Why Do We Care About Jabari’s Foot?
By JoshMogerman in News on Jul 21, 2012 8:00PM
There is a lot of attention being paid to Jabari Parker. Probably too much, as witnessed by the collective sports media freak out this week over news that the Simeon High School phenom has a foot fracture that will keep him sitting through the month of July. That’s right, just July---he is fully expected to be ready when basketball season begins---making this likely less than a speed bump for the most hyped Public League player since the last superstar in the making at Simeon, Derrick Rose.
Rose actually helps to explain the collective gasp from Chicagoans. Parker, who is the #1 ranked player in all the land offers an assortment of engaging storylines: he is a scoring, shot-blocking machine who can handle the rock like Pippen and has led his team to a state title in every year of his HS career; but he is by all accounts a humble young man lacking the swagger that seems sadly requisite for players of his acclaim (it has been reported that he was spotted acting as water boy for the school’s JV team after his own game had finished); and, aside from a certain presidential contender, is one of the most visible Mormons on the planet. All of that explains the Sports Illustrated cover story that helps fuel the ever-present sports-celebrity crazed national spotlight. But here in Chicago, arguably the nation’s most fertile basketball ground, we simply have nothing else. With Rose potentially hobbled for all of next season and the Bulls looking content to chuck things and retool for 2014, hoops junkies are left to look to college for their fix. And things look ugly there. Northwestern? Yuck. UIC? Loyola? Ugh.
So, while he has clearly earned it, Jabari is also in the spotlight by default.
That is magnified by the tiny sliver of hope he has given Chicago by including DePaul in his list of potential temporary college landing spots before leaping to the NBA just as Chicagoan Anthony Davis did this year.
And so Chicagoans who have never stepped foot in a CPS gymnasium or watched a Public League game gasp at the news. Sure, July is important for recruiting, but its not like schools are going to be dissuaded from going after the USA Basketball Man of the Year (ummm, the previous winner was NBA All-Star Kevin Durant). Parker will land on his healed feet (there is even a report out now saying that the break isn't even a break, but note the dateline). The only question is if he will do it in a way that can bring the town out of its basketball doldrums. Chicago is watching, waiting and hoping...