Culture of Hoops

2014 NBA Draft: Best destinations for top 5 prospects

[tps_title]Jabari Parker to the Boston Celtics[/tps_title]

Image courtesy of Adam Glanzman/Flickr.

Image courtesy of Adam Glanzman/Flickr.

There is no doubt that among the top prospects of this year’s draft, Jabari Parker is the most NBA-ready, skill-wise and physically. Former NBA star Grant Hill agrees, via SportingNews.com:

He is talented, he is a good person. The thing that impressed me is the way he uses his size and strength — he is NBA-ready, physically. He is a special player and I think he will be a great NBA player.

Parker would be a star player on any team. ESPN’s Chad Ford on Parker:

Forget for a second that [Ainge] and Parker are both Mormon and Ainge has been an informal adviser to Parker in the past. With a super-skilled frontcourt of Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk, and an athletic backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley, Parker fits great in between — especially for Celtics fans who aren’t sold on Jeff Green as the Celtics’ future.

Parker could be the second coming of Carmelo Anthony as a scorer, with an even better approach.

Not that Ainge is going to draft based on religion, but the connection between management and player is important. And it’s here for Ainge and Parker. Another connection is that Nick Pagliuca, Parker’s freshman teammate at Duke, is the son of Steve Pagliuca, who is the co-owner of the Celtics.

With Rajon Rondo’s future in Boston still uncertain, the Celtics need an immediate star. Even though Andrew Wiggins may have the bigger hype around him, Parker has a lot of links to Boston that would make him feel at home there. As for the Celtics, Parker is the surest thing as an instant star player that Ainge needs badly to rebuild the winning tradition.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

To Top