Does Jabari Parker Have A Point?

Before the basketball world was blessed with the unicorn talent Victor Wembanyama, Jabari Parker was once considered the best amateur prospect since LeBron James.

After an illustrious high school career at Simeon Academy (where Derrick Rose dominated before him), Parker played one season at Duke before being selected second overall in the 2014 NBA draft. Despite a promising start, reaching 20 PPG in his 3rd season, Parker suffered some injuries and, rather quickly, became a journeyman in the NBA (playing on six teams by the age of 26). Most recently, at age 28, Parker signed with FC Barcelona, joining forces with former NBA players Willy Hernangómez and Tomáš Satoranský. Per Eurohoops, Parker recently intimated that FC Barcelona could compete with NBA teams.

Look, this really isn’t newsworthy but it did get me thinking. On the one hand, perhaps it’s laughable to entertain given NBA Twitter’s obsession with sending underperforming players to the Shanghai Sharks - like Dillon Brooks after losing to the Lakers last playoffs.

Personally, I like to think that LeBron has Rosetta Stone queued up as Christmas gifts for any of his teammates that disappoint him and will need to learn a new language to play abroad. Net-net, the best players are in the NBA and there’s no dispute. On the other hand, the international game is growing and foreign leagues are getting stronger. NBA-rich FIBA rosters like Team USA and Canada learned this the hard way as Germany and Serbia competed for the FIBA championship with some lower profile NBA players and several non-NBA players ... so maybe Parker has a point here?

My hunch is that FC Barcelona, alone, probably wouldn’t win more than a few games in the NBA season. However, if the pool of players was expanded across all international leagues, could the cream of the crop rise? I went through a list of 70 former NBA players (see below) who were most recently abroad (and will likely be this year too, subject to a few potential NBA signings) and created the International All-Stars. Before getting into the roster, here are some fun facts about the player pool. For what it’s worth, I would love for Daniel Dale (https://www.cnn.com/profiles/daniel-dale) to quality check this but think it’s a reasonable dataset (from Basketball Reference and Wikipedia) and gets us what we need to complete the exercise.

• Across all 70 players, the average age is 31 with nearly 3 years of NBA experience, averaging 7 PPG, 3 RPG, and 2 ASP

• The pool is very guard heavy – nearly 56% of the players are either point, shooting, or combo guards (27% are forwards and 17% are centers)

• 26% of the player pool went to Kentucky, Duke, or Kansas

• Surprisingly, there were as many players in Puerto Rico as China … so maybe NBA Twitter ought to start sending players to Puerto Rico as well!

Alright, the moment you’ve been waiting for … here’s the 15-man roster for the International All-Stars.

I’ll admit, this was actually tougher than I thought. I went back and forth and ultimately selected some key characteristics that I think would be needed for this team to have a chance to compete.

• Professional scorers - You need guys who can get buckets. For this team, I’m relying on Mirotić, Parker and Cousins to get me 15-20 PPG with their size, skill and experience. Defense is another story ….

• Guys with something to prove - Virtually this whole roster has something to prove, which as the GM, I love! Specifically, I’m looking for Parker, Okafor and Bennett, yes Bennett, to hit the gym and get that Eye of the Tiger back.

• Veteran glue guys - I know what I’m getting with Bledsoe, Howard, Stephenson and James, or at least I think I do, and we’ll need that over the course of the season to keep the engine running.

• Ride the hot hand - Did you see Rondae-Hollis Jefferson in the FIBA tournament? If we can get that version of him, this team is set! If not, we’ve got McLemore, Simmons and Johnson who can take turns making some popcorn in the microwave!

• Other - I like Bell as a small ball center and to run up-and-down the floor and think Dekker gives some potential versatility.

Okay – let’s say the International All-Stars competed in the NBA this season … how would they do? Realistically, I think the over/under is set at 10 games. With no true star and aging roster, there are certainly some challenges for this team. However, I do think, if given the chance to rise to the occasion, one or two of these guys could really shine. I also think these guys can still play and, if motivated … which WE WILL BE …, can catch many teams sleep walking throughout the regular season. Can we get to 11 games? I say yes!

By the way, we’re aiming to have fun here but I would be remiss to not mention that I have the utmost respect for all of the players on this list. These guys have all made the NBA in some capacity, which is amazing in its own right … even if some careers haven’t panned out as originally expected. Best of luck to these guys and hope you enjoyed.