Ron Swanson wrote:I'm not worried at all about Jabari becoming a selfish player, but I think that people need to realize that, much like Brandon Knight's personality, being a "willing passer" doesn't always mean you're going to even be an average distributor.
Going by what we saw from him at Duke, Jabari becoming a "black hole" on offense is a legitimate concern. I think he'll improve as he matures, but the Carmelo comparisons are valid for reasons beyond his scoring ability, as in I don't think he ever becomes much better of a passer than Melo is right now (3 AST per 36, 15.8 AST%). And with Jabari hopefully playing at the 4 for the majority of his minutes, I think those numbers are actually a best case scenario.
I wouldn't be shocked if Jabari was only a 1.5-3 assist a night guy whose TOs were equal to or slightly higher than his assist total... but this preseason and the Summer League wouldn't give me that impression. I've actually been stunned by his ability to pass the ball. I think he has been far better than advertised in the department.
Don't get me wrong, he's not a LeBron or anything like that when it comes to court vision... but I think if he works at it he could become as good of a passer as Durant has become. I think Parker has the talent and the vision to average 4-5 assists a night.
He's only 19 though and we haven't even seen him play a 'real game' yet. So I wouldn't be shocked either way.