw Carmelo play in the NBA would call him a dawg.
Watching him at Duke I was so certain he was gonna carve out a 10 year minimum career. Maybe not being a superstar, but at his worst an all star who could average 20 in his sleep……it’s a shame his deficiencies derailed him, plus his inability to even want to work on the aspects of his game he needed to. Like defense……
Injuries prevented him from having a 10 year career, what you said stopped him from being a star or anything but not staying in the league
Right, I forgot about the two acl injuries. And they were early in his development too
And after the first one he came back even better but then retore it and was never the same.
To be fair “they don’t pay players to play defense”.
What’s crazy is imagine the world where the Bucks decide to take Embiid at 2 even with the back issues.
Giannis and Embiid plus another potential Top 5 pick or two( since Embiid didn’t play early on) would have been dirty.
He literally said that and was out of the league in short order lol
Interestingly Jabari’s one of the few prospects I saw in person at a Duke game and I knew he was probably going to get drafted in the first few picks next year. Came away from the game not impressed with him at all, and felt justified when he flamed out of the league, even though it’s unfair to him because of the injuries.
I do admit that was like the only college game of his I watched, though, so it was a first impression opinion.
This is my take on Fernando Mendoza…saw him play for CAL against Stanford and was not impressed then 2 years later he gets drafted 1OA.
Let’s be honest, no one watches prospects and thinks oh he’ll have a 10 year career
Uhh, what? Maybe for casual basketball fans like you, but it isn’t out the ordinary to make a prediction like that. Weird comment
Nah trust me bro I saw this prospect before the draft and just based on the look in his eyes oh I was like this mf goin for 8 or 9 years tonight, but once he got to 9 it’s like, you might as well go for 10!
drafted #2 overall and looked every bit of it early on. those first few years in Milwaukee with him and Giannis had so much potential before the injuries derailed it. kinda wild to think about what couldve been
Obviously injuries played a massive part, but Parker’s ego even to this day has always gotten the best of him. It’s ironic to hear how European teams are now not becoming fond of him because a couple of years ago he talked down on the NBA. Basically implying that there were a lot of good players(himself) without jobs because teams don’t want to win. He truly believes he’s not on an NBA team right now by choice or cause half the league isn’t competing and not cause of his game which still hasn’t changed. He’s just never wanted to take accountability for the things that actually were in his control(weight, defense, ego).
Exactly. There is a lot of revisionist history on Parker.
Even if he never had those knee injuries, those things you mentioned would have held him back from being elite.
Never got the love for Jabari, he had an interview where he basically admitted offense gets you paid, and that’s his only motivator in the NBA. He didn’t value winning or defense, he’s playing in much weaker competition in Europe and hasn’t really been a contributor aside from scoring.
I for one, as a fan of the team Jabari started last season on and the team that still pays his (by European standards) very big contract, hate Jabari Parker.
Came into the season noticeably overweight, didn’t give a shit, played like a fucking corpse, absolutely zero effort, looked lost on the court, was one of the main contributors to our bad locker room atmosphere, got loaned out and we still have to pay him for the next season.
I can’t stress enough how terrible he was, you can make a lowlight compilation of the 15 games that he played for us in the Euroleague last season and he’ll look like an average LA Fitness hooper.
That’s what I’ve noticed as well.
Big injury “what if” type of player.
IMO, he would have scored 20ppg on losing teams his whole career. selfish chucker archetype. Woulda gotten one big contract back then and the team would regret it.
I’ve never been more wrong on a prospect than I was on Jabari. I really thought he’d be perennial all NBA, top 15 ish type guy. I saw a ton of young Melo in him in college and high school
He fell into the NBA near the end of the tweener forward Era and it hurt him and his fit with Giannis. Jabari wasn’t quite a Small Forward and he wasn’t quite a Power Forward and he and Giannis had some overlap but it still kinda worked the one year they were both healthy. I always liked Jabari but the injury was killer for someone like him.
Those two plus Khris were three guys playing for two spots.
Injuries after being drsfted dont count with being wrong about a prospect especially when they showed every reason why you should take them early like he did.
Its the same with Greg Oden because in a different world hes a multi time all-star and hall of fame lock who possibly has a ring as the best or second best player on his team but the Injuries took him out before he got started. But based on his college footage youd be stupid to not draft him as one of, or THE top guy that year regardless of who else was there.
I don’t think you were wrong to think that, the injuries are what held him back
I saw Paul piece with a touch of early Harden/Ginobilli
He would’ve been if he didn’t get hurt
He 100% would’ve been if it wasn’t for the injuries
I feel so sad for Jabari. He is currently one of the least respected players in Europe, after a terrible half a season with Serbian club Partizan which ended with him being moved to a mid spanish club.
But as a greek, watching Giannis closely throughout his career, Jabari had huge potential. In the Giannis biography by Mirin Fader there were several reports about his influence. Giannis was kind of “annoyed” by how this newcomer was claiming the Bucks “top player” role and had to work extra hard to prove he was the alpha.
Jabari was legit
Thats really nice
Giannis and Jabari were such a fun duo. Wish he could’ve stayed healthy, they had something cooking over there.
Wish Jabari had the career he deserves
People love this dude and I don’t get it.
A secret legendary r/nba post was the “Jabari Parker has no friends” one. Which was very mean but also was really fucking funny that someone went to all the effort to do that
I remember Steven Adams talking about the time he found out Jabari parker was half Tongan, Adams was like “what? Sup uce”..
Jabari had like a month of his entire career where he played like an all star. So sad what injuries did to him
Jabari was a shoe in for the East All Star then injury struck.
Damn I wish we had the Slash Bros for a longer period, damn injuries
Giannis is my fav player in this era. This just solidified it for me.
I swore Jabari was the next Kobe before the draft
Tissue anyone?🥹
Jabari parker looked like 2nd coming of Grant Hill before all his injuries.
Competitors compete… even against their own teammates with things like Giannis just described. The ones who rise to NBA legend status always have that almost petty competitiveness.
Jabari 😢. Itd have been nice to see if he would’ve been better than Wiggins
He wants to come back
Jabari was so nice man.
I still remember Jabari Parker being hyped up as the next LeBron and I could not wait to start a 2k league with him as the star player.
NBA history absolutely littered with examples like this
All my homies love Jabari Parker
Nobody likes Jabari in Europe. In fact I would rather take Kevin Love on crutches then Jabari, all talk 0 incentive.
Curious about this, what happened?
Stupid knee injuries robbed him of his prime Carmelo ceiling. His first step combined with his mastery of the mid range and elite footwork had him on his way.
Man Jabari was so good
Man it’s crazy and also kinda sad how great Jabari could have been and wasn’t able to be. If I remember correctly it unfortunately had a lot to do with injuries.
Saw him in Miami with Duke. 17 points and 15 boards, remember him catching a pretty sweet lob and being the best dude in the building by a mile