Jabari Parker gives Celtics surprise spark as wildcard bench option in overtime win over Hornets

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/10/jabari-parker-gives-celtics-surprise-spark-as-wildcard-bench-option-in-overtime-win-over-hornets.html



Jabari Parker gives Celtics surprise spark as wildcard bench option in overtime win over Hornets



Updated: Oct. 25, 2021, 11:10 p.m. | Published: Oct. 25, 2021, 11:10 p.m.



Boston Celtics' Jabari Parker plays against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, April 17, 2021, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)AP


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



CHARLOTTE — Any team in the NBA could have had Jabari Parker last week after the Boston Celtics waived the veteran forward two days ahead of NBA’s opening night.

The move was a financially motivated decision for Brad Stevens. The team wanted to maintain flexibility with their 15 roster spot and Parker’s contract was set to guarantee for $1.1 million on opening night if he remained on the team under his previous deal.


The Celtics rolled the dice to save that cash and hoped Parker would be available for him after clearing waivers. They signed him back for 48 hours on a team-friendly, non-guaranteed as a potential end of bench scoring alternative for Ime Udoka.


The steady play of Grant Williams out of the gate at backup power forward made the prospect of Parker fighting his way into Boston’s rotation a tough sell. However, opportunity came knocking on Monday night in Charlotte. The fast-paced Hornets were scoring at will throughout the first quarter and the Celtics needed some offense to hang with them in the high-paced affair. With Al Horford sidelined, Udoka turned to Parker over Juancho Hernangomez and Enes Kanter as potential big options and the decision paid immediate dividends.

Parker erupted for 13 points in just nine minutes of action, helping Boston erase an eight-point deficit with a 12-2 run midway through the first half en route to a 140-129 overtime win. Ultimately, the former No. 2 overall pick accounted for roughly half of Boston’s bench production (27 points in the win) which helped stop the bleeding in the early going for Boston.


“They don’t have a lot of bigs,” Udoka said of Charlotte. “Plumlee is mainly their one guy, and we knew they would come off the bench with McDaniels and the kid Richards, and we felt good about that matchup offensively and defensively, we knew we were going to switch when those guys came in, and we know Jabari is instant offense.

“We know he can spark us and I told him before the game when we found out about Al to be ready. He would come in at this time, and he was prepared and ready and was in attack mode as always.”

The challenge for Parker now will be finding a way back into Boston’s rotation moving forward. An adductor strain sidelined Al Horford on Monday night but more bench big minutes will likely disappear when he returns to the fold this coming week. However, with some of Boston’s other young players struggling to score consistently, Parker strengthened his case for more opportunity by helping Boston keep pace in what ended up being a first half shootout.


His development of a corner 3-point shot (3-of-4 from distance) will be a valuable weapon on that front as the year continues. There’s a long way to go on that front for a 32 percent career 3-point shooter but the early signs this season are promising in Parker’s second year in Boston. For a team that has plenty of depth for a change, Parker is showing himself as a useful option at the end of the bench.


Bob
MY NOTE:  If he put anywhere near as much effort into his defense as he does into his offense he'd be a rotation player, if not a starter, on a lot of teams, but he doesn't.

What this makes me wonder is "where does Hernangomez fit in?".  If Parker is "Mr. Instant Offense" then what is Juancho?  He's not known as a high quality defender. If preseason is any judge he has slow lateral movement on defense.

Just as a side note, a player we could have had instead of Juancho or Jabari was Moses Brown, he who was traded to us from OKC and then to Dallas in the Josh Richardson trade.  Through 2 games Moses Brown has not played a single minute for Dallas.  That gives Juancho 4 more minutes this season than Moses.  What does Sam Presti of OKC, Brad Stevens of Boston and HC Jason Kidd of Dallas know that we don't?


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