Boston Celtics: Yes, signing Jabari Parker was right move

When the Boston Celtics decided to bring in Jabari Parker on a two-year deal last week, many fans were left scratching their heads. Why would the Cs sign a disappointing former No. 2 overall pick with an extensive injury history who had made almost no impact on a roster this season?

Even before he made his debut on Saturday night, Parker’s signing made sense to me, though. His performance against the Golden State Warriors just further solidified that.

Let’s face it: The Celtics completely struck out with Mo Wagner. The afterthought in that trade that shipped Daniel Theis to Chicago was Luke Kornet, and he has had a much bigger impact than Wagner did since that trade deadline deal. Wagner supplied a grand total of 11 points, 19 rebounds, and 6 assists in nine appearances for the Celtics.

Waiving Wagner was a no-brainer. Acquiring Jabari Parker, though, was a risk.

That risk was minimal, however, and the payoff has the potential to be quite nice.

What’s been one of Boston’s biggest detriments this entire season? Bench scoring. What’s one thing Parker does pretty well? Hint: It isn’t defense.

Parker has suffered a myriad of injuries since being selected No. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2014 NBA Draft. He’s had two ACL injuries, several shoulder issues, a back injury, and he’s missed time due to COVID problems this season.

Despite all that, Parker has still managed to average nearly 15 points a game while making almost 50% of his field goals and connecting on 32.3% of his threes in his career. Those are far from the numbers he was expected to put up after an All-American campaign in one year at Duke in college, but considering all his injuries and setbacks, that’s not a bad line for the six-foot-eight, 245-pound forward.

No, Parker isn’t great on defense. Boston doesn’t need more defense in the post, though. Robert Williams and Tristan Thompson are plenty capable of providing sound defense in the interior, and Luke Kornet, Grant Williams, and Semi Ojeleye have proven they can provide some defensive minutes in the paint, too.

What Boston needed was more scoring from their frontcourt, specifically coming off the bench. That’s exactly what Parker provides, and the Cs are getting him pretty cheaply right now.

The Boston Celtics currently have the second-lowest scoring average from their bench players in the entire NBA. Per game, the second unit is only scoring 30.6 points. Only the Sacramento Kings are getting less from their bench in terms of points, and it’s not by much (30.4 PPG).

In fact, no other team has gotten less scoring production from their bench for the amount they play them than Boston.

Per NBA.com’s advance statistics, the Celtics’ bench players average 18.1 minutes a game and only put up 30.6 points a game. That’s an average of just 1.69 points a minute from the bench, which is by far the worst ratio in the league.

In his first game with the Boston Celtics, Parker delivered 11 points on five-of-six shooting in 16 minutes against a Golden State team that ranks in the top 10 in the NBA in Defensive Rating and defensive Effective Field Goal Percentage. He was part of a Boston second unit that combined to score 28 points on a night where two typical starters (Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams) were absent and newly-acquired sixth man Evan Fournier was still unavailable.

Imagine a Boston bench with a healthy Parker, a healthy Fournier, and players like Semi Ojeleye, Tristan Thompson, and Payton Pritchard being allowed to play their roles rather than having to absorb more minutes due to illness and injuries of other players.

You can’t and shouldn’t take too much away from Jabari Parker’s first game as a Celtic. One game doesn’t define a season, and we’ve seen too many one-game wonders from players in the past.

However, that debut was a promising sign for the future, and it only made me feel better about the Boston Celtics signing Parker. Because in the end, he has the tools to be an asset to this team, and his addition absolutely makes sense for the remainder of this season if he stays healthy.