I thought this thread would be blowing up this morning after what Parker showed last night. Hasn't really played in over a year, probably is not in full game shape (don't see how he could be), jet lagged, and has not practiced with this team to learn any of the O or D schemes. And he gives us 11 pts in 16 real game (vs. garbage time) min, +6 in those important minutes? I was stunned at how well he did under these circumstances. How can people not be excited about that performance? Think how long it took Kemba get his game back. Parker just shows up, laces up, and does this?
Now granted, he did have some poor rotations and close outs on defense. Overall, I would not use words like "atrocious" or "terrible" to describe his defense though. He has not played in a year and has never played with this group of players. I am going to cut him some slack on that and expect that things will improve to some degree. But even as he was last night, he was a serviceable, impactful player.
There has been a lot of talk as to whether Grant or Ojeleye should be getting minutes or Parker. Is Parker going to "take" minutes from them. I just want to restate some obvious numbers:
Career Stats
Parker 15 pts / 6 rebs / 2 Asst / 49% FG / 32% 3pt
Gordon 14 pts / 6 rebs / 3 Asst / 45% FG / 32% 3pt
Ojeleye 3 pts / 2 rebs / 0.5 Asst / 39% FG / 35% 3pt
GWill 4 pts / 3 rebs / 1 Asst / 42% FG / 31% 3pt
In the game last night, Olejeye had 2 pts/2 rebs in 21 min, GWill 4 pts/2 rebs in 24 min, pretty much in line with their career numbers. Parker in 16 min had 11 pts and 4 rebs, all offensive, which to me, mean more than a defensive rebound. These are not outliers. They are exactly consistent with career numbers and recent typical production for these players. These numbers represent what these players are.
I don't get it. Parker is way closer to Aaron Gordon or Thad Young than he is to Grant Williams. Parker was playing really well for ATL last season, a starter for most of it, then hurt his shoulder. Yes, another injury but not his knee. Then the COVID league shutdown hit, then a trade to SAC, then he got COVID, more nagging injuries, yes, the list goes on and on. But it was just last season that he played very well as a starter for ATL for almost a half season. It seems like it was 3 years ago but it was one year ago.
Ojeleye and GWill are deep bench players that average 4 pts but can at times give you 10 or 12 pts if they get hot. Parker is a fringe starter who in his career averages 15 pts but can get hot and give you 25. I just think back on how much difference Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala made to Miami last season. I remain optimistic that Fournier and Parker can be that for us this season. And nothing I saw last season made me any less optimistic.