Duke is involved with Habari Parker who gave BDN an in depth interview on the latest on the recruiting front. BDN Photo
Last year, we profiled 6’8,” 220 lb Jabari Parker after a Nike AAU event in Dallas, Texas. In the time since, the young man from the South side of Chicago has continued to lead an ambitious and altruistic life.
In June, Jabari led the United States U-16 Team to a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Cancun, Mexico. For his considerable efforts, he won the tournament’s MVP award and USA Basketball later named Parker their 2011 Male Athlete of the Year, joining such notables as Kevin Durant, Elton Brand, and Chris Paul. Afterwards, Parker helped his Mac Irvin AAU 17U squad to successful runs at Nike’s Peach Jam and the Fab 48 in Las Vegas.
This past high school season, the junior small forward led his Simeon (HS) to a 33-1 record and its record-breaking third consecutive Class 4A Illinois state title with a 50-48 victory over previously undefeated Proviso East. In the state title game, Parker finished with fifteen points and five rebounds, while being the primary focus of the opposition.
6'8" Jabari Parker, Photo by Andrew Slater
Over the past two seasons, while playing a competitive national schedule, Jabari Parker, now 17, has led the Simeon Wolverines to a 63-3 record. This year, he became more assertive and, as an upperclassmen, took more of a leadership role on his Simeon team. As a result, his statistics all jumped across the board. The son of NBA veteran Robert “Sonny” Parker ended up averaging over twenty points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals per game, while achieving the primary goal of winning a third consecutive state title.
This month, Gatorade named him their National Player of the Year, becoming just the fourth junior to ever earn that distinction. This latest accolade came with the added recognition of his academic achievements (18th in a class of 377 students at Simeon) and community service (work with Salvation Army and Operation PUSH). For the first time in thirty-two years, a junior, Jabari Parker, won Illinois’ Mr. Basketball, winning by a sizable margin (400-72) over the next closest runner-up. Jabari was Simeon’s fourth Mr. Basketball, joining Derrick Rose, Nick Anderson, and Deon Thomas.
After a tough loss to a well-coached BABC team geared to shutting him down, Jabari sat down with me to talk about a variety of issues, including dealing with fame, recent accolades, the loss of Mac Irvin, winning a third consecutive state title, advising Jahlil Okafor, and embracing being a role model to Chicago’s youth.
First things first, what was your reaction to the passing of Mac Irvin? Can you tell the audience the impact that he had on your life and the lives of other Chicago young men?
Sure, him passing took a toll on me.
I was sorry to hear that.
Yeah, I didn’t really have a grandfather growing up. I really didn’t know him and, so I would really look up to him as another father figure in my life and that was my dad’s mentor growing up, when he was in the NBA, he had a chance to talk with him a little bit and so him not being here is like we’re missing a piece of the puzzle. Without him, we don’t have an inspirational guy. That means that everybody else needs to step up his role and get everybody involved.
Jahlil (Okafor) was saying that you guys have effectively dedicated this season to him, with the hope that you can win the whole EYBL in his memory.
Yeah, that’s the hope. This was really probably the first trip that he wasn’t able to come with us.
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