The Milwaukee Bucks fell just short of beating the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road last night, the their performance was hardly discouraging. In fact, Milwaukee’s play in the 111-108 loss made it easy to imagine these teams battling for Eastern Conference supremacy just a couple years down the road. Why? A career-best performance from Jabari Parker. Watch the Bucks’ rookie star show off his vast array of skills en route to 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting against the Cavs.
And this kid is just 19 years-old.
The most encouraging thing about Parker’s season thus far has been wiggle and explosiveness that he sorely lacked during the summer. How many 6-9, 240 pound power forwards are there that can make these plays?
The scary thing is that Jabari will only become more fluid as his body continues to mature. Skills were supposed to be his hallmark, too, but he’s yet to show off the jump-shooting acumen for which he was touted during the pre-draft process. But it will come around eventually, and that’s when we’ll begin to see more glimpses of just how dominant a scorer Parker will be in time.
For now, outbursts like last night’s are more than enough to get excited about his present and future.
(Video via Dawk Ins)
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