Chicago Bulls: 3 reasons Jabari Parker is a bad move
3. Bulls taking a gamble on another minus defender
The Bulls were not a great defensive team by any stretch of the imagination. For starters, they ranked 27th in points allowed, giving up 110 per outing. They finished the season with a defensive rating of 110.8 points per 100 possessions, which was the 24th-best mark in the league.
If those numbers aren’t bad enough, let’s not forget they finished 27th in opponent field goal percentage, as their opponents shot 47.2 percent from the field overall.
With that being said, the Bulls certainly want to improve in that area. Unfortunately, the addition of Parker doesn’t add much value in terms of defense. LaVine posted a defensive rating of 114.8 last season, which ranked 511th in the association.
Parker didn’t fare much better, as he posted a defensive rating of 109.5, which was ranked 433rd in the NBA.
What is even more concerning is the lack of emphasis Parker seems to place on performing at a high level on the defensive end of the court. Here is what he had to say during an interview with Bernstein and McKnight from WSCR 670 The Score.
"I just stick to my strengths. Look at the league...they don't pay people to play defense. To say that's a weakness...you can say that's everybody's weakness." -Jabari Parker
— Bernstein & Holmes Show (@BernsyHolmes) July 18, 2018
I don’t’ think guys like Rudy Gobert, Joel Embiid and Draymond Green, along with a number of other players who pride themselves on what they do at that end of the floor, would fully agree with Parker’s assessment about defense, but that is a story for another day.
In spite of the multiple knee surgeries, Parker has proven to be a versatile scorer who can get to the rim and finish over defenders.
But for all of intangibles he brings from an offensive standpoint, his presence in the lineup won’t do much to help improve a Bulls defense that finished near the bottom of the league in several categories.