Sonny Parker on Boston sports talk

[Houston]

Sonny Parker appeared on Boston sports talk and said the family will not talk about Jabari going pro until after the season. The article also pulls a quote from Bulls.com: “The growing view among NBA executives seems to be Jabari Parker will not leave Duke this year. Chicagoan Jahlil Okafor, a Parker friend and big man, is going to Duke next season. Parker is a bright young man with a strong family and the feeling is he understands both the importance of education and feels he owes Duke and the chance to have a great Duke team, which more than likely is the next two seasons. Plus, Parker has seen what staying in school has done for other greats compared with the tough starts for even stars like Kobe Bryant.”

Hopefully the following link will work for people: http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2014/01/21/sonny-parker-jabari-not-entertaining-nba-future-until-after-duke-season/

[UrinalCake]

I'm glad he has made a statement, and he is doing the right thing by waiting until after the season to make a decision. I'm sure people will continue to speculate, but there's no reason to make a decision now.

Also, excellent point about guys like Bryant struggling in their first year. I think you could make a case that any player could benefit from a year of college. In the case of Kobe and LeBron they might have had the physical tools but needed to develop maturity and leadership. As Steve Kerr pointed out a few years ago, maybe after a year under Coach K, Kobe would have learned to get along with Shaq and that dynasty would have never dissolved. He could have his six rings and be considered equal or better than Jordan. And I'm convinced that had LeBron gone to college, the Decision would have never happened and his public perception wouldn't have taken that massive hit. McGrady did nothing but ride the bench his first year and play video games in his hotel room by himself; he's talked about watching march madness on TV and wishing he could have enjoyed that. So there are plenty of reasons to stay in college (though realistically I expect Jabari to go).

[Kfanarmy]

I'm glad he has made a statement, and he is doing the right thing by waiting until after the season to make a decision. I'm sure people will continue to speculate, but there's no reason to make a decision now....

I'm always a bit leery of mid-season reports about what any college student is going to do at the end of the year...by the NBA, the college, the student, or the relatives. Do I read this right that he went on Boston Radio to discuss a Chicago Bulls online posting?

[flyingdutchdevil]

I'm glad he has made a statement, and he is doing the right thing by waiting until after the season to make a decision. I'm sure people will continue to speculate, but there's no reason to make a decision now

Do college basketball players ever make a decision pre-losing in the NCAA tourney? I can't think of one who did. I guess Smart said he's going after this year, but those examples are few and far between...

[UrinalCake]

Do college basketball players ever make a decision pre-losing in the NCAA tourney?

I think one of the recent Kentucky players announced he was leaving prior to the end of the regular season. My take was that everyone pretty much knew he was going to go and he was being asked about it constantly so he decided to just get it out in the open. And Shabbazz Muhammad may have done the same, my memory is a little cloudy...

[flyingdutchdevil]

I think one of the recent Kentucky players announced he was leaving prior to the end of the regular season. My take was that everyone pretty much knew he was going to go and he was being asked about it constantly so he decided to just get it out in the open. And Shabbazz Muhammad may have done the same, my memory is a little cloudy...

Shabazz actually said that he was going to stay until the end of the tournament. With players like that (I am lumping Jabari into that category), it is a near certainty that they are gone. If it's 95% certain to be gone, then 5% of these types of players stay. Will Jabari be one of them? I say he's 95% gone ;)

[Ichabod Drain]

I think one of the recent Kentucky players announced he was leaving prior to the end of the regular season. My take was that everyone pretty much knew he was going to go and he was being asked about it constantly so he decided to just get it out in the open. And Shabbazz Muhammad may have done the same, my memory is a little cloudy...

I'm not sure about Kentucky but Kyle Anderson's dad announced he would be leaving after this season. Also fun fact, I believe Shabazz is playing in the D-League now.

[brevity]

Do college basketball players ever make a decision pre-losing in the NCAA tourney?

Tony Parker won't actually make his announcement until the end of UCLA's season, but he started his press conference an hour ago.

[NYBri]

Jabari won't be playing in D-league...even if he struggles. His first year in the NBA is not relevant in his decision.

It comes down to this. Do I want to stay in college and play another year, or do I want to be an instant millionaire? The risk of injury is real, so that has to be taken into consideration. He blows out a knee his sophomore year and doesn't get the chance to cash in is a real risk...but maybe cashing without life experience isn't worth it to him.

It's what is meaningful to him.