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Jabari Parker said early entry to the NBA is not a certainty.

“I’m going to look into that,” Parker said of staying at Duke beyond the 2013-14 season. “I love the whole attitude of ‘staying in college,’ because I want to take advantage of it. Getting a free education is big time in my family.”

Parker wants to be viewed as a role model in his hometown of Chicago.

“Everything in my city is negative,” Parker said of how he feels his hometown is portrayed in national media. “[The media] try to bring it down so much with the violence and I’m an African-American male in my community…going to college and that’s big time.

“I want to represent them in the best form, the best manner just to keep them close to my heart so they can see that there’s a young [guy] out on the South Side doing big things.”

Via Todd Johnson/TheGrio (via Raphielle Johnson/NBCSports)

Smart man right there... well said.

This is the Duke way, and this is why me and my family are Duke fans. It's a great school, and players don't leave school early nearly as often as other schools. As a result, Duke is the most represented school in the NBA. The education you can get there for free is amazing. Parker would be very smart to stay in school the whole way, but it'd be extremely painful to wait a whole four years for this guy to come out. Tough decision making process.

I am not saying I read anything about this, I am just curious if some part of him may be thinking, "Well, I am not going to be the number 1 draft pick in 2014, so maybe I should stay in school and be the #1 in 2015". I fully understand the major risks of injury when it comes to staying in school, and the fact that #2 is nothing to sneeze at, but who knows, maybe it is playing in a little bit.

G-Mac wrote:I am not saying I read anything about this, I am just curious if some part of him may be thinking, "Well, I am not going to be the number 1 draft pick in 2014, so maybe I should stay in school and be the #1 in 2015". I fully understand the major risks of injury when it comes to staying in school, and the fact that #2 is nothing to sneeze at, but who knows, maybe it is playing in a little bit.

Nah I think, saying you want to be a role model and give kids a better example is probably the truth. Cause i know of no sport where your popularity and endorsement potential drops faster then in the nba for claiming on speaking as if you even wanted to be a positive image...so to embrace that.. and say you want to be the Will Smith of the nba sounds about right.

I remember when I went through a public relations course for my current company, we talked about time recognition.

Basically, it meant that time takes meaning away from anything you say. No matter what Jabari is saying now, and any of the goodwill generated from it.. it won't mean backlash if/when he joins the 2014 class because Wiggins is staying an extra year, or that he got injured, or that Parker proved himself to be better. Everyone will be so juiced on the draft that it wont matter what he said over a year ago.

What this statement really says to me? He's being coached by a professional of some sort. Because there's nothing but PR upside for him. If he stays a 2nd year, his agent has a solid PR platform on which to stand immediately entering the NBA. If not, it certainly won't hurt Parker.

Just thought I'd throw this all out there before we give him a holiday or anything