Several
days ago I came up with the Idea to write an article based on Jabari
Parker and Andrew Wiggins. I didn’t want to do it alone so I
contacted one of the best basketball minds I could find in Brian
Carthens and he agreed to co-author it with me. Brian is one of the
new contributors here at Tru School Sports and comes from a
basketball back round playing basketball at the junior college level
and is just a huge fan of the game at all levels then just the NBA.
Brian has a website set to launch in the near future you can follow
him on Twitter @CarthensBC. This is a 2 person article
with the first part being Brian. So enjoy it, because it is a
classic.
Brian
When you look at the history of the NBA, rivals are what fuel the interests of general fandom. Back in the 80s, after a showdown in that national championship game in the late 70s, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird infused new life in the league. Both Magic and Bird cemented their legacies in Laker and Celtic lore. Fast forward a few decades and you have the epic battle between St. Vincent St Mary and Oak Hill Academy. On one side there was the prodigal son LeBron James who garnered more headlines than arguably any high school athlete to that point. The opposition was led by Carmelo Anthony who was known as a silky smooth offensive machine at the time. They now are playing for bitter rivals, the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks. While the book on their careers or rivalry has yet to be closed, there is another one brewing under the surface.
Enter
Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. Jabari was once pegged as the best high
school player since Lebron James. He was the highest rated player in the class
of 2013 for an extended period. That is, until Wiggins reclassified. This has
the makings of a 10-15 year barbershop argument when the question is asked:
“Who is the better player?” Is it Jabari? Is it Wiggins? Let’s do an in depth
analysis of both prospects.
Pros -
When you watch Jabari Parker, one thing you will recognize from the jump is
that he plays within the flow of the team. He stands out without always having
to score as he is a very cerebral player. He has tremendous humility which
enables him to be extremely coach able. That is always a great trait when
looking for a player to reach superstar status. Jabari has the skills to play
the 3 position on offense. He possesses a nice shooting stroke, whips nifty
passes through traffic, and also rebounds’ his area really well. He also has
“sneaky” athleticism and handles the ball pretty well.
Cons-
While Jabari is an elite level talent there are also plenty of areas he can
improve. Let’s start with his body. He was injured for a part of his senior
season and had to play himself in shape. He was extremely overweight when he
returned but worked diligently to shed off 30 lbs in a couple months. He also
struggles with laterally foot speed on defense against wing players. Those are
two major areas of concern in regards to his ceiling as a NBA player. It will
be hidden a bit at Duke next season, as he will be playing the 4 therefore
guarding the 4, but he must continue to improve in that area.
Cons-
While it is a work in progress, Wiggins needs to continue to develop his jump
shooting. The NBA defenses will play off of a player who they think is not
equipped to beat them from the outside. Wiggins will need to be more assertive
at key moments in the game. Oftentimes he will coast when the competition isn’t
on his level (hardly ever in high school) and he will go through lulls due to
what appears to be lack of assertiveness.
Final
Analysis:
While both
players possess awesome skill sets, I choose Andrew Wiggins to be the better
pro between the two. Both players have shown the ability to listen to their
coaches’ advice, take it in stride and implement it. However, Wiggins is much
more the sure thing when talking the NBA. They will have similar numbers in
college and in the Duke system he may have better numbers, but Wiggins is the
ultimate grab in the 2014 draft. While many people will judge it based off of
the game between Kansas and Duke November 12, 2013, I will go off of my
basketball instinct and say that Wiggins will be the better pro. What do you
think?
Brendan
I look at Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker and I see
everything that the NBA and its fans need. Not everybody is a fan of a team
some people just like basketball as a whole and cheer for players for rather
then teams. I think Wiggins and Parker are going to do for the NBA what Magic
and Bird did in the 80’s along with Iverson and Kobe in the early 2000’s. They
are going to spark debate and give casual fans a side to choose. Both are
extremely talented and I’m sure plenty of NBA GM’s are looking forward at the
possibility of grabbing these 2 tremendously talented players. Until they meet
each other in college and ultimately in the NBA there is really nothing to do
but dissect, analyze and just give insight and opinions into who’s game is
better suited for the NBA and who we think will be a better player. So I’m
going to try to build of what Brain Just said because he did a great job and
made a lot of valid points.
Jabari
Parker
Pros-Jabari Parker has a 7 foot wingspan which allows him to get his hands on a lot of balls as he averaged just under 2 blocks per game last season and just over 3 blocks. He does a fantastic job of creating his offense off the dribble. One of the more underrated parts of his game is his timing of knowing when and when not block shots you can’t really teach that and Jabari does that very well. The Chicago native knows how to finish at the rim and he is very crafty. Jabari as an offensive player can do a lot and do it without breaking the teams offensive flow, Jabari does have the ability to stretch the floor and shoot the 3 pointer at a high clip.
Cons- Like
Brian stated earlier Jabari was overweight and had to basically play himself
into shape and that raises concern with me. Jabari has all the talent in the
world but as a basketball player your body and conditioning come first and the
fact that he was overweight raises questions with me about his discipline. You
can get away with that in high school but in the pros where everybody is an
elite athlete your conditioning must be elite to match up with them.
Defensively Parker’s foot speed is a concern as he struggles guarding the
perimeter which is a must for any teams starting small forward.
Andrew
Wiggins
Pros- Wiggins possesses NBA athleticism at the young age of 18 and to be quite honest he can jump higher then a lot of current players at this present moment. The type of feeling you get watching Lebron jump is about the same when you watch Wiggins. He also has a 7 foot wingspan which makes him a nightmare on defense when you couple that with his leaping ability. Unlike Parker He moves very well side to side and can stay with pretty much anybody in front of him. Wiggins has physical tools but also has the technical skills to match it. If you watch Wiggins he uses that size to post up on the block and create offense for himself as well as teammates. His potential is limitless.
Cons- Like anybody who is just more talented than his peers he has a tendency to get bored, not compete and stay as
engaged as he could. So staying engaged at all times is something Wiggins will
have to do at the next level. As great as he is physically I still think there
is room for him to grow in terms of putting on some size so that’s
something he should work on as he is heading to Kansas.
Final Analysis: I am a huge Jabari Parker fan but I
feel like the upside Wiggins has and the physical tools he already posses will
always have him just a bit better than Parker. All in all though I feel like
these 2 guys will push each other to new limits and give us great basketball
for many years to come. So I’ll let you decide are you on the side of Andrew
Wiggins Or Jabari Parker. If you want to talk about what you just read with me
Tweet me @ThatboyBtaylor on Twitter and I’ll gladly respond.
Jabari Parker Mixtape
Andrew
Wiggins Mixtape
