Las Vegas, Nevada —- It is the dream of every athlete to get the opportunity to play at the professional level and get the opportunity to play for their home town team. LeBron James shocked the world when he decided to return home to Cleveland, but people that know him well will be the first to tell you that James loves Ohio and always wanted to return home to bring something special to his city. Jabari Parker is getting the same opportunity, however in a slightly different way. He’s not playing in his home town of Chicago, but he’s playing in a city that’s not too far away, Milwaukee. Some would lead you to believe that Milwaukee isn’t the ideal place to play, but not Parker. He looks at the city as a perfect opportunity to make his own path.
“I’m really excited I get to represent the city of Chicago, but also the city of Milwaukee. The whole Midwest, those Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, it feels real good” said Parker when he was asked on draft night about playing in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee certainly has embraced Parker since the NBA Draft because he brings excitement and hope to an organization that hasn’t seen any in awhile. The Chicago native will bring along many of his hometown fans to incorporate into his new professional home, which means more money for Milwaukee and the Bucks organization. There’s a lot riding on Parker’s shoulders and he realizes that, setting personal goals for himself and insisting there is no pressure on him at all.
“Being the leader of my team, being eager to learn, and getting my team to win at least .500 percent.” said Parker when asked about his personal goals for his rookie season.
When asked about having pressure on him Parker replied, “No not really, it’s just a brand new program, brand new space, make my name up from the trenches, because that’s where I’m coming from, the bottom, coming in as a rookie, just being hungry to learn.”
Parker and The Bucks face a lot of adversity coming into this season. The Eastern Conference Central Division collectively made major changes to make a serious push for a championship run. The Chicago Bulls are expecting a healthy Derrick Rose to come back and with the addition of Pau Gasol that makes the Bulls a dangerous team. The Indiana Pacers, despite losing Lance Stephenson, is still a title contender because of the defensive team they have and the monkey is still on their backs from their poor performance in the postseason last season. The Cleveland Cavilers got their hometown boy back in Lebron James and rumors are swirling they may end up with Kevin Love. With or without Kevin Love, the Cavs are still a dangerous threat. The Pistons are the only team in the Central Division that haven’t made any “power moves” nonetheless, the Pistons realizes their competition made advances and expect them to do so as well. With all of that being said, Parker is looking forward to it all.
“I’m looking forward to playing {Lebron} because that’s a one time decade player. To get a chance to play against him and learn from him, should be a good experience for me.” Parker went on to say “It’s going to be tough. We are going to be one of the bottom teams. Three other teams will make the playoffs, but we just going to have to learn from there.”
With adversity staring Parker and the Bucks right in the face, some things is sure to happen. The Bucks will endure losing streaks and things will go wayward. Parker, being the NBA ready player that he is, recognizes all of these challenges that faces him and the team and is still ready to go out there and compete.
“I’m getting a glimpse of it now {facing adversity} just being with a young team, guys we aren’t there yet all the way. Like I said it’s short term memory, we look forward to the next game, and we all will make it to the playoffs.” said Parker. He went on to talk about keeping composure during these trying times.
“Being optimistic and my coaches did a real good job by reminding me, ‘you know it’s just a learning process, take this time out to get adjusted and playing well with the players I’ll {play with this coming season}.”
So now the stage is set for the Milwaukee Bucks and Jabari Parker is ready to take on his new role and do whatever he has to do to lead his team to the playoffs. The fan base in Milwaukee and even in Chicago is really excited to see Derrick Rose face off with Jabari Parker. Both players are representing Chicago, both players are the faces of their respective organizations, and the biggest winners are the fans that live along the shores of Lake Michigan in both Chicago and Milwaukee.