Parker declares for NBA draft

[DBFAN]

Bad source or some SMU guy making stuff up. Turner tweeted he has not narrowed his list.

Heck that just made my day a little better

[Des Esseintes]

agree completely; as with all these guys, money is the driving force. and who can hold that against them?

Humans?

[fgb]

It's all about the money.

Good luck, Jabari.

agree completely; as with all these guys, money is the driving force. and who can hold that against them?

[gus]

It's a fair question. I don't know. All I know is what I feel. The guys who only stay one year feel like they used Duke and don't feel like Duke players in the NBA and I tend not to root for them. I will say it's also partly due to what they did in their one year. I know I don't nearly struggle to root for Luol like I do Irving or Rivers - but Duke had a much better run with Deng. I'm not arguing it's the right way to feel about it - but it is how I feel.

P.S. I also think he got the answer badly wrong to both of his big questions.

I think we said the same things when Rivers declared. I'm not going to be a NBA Jabari fan, simply because I won't care. It's apathy not antipathy. I don't fault him at all for making this decision, but I just don't get that invested in one and done players. When I think about this season, I'm going to remember Dre, not Parker.

[Edouble]

I am not the son of an NBA player, nor have I been a basketball player at Duke University. Jabari *is* both of those things. So if he thinks he will develop more as a person and player in the NBA, I think I should trust him to know that answer best. I'm curious what experience or knowledge you bring to this discussion to say he is "badly wrong."

While I am not crazy about the semantics of "badly wrong", I do agree with the spirit of their meaning. Was in the the NYTimes article that Shane Battier pretty much said that he was a fish out of water in an NBA locker room... an open-minded and well-rounded intellectual in a room full of tough guys of below average intelligence?

Jabari strikes me as a Shane Battier-type. An interesting, complex person that may not mesh well with stereotypical NBA players. I am also curious as to how anyone would develop more off the court in the NBA than at Duke. The NBA lifestyle, from hearing so many players talk about it, seems to be a never ending series of airplane trips and strip clubs. Hence, MCWill has places himself into a self-imposed cocoon, living with his dad, and putting his money into a nest egg for his post playing days, I think, to avoid the pitfalls that so many players fall into.

My only disappointment in all of this is how long it took for Jabari to declare. I never thought for a second that he would come back. That's just not the way things work these days. But I am still hoping we get Myles Turner, and we need Jabari to go ahead and clear out, I think, to have a shot.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I think we said the same things when Rivers declared. I'm not going to be a NBA Jabari fan, simply because I won't care. It's apathy not antipathy. I don't fault him at all for making this decision, but I just don't get that invested in one and done players. When I think about this season, I'm going to remember Dre, not Parker.

I'm going to remember a ridiculously effective offense led by Jabari and Hood. Jabari with his insane coast-to-coasts and put-back dunks. Hood with his ability to carve up a zone at the top of key.

Unfortunately, I'm also going to remember how bad our defense was, from the 1 to the 5.

As to which one will win out in my memory, I'm not sure...

[GGLC]

Obviously wish him all the best. Great player, great kid, can't fault him for the decision.

I can't help but wonder what could have been though... his 1 season was great from an individual perspective but from a team perspective... one of the more disappointing seasons in recent memory. No ACC championship (regular or tournament), an average (for Duke) NCAA seed and another early flame out in the NCAAs. Does Jabari leave a Duke legacy? I don't really think so. Hopefully next year's Duke team does just that.

We can always remember the way he stepped up huge in his final collegiate game.

...Sigh. At least Kyrie went out with a bang.

On that topic, I'm still a little bit amazed by Gerald Henderson not feeling the need to come back to erase the bad taste left by that final performance of his. Quick, without looking: how many shots did Gerald make and attempt in his last game? The answer may surprise you (unless it's burned into your brain like it is in mine).

[Ltrey33]

I echo what many of you have said - he's a great kid and I hope he has a great career in the NBA. He'll represent Duke well.

The only thing that made me cringe in the article was this quote:

Which environment -- college or the NBA -- offers me the best opportunity to grow as a basketball player?
Which environment -- college or the NBA -- offers me the best opportunity to grow and develop off the court?
The answer to both questions is undeniably the NBA.

The "undeniably the NBA" answer is hurtful to me as a fan of Coach K, the Duke program and the University as a whole. Maybe the NBA does have the best opportunity for growth on the court given where Jabari is as a player, but I have a really hard time accepting the fact that the best chance to grow and develop off the court comes at some place other than Duke.

[NashvilleDevil]

I think we said the same things when Rivers declared. I'm not going to be a NBA Jabari fan, simply because I won't care. It's apathy not antipathy. I don't fault him at all for making this decision, but I just don't get that invested in one and done players. When I think about this season, I'm going to remember Dre, not Parker.

I will remember Jabari's game at Cameron against Carolina when he found "it".

[Bob Green]

Congratulations Jabari, I wish you Fair Winds and Following Seas in all future endeavors.

[Duvall]

The "undeniably the NBA" answer is hurtful to me as a fan of Coach K, the Duke program and the University as a whole. Maybe the NBA does have the best opportunity for growth on the court given where Jabari is as a player, but I have a really hard time accepting the fact that the best chance to grow and develop off the court comes at some place other than Duke.

It's hurtful to you, personally? That's just bizarre. People are wired differently, and I don't know why you assume that you know Parker better than he knows himself.

[Duvall]

On that topic, I'm still a little bit amazed by Gerald Henderson not feeling the need to come back to erase the bad taste left by that final performance of his. Quick, without looking: how many shots did Gerald make and attempt in his last game? The answer may surprise you (unless it's burned into your brain like it is in mine).

It's almost like these players value their own personal and professional development over protecting the memories that may or may not be burned into your brain.

[GGLC]

I will remember Jabari's game at Cameron against Carolina when he found "it".

I was riding an elephant in India at the time. Sometime I should really go back and watch the highlights of that game, one of the few in the latter half of the season where Duke was really roaring on both cylinders.

[InSpades]

I echo what many of you have said - he's a great kid and I hope he has a great career in the NBA. He'll represent Duke well.

The only thing that made me cringe in the article was this quote:

Which environment -- college or the NBA -- offers me the best opportunity to grow as a basketball player?
Which environment -- college or the NBA -- offers me the best opportunity to grow and develop off the court?
The answer to both questions is undeniably the NBA.

The "undeniably the NBA" answer is hurtful to me as a fan of Coach K, the Duke program and the University as a whole. Maybe the NBA does have the best opportunity for growth on the court given where Jabari is as a player, but I have a really hard time accepting the fact that the best chance to grow and develop off the court comes at some place other than Duke.

I wouldn't call it "hurtful", I would call it "wrong". As a Duke grad I think I can pretty safely say that the proportion of people who spend 4 years at Duke go on to do better things in life than the proportion of people who jump to the NBA. Every individual is different obviously but without having anything else to base our results on... I'd say staying at Duke 4 years is a good place to grow and develop off the court.

I'd also add that the men who spend 4 years at Duke and then go on to the NBA are an extra special bunch.

[pfrduke]

On that topic, I'm still a little bit amazed by Gerald Henderson not feeling the need to come back to erase the bad taste left by that final performance of his. Quick, without looking: how many shots did Gerald make and attempt in his last game? The answer may surprise you (unless it's burned into your brain like it is in mine).

I don't remember exactly, but my vague recollection was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-16.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't fault him at all, I just hate the waiting game. It is clear from the well written words in the article and the polished video that goes with it that he made his mind up some time ago. It must have driven Benedict crazy keeping the secret too.

Best of luck to him.

[Billy Dat]

Ah, another Duke supernova comes and goes...Maggette, Deng, Irving, Rivers, Parker...in some ways, because of his injury, its feels right to add Brand to this group, and likely Hood since he will be Duke one-and-done. I some ways, Irving + Brand/2 basically equals one and done for both.

Still, Jabari set a high mark - consensus first team All-American, National Player of the Year finalist, baker of Mendl's-caliber confectionery delights...another link in the Chicago -> Duke Basketball chain that includes such luminaries as K himself, Sean Dockery, Jahlil Okafor and CDu...

We'll miss you big guy, give 'em hell in the L.

[Emerrick]

Damn... my week just got considerably worse... Luckily, I was prepared for a ****** ending and had my tissue box standing by.

Oh well, best of luck to the kid. He was fun to watch and it was equally fun to day-dream about what might have been (kinda like day-dreaming about winning the lottery I guess).

[grad_devil]

..another link in the Chicago -> Duke Basketball chain that includes such luminaries as K himself, Sean Dockery, Jahlil Okafor and CDu...

I believe Duhon was from Louisiana - Perhaps you mean Scheyer or Dockery? I believe both are from the Chicago area.

[Des Esseintes]

While I am not crazy about the semantics of "badly wrong", I do agree with the spirit of their meaning. Was in the the NYTimes article that Shane Battier pretty much said that he was a fish out of water in an NBA locker room... an open-minded and well-rounded intellectual in a room full of tough guys of below average intelligence?

Jabari strikes me as a Shane Battier-type. An interesting, complex person that may not mesh well with stereotypical NBA players. I am also curious as to how anyone can develop more off the court in the NBA than at Duke. The NBA lifestyle, from hearing so many players talk about it, seems to be a never ending series of airplane trips and strip clubs. Hence, MCWill has places himself into a self-imposed cocoon, living with his dad, and putting his money into a nest egg for his post playing days, I think, to avoid the pitfalls that so many players fall into.

Again, the dude is a son of an NBA player. I think we are engaging in absolute fantasy if we think we know more about how the next few years will go than he does. Everyone here wants to believe Duke is a special place. And it is! But it's intellectually lazy for us to assume nowhere else is special, and nobody grows anywhere else. I also see no reason to assume an NBA locker room is mostly guys of below-average intelligence. Being physically gifted does not mean a decreased likelihood of being mentally gifted. To say otherwise is a dangerous and insulting chauvinism.