It’s been roughly a month since Jabari Parker was forcibly removed from the Bulls’ rotation. Occasionally, he would randomly play a few minutes here and there, but mostly, he’s been collecting DNP’s. And butt splinters from riding the pine for entire games. In that time, the Bulls organization has been looking to trade the guy.
First off, it’s really weird to bench a guy who you’re trying to trade. Wouldn’t you want to play him and let him showcase his skills so that other teams are intrigued? By benching him, you’re saying to other teams “this guy is such a horrible defender and mediocre scorer that we can’t even play him even though we’re tanking, but we want you trade for him anyway”. How does that make sense?
Secondly, I get that Jabari has horrible advanced stats, putrid on-off numbers, and fails the defensive eye test every time you even glance in his direction, but is he really so bad that you can’t play him at all? Is it not worth trying the outlandish tactic of beliving in the young guy who’s a talented scorer? We’re not privy to the behind the scenes details, but on the surface, Jabari seems like a playble, if flawed, forward.
Third, I thought the point was to lose games this season? Or did the Bulls trade away their pick this year when I wasn’t looking? What better way to lose games than to play the hometown hero 30 MPG and let him entertain the crowd with his flashy scoring ability even though he’s letting people score on him left and right? Somehow, it must have been judged that he was ruining the development of other players to the point where he had to be yanked from the rotation. Or he had been the ringleader of the failed rebellion against Boylen where players planned not to show up to practice. Or he spray-painted “bring back Hoiberg” on Boylen’s car in the middle of the night or something.
Eighteen points in sixteen minutes speaks for itself. #freeJabari