After careful consideration, and countless seconds of researching, scouting and guessing, II now believe that Jabari Parker will be better than Andrew Wiggins.
What's not to like about Jabari Parker? He's got an elite handle on the ball. He can shoot it from anywhere on the floor, fade aways, step backs, floaters, hook shots, leaners, dunks, layups...He is deceptively fast, runs up and down the court past everyone throwing easy looking dunks down . Shows no fear. He's clutch. He can take someone off the dribble and get to the rim easily. He showed the ability to block shots. Is still only 19. Is big. He's great rebounder.
Meanwhile, Wiggins looks uninterested at times, is an inconsistent shooter, Has loose handles, finishes weird at times, lots of shots just bounce around the rim, seems kinda lucky at times, doesn't really show all his athleticism in the game, seems kinda goofy, he's Canadian, & is pretty skinny. (Ha, kinda sounds like Dala). But he is so beloved because of his athleticism, and a decent game.
I'm having some doubts about him. He doesn't seem like the next Durant, Kobe, Wade, or Lebron type of greatness. Maybe Paul Georgeish territory.
I just think you have to have some of that moxy. I think Parker has it and Wiggins doesn't. You can see it in the difference of the way they play. Parker understands the game more than Wiggins, sees things quicker. Which is the most important thing to have in your tool bag. Now, I may be wrong, and Wiggins might turn out to be DRose of small forwards, but I'm just going to take a wild guess and say he isn't going to completely pan out. Good player, sure. Allstar probably a few times. Elite franchise player, no.
Going back to handles. I think this is one of the most important factors when assessing whether or not a player has the chance to be really good. You have to be able to get to where you want to go on the court if you want to be elite. This is true for guards and small forwards. If your handle is loose and you do things like hesitate, then your opponent is going to take things from you and make it hard on you. Jabari has the ability to do what he wants with the ball right now. Wiggins looks like a work in progress in this area. And that's saying it lightly. For all that athleticism, he isn't really getting defenders off balance all that much, or blowing by people. It looks hard for him to break down his defender and get to the rim and finish easily. Isn't that what elite players do?
For all this noise about Parker being fat, I think that it is foolish to judge a player by how his body looks, or what race he is. It's much more than that. Parker gets up and down the court easily, weaving in and out of traffic, and finishing strong, after a full court sprint, beating all the skinny kids in the race. So what if he is 250 pounds. That's good. Means he isn't going to get bullied. Isn't that part of why we love Lebron? I guess I just don't see what people are looking at. He looks really athletic to me. Uses every drop of what he's got, and it's more than good enough imo. Give him to get more time athletic too , there is a good chance of that with hard work, and growing more coordinated. I think he will be a better defender than people are giving him credit for. I think he'll figure that out. He's athletic enough to do it.
Final Answer : Jabari Parker will be better than Andrew Wiggins.
Lock it in!!!!
