Jabari Parker is building something

There are sounds that resonate more powerfully than others, like gunfire breaking the frigid isolation of a wintry afternoon. Metropolitan cities always have a pulse, one that rattles like a train across rusted rails or a car’s engine crackling to start somewhere in the freezing distance. It throbs so strongly you tend to forget it’s even there.

But a gunshot shatters with deadly indifference, and the city’s pulse beats arrhythmically even as for some unfortunate victim it stops altogether.

For Jabari Parker, the sound of gunshots were a far too common occurrence, a signal to drop in fear to the cracked pavement and then run, and keep running until you reach the relative safety of the place you call home. With each stride, Parker knew that he had to leave, and even in the icy winters of Chicago’s South Side, a fire of determination was forged to escape and make a better life for himself.

Parker would find that escape among the manicured lawns of Durham, North Carolina and Duke University. It was a place as foreign and different from the streets of his hometown as he could possibly imagine. He was there, ostensibly, to play basketball for the Blue Devils but hidden in Duke’s neo-Gothic architecture was a freedom unlike any he’d experienced. To immerse himself in the comfort of classrooms and dormitory life. To share laughs and stories with others that had never felt Chicago’s biting winds. To feel the safety, as he describes in his self-titled piece in The Player’s Tribune, from “being stopped by cops and dodging drive-bys.”

Read More: An open letter to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker

His freshman year at Duke was exceptional, setting a school record for most points per game (19.1) for a first-year player and garnering a number of individual accolades and awards. And while he fell well short of winning a national championship, the opportunity to help his family — to lead their escape — was simply too great to pass up. At just 19-years old, he would be selected second overall in the 2014 NBA Draft.

At 6-foot-8, Parker is a rare combination of size and smooth scoring ability. The Milwaukee Bucks had drafted him to be part of their frontcourt of the future, pairing him alongside an athletic-yet-raw specimen who had began a late journey to organized basketball — in Greece — by the name of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks have rarely tasted the postseason in recent years but the duo of Parker and Antetokounmpo wasn’t meant for instant success, nor was the hiring of former All-Star player Jason Kidd as the team’s head coach. Rather, these were moves based on a long-term vision made clearer by seemingly limitless potential.

But there are some sounds you can’t forget, and the pop of ligaments contorting unnaturally is one of them. Just 25 games into his rookie season, Parker’s attempt to help realize that potential was torn apart by an ACL injury. Milwaukee’s dreams of a bright future would have to be put on hold or, worse, permanently dashed..

Over two years have passed since then and Parker still pauses before describing the injury, as he did when he spoke to The Step Back before a late-January game in Orlando. There were always doubts that he’d come back, that the fluid scorer considered one of Chicago’s greatest basketball prodigies would be stuck. That he’d have to return to the cold streets of his hometown broken, a cautionary tale of what could have been.

“My injury was the type that could build up a lot of people or destroy them,” said Parker, nodding wistfully all the while. “There’s no in-between. You don’t come back the same. You might come back a lot better. But you might come back a lot worse. For myself, I think I have some attributes that I did gain while I was out.”

Some sounds simply stand out, and for those that love basketball, the whipped nylon of a drained 3-point shot, is like the chorus of angels. That accuracy is one of the attributes that Parker spoke of, shooting from beyond the perimeter at a career-high of over 40 percent. He’s rebuilt himself into a more-deadly scorer than ever, notching 20.5 points per game this season.

Parker was able to bounce back during his second year in the league, making 76 appearances and scoring at a decent rate, around 14.5 points per game. But this season, now his third, he’s finally delivering on the full range of his potential. His partnership with Antetokounmpo, who has, perhaps not coincidentally, taken a bounding leap of his own, has the Milwaukee Bucks primed for success sooner than expected.

“My injury was the type that could build up a lot of people or destroy them.”

The duo is complementary in many ways. Antetokounmpo still looks raw at times and his shooting is, at least for now, still a weakness. But he displays a versatility that no one ever has, using his height to defend taller players while creating shots for his teammates, and using his incredible speed and ball handling to explode past smaller players. As such, Antetokounmpo has been named an All-Star starter this season.

When asked if his 3-point shooting was emphasized to play off Antetokounmpo’s skills as a playmaker, Parker doesn’t necessarily agree. “I just really took a chance, trying to shoot it when I’m open,” he flatly states. But he eventually concedes the pairing has helped, saying Giannis’ unforeseen growth this season, “is only going to help the rest of us out because he draws so much attention.”

It’s the kind of answer that’s perhaps too honest and direct. Fans want to hear players, particularly teammates, gush over one another, having them justify why those on the outside direct so much love to what they see in their favorite players. But that comes across as empty pandering and Parker seems reluctant to do so, at least at this particular time.

Speaking to other reporters earlier that day, Parker spoke of Antetokounmpo’s All-Star selection as a team recognition rather than just an individual one. That may smack of sour grapes but he’s right.

The selection process for the midseason event is a tricky, imperfect one. Fans can vote for their favorite players regardless of their production during the season. This year, the process was modified to include votes from both players and certain members of the media. But this can be just as skewed, with certain votes going to players who have yet to see the hardwood floor this season. For a game that’s become increasingly meaningless as an exhibition, there are no easy solutions to make it foolproof.

But a team’s success does play a part, and Antetokounmpo’s growth is viewed more favorably by Milwaukee’s success, along with that his teammates, including Parker. When Kidd was asked about Parker’s description as a team recognition, he thought of it as a positive.

“We all feel a part of it (Antetokounmpo’s selection),” said Kidd. “For Jabari to say that, it just shows how close this team has become…anyone that’s recognized, it’s not just the one person but it’s all of us, as a team, that will be there in New Orleans. When he takes the stage, we’ll be there to support and cheer for him. But it shows that, as a 21-year-old, that Jabari understands that we’re all a part of it and it shows what we’re trying to build here in Milwaukee.”

On his team adjusting to Antetokounmpo’s growth this season, Kidd told The Step Back that “it’s still a feeling-out process” and one that’s unique, in Kidd’s view, to the NBA. “It’s a process that we haven’t been through but there’s nothing you can do but go through it. There’s going to be some good moments and there’s gonna be moments where there’s some awkwardness and it’ll work it’s way out in time.”

When asked if Antetokounmpo’s rise had perhaps impacted Parker’s own growth, Kidd didn’t seem to think so. “No, it’s easy, when they’re both unselfish,” he said. “We’ve very fortunate that they’re both unselfish and want the best for one another and they talk about the team and their teammates helping them to achieve their goals. We’re blessed to have those two types of guys.”

That night in Orlando, against a Magic team that has struggled to find consistency, the Bucks would lose their fourth-straight game. The team would hold a players-only meeting that would span 35 minutes.

Some sounds can’t simply be unheard, and Parker’s voice during that meeting, perhaps too loud and clear, might be one of them.

There are various reports on what happened during that night’s meeting, a critically-tense moment during Milwaukee’s season, but at least we know the outcome. Parker would miss the start of the next game, what would be the Bucks’ fifth-straight loss, this time to the rebuilding Miami Heat.

Among the reported reasons why Parker was benched — he’d eventually play 32 minutes while scoring 16 points in the loss — was that he’d “become vocal in expressing his frustrations with the lack of togetherness.” Parker would reveal to reporters what, according to ESPN.com, the Bucks considered a “private, locker room dialogue.” His teammates reportedly discussed this as a violation of protocol and decided on a punishment — his benching — that fit appropriately.
Unselfishness would appear harder to maintain that Kidd had previously believed.

“I wouldn’t have made it without other people in my corner. I owe it to them, I owe it to family members and friends.”

But before believing that meeting was the death knell of what might still be a promising season, consider that Parker and Antetokounmpo are of an age that is a sharp contrast to their success on the court. The Bucks have marketed this season with a catchy slogan promoting their two best players, urging fans to “Own the Future.” At 21 and 22-years old, respectively, Parker and Antetokounmpo simply don’t have that long a past.

There’s also a distinction with how each of this talented duo is viewed, with Antetokounmpo as the big kid still learning to adjust to a growth spurt, striding across the floor in a handful of gleeful steps. Parker, for his part, while still emotive, seems almost grim in comparison.

Perhaps it’s the injury or the inner-city upbringing that provide an almost haunting motivation. As he explained privately in Orlando, he’s driven by the memories of what he’s experienced and committed to serving as a role model for the community that shaped him, for better or worse. A role model on and off the court.

“I wouldn’t have made it without other people in my corner. I owe it to them, I owe it to family members and friends,” Parker explained. “I have all the right in the world not to care anymore but it’s always about the next man, where you find your integrity and character as a human being. So, for myself, I always worry about who’s on the bottom. Who needs help the most.”

Parker’s activism includes extensive charity work in his hometown but his concerns about the future are further reaching. “I’m very critical when it comes to people who don’t support equality. I try to lash out against hate as much as possible. And what I…reminding folks of where we’ve been might put us in a place where we can progress. We have a lot of issues that people have all of a sudden forgotten, and I think the remembrance of it can really help people change their viewpoint.”

Opinions, the current political climate notwithstanding, can be fluid and Parker’s willing to take a wait-and-see approach to the country’s new administration and to the dynamics of his own team. It’s possible to dismiss this as another byproduct of his youth, simply not caring enough how others might respond. You’d like to hope there’s cautious optimism behind Parker’s thinking even if speaking up has made things rocky right now.

What is evident, however, is that Parker has considered this closely. These aren’t casual statements tossed indiscriminately to avoid answering the question. Whatever words he used in that team meeting may have been chosen in the moment, but they were weighted by the struggles he’s survived. He seems older than his limited years, and it isn’t hard to imagine his time away from basketball, spending long hours in arduous recovery, with the faint sounds of gunshots and hope echoing in the chambers of his mind.

The future for Parker, his teammates and the Milwaukee Bucks might still be owned, but it’s made a little brighter by embracing some of the darker parts of the past.