The Bulls will drop Jabari Parker from their rotation, no longer giving the 23-year-old regular minutes this season, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN.com.
Parker signed a two-year, $40MM deal to join the team this past summer in free agency, and his contract contains a team option for next season. The Bulls could – and almost certainly will – decline his option and send him him back to free agency in 2019.
There have been no discussions on a potential buyout between Parker and the Bulls, though that option could be increasingly possible as the deadline nears, Andrews adds. Head coach Jim Boylen originally showed confidence in Parker upon being promoted to replace Fred Hoiberg, testing the forward in different roles.
“Jabari has been great,” Boylen said, according to Andrews. “He understands. Jabari wants to make it about helping the team win. And that’s what I’ve asked him to do.”
In 28 games with the Bulls this season, Parker has averaged 15.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 31 minutes per game. He’s started in 17 of those games, seeing minutes at both the small forward and power forward positions.
Parker is expected to play in the team’s game on Thursday in place of Chandler Hutchison, who’s dealing with an illness, but likely won’t see consistent playing time moving forward.
Lmao what a disaster signing.
eh. im still fine with it. you need to spend x amount of dollars per year. and he’s off the books next year.
well take him in Philly
Lol Jimmy butler would murder him for his lack of effort.
And I want to be clear I am not being figurative. I mean he will take life.
Ya Giannis already had enough of it and he’s one of the nicer dudes in the NBA. Jimmy would make Parker his Big Baby Davis.
Jimmy would murder him for taking his precious shots! That’s one good trade the Bulls made.
16 and 7 in 31 minutes? Nothing wrong with that.
I’m not a Parker fan, but come on now. This Boylen dude is a straight up clown. Never seen a guy ego trip so hard, so fast
He’s doing his best to make things right, even if it’s a hard-a$$ approach.
to make things right? by doing things no other organization does, even if it causes a mutiny. great idea. The guy pulled the same sh*t at Utah and half his team transferred. Maybe he’s the problem…
Ya, i guess….
I’m just saying that hoiberg’s laid-back approach didn’t work for 5 years sometimes you bring in Bad Cop.
Yeah, but you need someone who’s actually good at coaching and good at being a bad cop.
I don’t have a problem with there being more structure or being more hardline – I think there’s definitely a place for that in pro sports and in the NBA.
But coaching is about getting the most out of your team. And that takes more than just trying to be hardline all the time. I suspect Boylen will not get another shot at being a head coach after this.
Imploding right in front of our eyes.
omfg bulls I quit
Wtf man lol
Unbelievable. This organization is a train wreck. GarrPax have to go and no way you can allow Boylen back. He probably won’t make it through the season.
Hes got a near double double average and why is he sitting?
Because stats don’t tell the whole story.
Actually they do when you include MINUTES.
Dudes getting 31 mins and avg only 15 pts and 7 boards.
Trash.
2.3 assists
Typical Chicago sports fan, do you even watch the games? He is a net negative, cant guard a bank with a tank. The dude is meant for the ABA.
What’s a “near double-double”?
7 boards is closer to 5 than 10… 2 assists.. and is terrible on D.
So what is he? A scorer!!! 15 ppg in 31 mins… Crickets.
There’s no place for Jabari Parker on this roster
This is high comedy.
15.8 ppl/7.1 rpg- how on earth does that warrant a benching?
Defence matters
So does defense.
Only way a 15.8/7.1 guy gets benched is if he’s a team cancer. Based on Boylen’s comments, that doesn’t seem to be the case, so rack this up to another questionable Bulls decision.
I wish Jabari would have signed with Utah.
That would actually be a really good fit. I like it. If he gets bought out, I think he’ll end up on the 76ers.
He’s not a good fit anywhere. What are you smoking?
He’s not a fit on the Bulls, he doesn’t fit anywhere.
This has nothing to do with anything other than Jabari Parker proved to be the same player the Bucks cut.
Hes a offense only player who isn’t actually good enough at scoring, even when being the go-to guy on the Bulls.
I wonder how many times the Bulls will fire a coach this year.
Next report: Foreman denies wanting to tank, all in for playoffs, no drama on this team yo.
They want to make sure he doesn’t get injured, as he can be traded Saturday. Excellent trade bait for a contender that needs some scoring. And the Bulls have an open roster slot so they could do a 2-for-1. To Philly for Wilson Chandler and Fultz? Butler moves up to SF where he is better suited, and Korkmaz gets more playing time. Bulls get a SF rental, remove logjam at PF, and another cheap possible point guard with nothing but upside.
Also possible to Houston for Knight and Chriss, Detroit for Jackson, or throw in Cam Payne as filler and send him to Dallas for Harrison Barnes, Charlotte for Kidd-Gilchrist and Lamb, Clips for Gortat and Teodosic. Might also somehow facilitate someone getting Ariza if the Bulls are willing to take back more salary.
Parker, Holiday, and Lopez all are probably traded to contenders soon, especially if they can pick up some draft picks.
Or, it’s GarPax, what am I thinking? They will release him and pay the 20mil, then raise ticket prices next year. Or trade him straight up for John Wall and pay him instead for the next 5 years.
Parker stinks. He was holding back the actual good players on offense, and was killing them on defense.
Addition by subtraction. Have a lot of good young players on that roster and they’re not going to contend for a few years anyways.
Parker was a project, super linear with Melo in Houston.
Neither one worked out. Oh well. That’s why Parkers deal included a team option.
Cuz he stinks.
Bulls r a train wreck. Just trade the vets and play the kids. Wouldn’t be worse then the product they r producing right now
Aka benching Parker and letting Dunn/LaVine/Markkanen lead them on offense.
I wonder why so many fans are obsessed about a players defending abilities or lack thereof. Clearly teams don’t care about it, HC’s don’t care about it, surely players don’t care about it… so why are fans obsessed with it, we are looking at the future & thank goodness we have move from the times that no team averaged a miserable 100 points to now when no one does less than that, I for once I am very happy about it, so I don’t mind much about defending, that is for players without any other talent.
Teams certainly do care about it. Defense is the reason why someone like Jimmer Fredette doesn’t have a place in the NBA whereas people like Tony Allen, Rudy Gobert or André Roberson are (or were) key pieces of their respective teams. Defense, or lack thereof, is what separates an excellent team (last year’s Rockets) from a mediocre team (this year’s Rockets). And it is also an important ingredient of GSW success (ask Draymond Green about it). Personally, I enjoy much more the hustle of Grizzlies’ grit & grind than an All Star-like game with each team scoring 200 and no defense at all.
Called it!
I said they would scapegoat Parker 3 days ago… You can look it up in the comments: link to hoopsrumors.com
GarPax can’t blame the coach anymore, so they found a player to blame instead.
Trades are next. Anything to keep the lie going.
Good call.
I’m not a Parker fan, but it seems rich to blame him for a lack of effort on a Bulls team where nearly everyone doesn’t play defense.
“But Parker doesn’t defend!” – so, basically, he’s a player on the Chicago Bulls.
Dude is nothing but a new age Carmelo Anthony. One trick pony.
Carmelo was MUCH better than Jabari! He isn’t now but Melo was amazing back in the day…he ha seasons where he was top 5 or if you hate him still top 10 in league
I’m not a Bulls fan, so I don’t watch the games… but 16 points and 7 rebounds per game is pretty good. Is something wrong? Or are the Bulls going full tank mode four weeks into the season?
Now you know who lead the “pushback” this past weekend
Exactly.
You could compare his Per 36 to other PFs >500 minutes played… and he’s 12th in points and rebounds.
This is confusing to me. Doesn’t really say why he’s being benched. Just kind of piecing it together from the comments that he doesn’t give full effort and is bad on defense.