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| City Champs - Chicago Tribune |
Simeon
breezed through the Chicago City tournament over the past two weeks which
culminated with a 53-49 win over Curie Friday evening. While the final margin
of victory was only 4 points, Simeon held a double digit lead throughout most
of the game and throughout most of the tournament.
Quarterfinals:
Going
against under-sized Marshall (one of the schools featured in Hoop Dreams) in
the quarterfinals, Simeon and the number 1 ranked player in the country, Jabari
Parker, came out firing and put their tremendous height advantage to quick use. Simeon jumped out to a quick lead and
finished the first quarter up 20-11 and extended their lead to 39-25 at
halftime. Parker went off for 21 first half points on an aggressive display of
drives to the basket. In the first quarter Parker scored 10 of his 21 first
half points while going 5-9 from the field including 0-1 from the 3 point line.
Parker dropped 11 points in the 2nd quarter going 4-6 from the
field. All 9 of Parker’s baskets came from inside the paint, either through
post-up situations, drives to the basket, or offensive rebounds. See the chart
below for Parker’s first half:
Finals:
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| Jabari vs. Curie |
The top two
seeds squared off on Friday night in a game that was expected to feature Parker
and five-star sophomore Cliff Alexander. Due to foul trouble Parker sat the
final 11 minutes of the 1st half and Alexander sat for almost 8
minutes. With the stars of both teams saddled with foul trouble, it was Simeon’s
other D-1 talent (Steve Taylor – Marquette and Kendrick Nunn) that took over
pushing a closely contested 15-13 first quarter into a 10 point half time lead.
Nunn finished the first half with 10 points on a variety of drives to the
basket and outside jump shots. Taylor made his mark down low with several
dunks. Going into the final quarter, Simeon had a 38-24 lead when Parker put
his mark on the game converting a 3 pointer from the wing, an impressive lay-up
in traffic, and a reverse dunk which put the game out of reach. Curie would
mount a comeback in the final minute, but it was too little too late. Due to
foul trouble and tough defense from Taylor, Alexander was a non-factor in this
championship game and finished with 4 points. After two first half points,
Parker finished with 11 points on 5-11 shooting.
Improvement
for Parker:
When someone
is the consensus top ranked player in the country as a junior there are
probably not many holes in one’s game that need to be worked on. At 6’7, Parker
can pretty much score at will in high school games whether it comes from
post-ups, drives to the basket, or jump-shots off the dribble. As seen from the
charts above, the majority of Parker’s points came from close to the basket. Barring
any unforeseen circumstances, Parker will be one of, if not the top pick in the
2014 draft. In order to continue on this track Parker will need to continue to
work on his shooting ability and quickness:
Shooting:
Parker
possesses solid form on his shot; however he will need to become more
consistent and confident with his ability to shoot off the catch. Against
Marshall, Parker missed both of his jump shots outside of 15 feet and against
Curie he went 1-4. Also against Marshall, Parker went 3-9 from the foul line in
the first half. Parker does not need to change his form; however he will need
to spend some more time continuing to improve his outside jump shot. Repetion,
repetition, repetition will help Parker’s rise to the number 1 pick of 2014.
Quickness:
Showing a similarity
to Harrison Barnes, one of the top ranked players in the class of 2010, Parker
is also missing that extra burst or 5th gear when it comes time to
drive to the basket. Parker already displays a better handle than Barnes which
helps him drive to the basket in his high school games, however at times he is
stopped short after one or two moves which results in a pull-up jump shot or
step back. Parker will need to continue to work on his foot speed so that when
he enters college in two years he can still aggressively attack the basket,
rather than settle for one dribble jump shots similar to Barnes.
