Chicago Bulls: No one should be surprised by this Jabari Parker

The Chicago Bulls defensive warts have been on full display this season, but no one should be surprised.

The Chicago Bulls currently rank 24th in opponent’s points per game at 122.5 and 28th in differential at -10.5. Fans knew prior to the start of the season that defense would be the team’s biggest Achilles heel. So the fact that they are struggling is not (or should not be) a surprise. What is a surprise is how surprised some are by how bad Jabari Parker has been on the defensive end.

Really Chicago? You’re surprised that the guy who said “they don’t pay players to play defense” is bad at defense? If you’re a Bulls fan clutching your pearls aghast at how terrible he has looked on defense, I don’t know what to tell you.

We here at DaWindyCity have been banging the “Bulls can’t play defense” for a while now. I have noted in previous posts just how problematic a rotation of Parker and Zach LaVine — who is also acutely allergic to defense — would be for the Bulls. And now that is all coming to fruition.

Here’s the thing about defense though. It’s all about effort. Don’t believe me? Ask the Bulls best defender Kris Dunn, who also happens to be on the verge of becoming an elite defender in the NBA. In this article from NBCSportsChicago’s Paul Roumeliotis, Dunn is talking about LaVine, but could just as easily be talking about Parker as well.

"“On the defensive end I just told him, ‘You’re as fast as me. You’re more athletic than me. There’s no way you shouldn’t be a good defender in this league.'”"

Now I’m in no way suggesting Parker is as fast or athletic as Dunn, but it’s all relative. For his position, Parker is every bit, if not more of an athlete, than the opposing players he faces each night. And yet he continues to get abused by those same players. Despite having above-average athleticism, he looks lost on defense. Why is that? Because the effort isn’t there.

He looks like he’s just going through the motions out there on the floor. I’ve literally seen better defense from the Washington Generals than what I’ve witnessed from Parker this season. His inability, and frankly unwillingness to play defense has put head coach Fred Hoiberg in a tough spot.

Ideally, he’d like LaVine and Parker on the court at the same time as they can both be dynamic offensive players. However, when they are on the court together, it’s not that far of a stretch to suggest that the Bulls are essentially playing 5 on 3.

Even in the modern NBA, where there is little premium put on defense, Parker still misses the mark. It reminds me of the scene from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” where Koonu is teaching Peter how to surf. He admonishes Peter to “do less.” After multiple failures to pop up on the board Peter eventually gives up and lays still on the board to which Koonu replies “well you gotta do more than that.” Same goes for Parker’s defense.

If Parker doesn’t start putting in the effort and reversing course on his “I don’t get paid to play defense mentality” then he won’t be getting paid by the Bulls next season. And no one should be surprised by that.