Chicago Bulls: Jabari Parker saga is going to get interesting

The fourth preseason game for the Chicago Bulls saw Jabari Parker get demoted. His response to such demotion? Oh, it was pretty telling.

Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls took on the Indiana Pacers in their fourth preseason tilt. With one remaining, the regular season is now just a week away. In this particular exhibition, though, Bulls fans witnessed a huge change made by head coach Fred Hoiberg.

At power forward, the Bulls featured Bobby Portis as the starter. At small forward, it was Justin Holiday.

No Jabari Parker.

At first, fans may have thought Hoiberg was simply doing a little tinkering. It is preseason, right? Well, following the win for the Bulls, Parker did not meet the media for questions. This sent a pretty strong message that maybe, just maybe, Parker had been demoted for now.

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The good news is, both Portis and Holiday played well and the Bulls won the game handedly.

Thursday, however, brought a fairly serious feeling to the story regarding Parker as he answered questions before practice. Per The Chicago Tribune, Parker was asked about how he would feel if he were to be moved to a bench role and had this to say:

"“It would be a huge adjustment for me. But I’ve just got to change with the times.”"

Alright, not so bad. That’s a pretty decent response for a guy just getting demoted, right? It was honest and seemed as though he would do whatever is asked of him by his coach.

Then, it got interesting. Parker was asked if he was willing to take “whatever role at this stage of his career,” pointing out how he has had two ACL tears and is a former no. 2 overall pick.

Parker replied:

"“Uh, no comment.”"

Boy, that was a loaded three-word response. Who knows where Parker’s head is at right now, but it can’t be all happy-go-lucky inside, I can tell you that much.

Hoiberg said after the game that the Bulls used Parker as more of a point forward with the second unit, and he played well at times. That was a good sign, and maybe the Bulls do this going forward. If Parker were to remain a reserve, my guess is that he would still see plenty of minutes.

Hoiberg’s offense is one where he likes to get his guys running, and get creative. In this case, he’s going to need a few fresh bodies here and there and ensure his main seven or eight players are able to take on a full season — Parker would be included in this.

Whatever the intent was for bringing Parker off the bench, you can tell it didn’t sit well with the former second-overall pick. He clearly thinks of himself as who he once was, with the ability to get back to that point.

This, my friends, is going to get interesting.