Jabari Parker has played a total of 24 minutes in two postseason games as the Bucks return to Milwaukee trailing the Celtics 2-0 in their first-round series. Parker has struggled to produce, and attributed his lack of playing time to not being on Bucks interim head coach Joe Prunty’s good side, tweets Stephen Watson of WISN 12 News.
Parker, who has torn the ACL in his left knee twice, has missed significant time over the last several seasons. He noted that not playing much after missing a lot of time to injury has compounded his frustration, tweets Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I am human. I have a right to be frustrated. I’ve waited two years for this,” Parker, 23, said.
For his part, Prunty denied that Parker is on his bad side and said that he is unsure why the forward feels that way. Prunty added that Parker — and the rest of bench — can help the team and find playing time by rebounding and playing defense. With free agency looming, after two major knee surgeries, a lack of playing time in the postseason will not help Parker’s case for a lucrative deal.
Check out more Central Division notes:
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffered a partial tear of a ligament in his left thumb during the team’s Game 2 win over the Pacers, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. While head coach Tyronn Lue elected to rest Love after the injury, Love said that he will play through it going forward. “It’s not going to feel great tomorrow, but throw some ice on it, tape it up and be ready to go,” Love said.
- Brandon Jennings did not play in the NBA for most of last season before he joined the Bucks‘ G League affiliate and eventually returned to Milwaukee last season. As Jennings tells David Yapkowitz of Basketball Insiders, he’s glad to be back. “It’s good, it feels good just being back in the NBA in general,” Jennings said. “A lot has changed since I left, but for the good. I’m just excited.”
- In his latest mailbag, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune answered several questioning pertaining to Zach LaVine‘s impending contract talks, Kris Dunn, and the Bulls‘ plans entering the draft.
- Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago writes that overpaying to acquire Kawhi Leonard, whose injury status and relationship with the Spurs make him a possible trade candidate, is not the way to rebuild the Bulls.
Joe Prunty is quickly coaching himself out of a job. For all of the talent the Bucks have, they’re being outplayed by mostly rookie and second year players.
Is it Joe Prunty or is it just the bucks roster? Because the bucks made Jason Kidd look like he was a 5 year old coaching in the nba
Prunty is just as much of a joke as Kidd was. The fact he benches Parker and not Bledsoe is asinine.
Parker has been horrible… look at his playoff stats. And he always plays terrible defense
Look at his regular season stats. The bucks need him on the floor if they are going anywhere
This ain’t the regular season
So you base your judgements off the 2 games he played in the playoffs? With limited minutes? I’d base my judgement off the a larger sample size
Love should take a rest. If his team can’t beat a forth seed without him, then it won’t go far into the playoffs anyway.
His team is the 4th seed
Parker was a benign tumor before and he has metastasized to a stage 4 cancer. The Bucks will be MUCH better without his whiny, crappy butt. Good luck Parker trying to get a 18 million per year contract that you turned down.
Henson was outrebounded by Eric Bledsoe. 12 Rebounds in 74 mins. Parker had 6 in 25 min. So not sure Prunty can do math, but Parker is rebounding 1.5x Henson. Go small ball.
KLove is a stud.