Milwaukee Bucks: Jabari Parker Has Become Efficient On Offense

The Milwaukee Bucks are building towards the future, and are in no rush to make the playoffs anytime soon, even though they currently sit 11-11 in the Eastern Conference and would be firm in the race if the season ended today.

Luckily for the Bucks, they do possess two franchise cornerstones that they can develop as they wait to acquire more pieces and evaluate the other young talent on the team. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker are proving to be two prospects that have very high upsides, and are worth molding into future stars.

Antetokounmpo flashed his potential last season, but this year, Parker has gotten his chance to shine, and lately he has certainly made the most of it.

To start the season, Parker seemed to be “out of place” in a way as a scorer. The primary reason for this was because Parker was way too active on the perimeter and not playing to his strengths.

Right now at this point in time, Parker is better suited as sort of a stretch four; a player that can drift outside at times but for the most part can play in the post and mid-range and take advantage of his size and athletic talents to create mismatch opportunities.

Inside the arc is where Parker has been the most comfortable this season. In fact, Parker has made 50.5 percent of his two-point opportunities, which is fine considering the number of mid-range shots he takes along with his post-up attempts and transition baskets.

Outside of the arc, Parker has shot a dismal 25 percent from three, leaving something to be desired. Head coach Jason Kidd has not been afraid to bench Parker when he has forced up too many poor perimeter shots, even sitting him in some crunch time situations in favor of better long-range shooters such as Jared Dudley or Khris Middleton.

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To make better use of his skills, Parker has completely eliminated the three-point shot from his scoring arsenal so far in the month of December, only taking shots inside the line and focusing more on developing his low-post repertoire.

The lack of three-point shots has only helped Parker’s overall efficiency, as he has shot 64.3 percent in the month of December, compared to his pedestrian 45.9 percent over the course of November.

Taking the focus away from his deep ball has tremendously helped the Bucks’ offense, as their scoring numbers have risen dramatically from 96.8 points per game in November to 106 points per game in December. So how does that big of a jump come from Parker’s increase in efficiency?

Parker taking better shots isn’t the only thing that has made him more versatile. Parker has always had the vision and willingness to make the right play, and those instincts have been a driving force behind an evolving part of his game that stems from his increased focus in post-up chances.

When Parker posts up, he usually draws a double team because of how versatile a scoring forward he is. Parker’s handle and footwork are at a high enough level for him to maneuver around his defender in the post and either get to the rim, draw the foul or step back for a short jumper.

His one-on-one scoring moves are fairly advanced for how young of a player he is, so naturally the defense is going to want to bring over a help defender to make it harder for Parker to pull off such moves.

By the time the double team swings over, Parker has already surveyed the floor and knows where his teammates are so that he can either pass to a score or pass out and get the ball moving in the right direction.

Parker’s knack to create efficient ball movement out of the high-low game has added another dimension to this Bucks offense, and has been a big reason why Parker has spent so much of his time at the power forward position despite his body type and demeanor suggesting he play the majority of his minutes at the small forward spot.

Parker will certainly develop a cleaner and more efficient perimeter jump shot over time, but until then, he needs to work with the skills he has and help his team win in anyway he can.

If he were to continue to force jump shots so that he can get the repetitions, he would be throwing his team completely off rhythm for little to no reason, which is not smart considering the fact that this team has a chance to sneak into the playoffs.

Winning a high draft pick may be nice, but getting young players like Parker playing time in the postseason could be an even better opportunity.

Parker has plenty of practices and offseasons to work on his perimeter shot. Right now, it’s his job to help his team be more effective on offense.

Just keep playing out of the post, Jabari.

*Statistics courtesy of ESPN and Basketball-Reference.

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