Chicago Bulls: Jabari Parker’s time to impress is now

With both Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen out for an extended period, the pressure has now ratcheted up for Jabari Parker to prove his worth on the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls received some bad news on Tuesday, as point guard Kris Dunn is the latest member to go down with a significant injury. Dunn suffered a sprained MCL during Monday night’s loss against the Dallas Mavericks. Reports around the league are expecting him to be out 4-6 weeks.

This is just the latest setback for the Bulls, a team struggling to find its footing early on this season. With Lauri Markkanen already out, the Bulls couldn’t afford to lose any more starters if they hoped to be competitive in the Eastern Conference. Even with Dunn on the court though, the Bulls’ play early on suggested their hopes of winning more regularly were faint at best, given their defensive woes.

All eyes are now turning to forward Jabari Parker to pick up his game, in order to make up for an already thinning roster. Parker, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, has yet to emerge as an all-star caliber player that both, the Milwaukee Bucks previously, and now the Bulls covet.

Unfortunately for Parker, the league values defense more than ever, given that teams are beginning to hit triple digits on the scoreboard through three-quarters nowadays.

Parker hasn’t proven to be anything more than a one-dimensional player at this point in his career. His scorer-first mentality is great, except he’s not scoring enough points to justify being a 35 minute a night guy. At least do what Zach LaVine has done over three games: average over 30 points, thus giving Fred Hoiberg an excuse to keep you in the game despite defensive deficiencies.

It’s only been three games thus far, but throughout his career, Parker is averaging just 15.3 points-per-game over 30 minutes. His best season was three years ago as a Buck when he averaged 20.1 points in 33 minutes played. The only problem with that is players all over are now averaging 20 points regularly, making it even more difficult to stand out among the crowd.

Parker has suffered numerous season-ending injuries already, which no doubt have hampered his production on the court in years past. Still, now fully healthy, Parker’s offensive struggles in pre-season play pushed him out of the starting lineup to begin the regular season.

It will be up to Parker to step up now more than ever to make up for the loss of Dunn. He’ll likely be receiving more playing time on the court, possibly even returning to the starting lineup.

Unless Parker somehow becomes a defensive mastermind on the court, his offensive numbers will need to likely reach a whole new level soon for the organization to feel pleased with the one-year investment they currently have in him. We’re talking over 20 points per contest with a good field goal percentage. Averaging 20 while shooting 25-30 times a game isn’t going to cut it.

Otherwise, expect another lost season from the Bulls. Except for this time, a season with less promise than originally anticipated.