Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Target? Dennis Parker Jr. is a 3-And-D Wing with Power 5 Experience

Starting point is 00:00:00 If you want Kansas to grab a wing shooter, Dennis Parker Jr. is a very interesting name. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on, Derek Johnson here and on today's bonus episode of the show, we're going to break down Dennis Parker Jr. We'll get into his potential fit with KU, scouting report, and more. Let's start right here. Parker is a 6-5-pound wing. He'll be a senior in the upcoming 2026 to 27 season, although with the 5 and 5 potential passing, I guess he'd be a fourth year of 5. Now, there was some Kentucky recruiting guy on Twitter who was saying Kansas has shown interest along with some other schools, which I have no idea if I should trust that or not. But I'll tell you this much, though. He is someone who myself, locked on Jayhawks, is definitely interested in. So he was a four-star prospect coming out of high school. He was ranked 123rd in the country by 24-7 sports. He was actually top 100 out of high school on rivals and on three and went to NC State for two seasons, where he appeared in 56 games, was playing 12 or more minutes per game for both teams was kind

Starting point is 00:01:21 of the eighth or ninth man for back-to-back seasons for them. And that included for the final four team when he was a freshman when he averaged about four points and three rebounds per game. So he's been in that role player role before at a power. or five level. And then Will Wade arrived Stensi State, and he winds up leaving and transferring to Radford this past season, where he ended up being second team all big south. He averaged 18.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.4 steals per game on 48% shooting from the floor, 38% from three on five tries per game, and then 66% at the foul line. He had 10 games this year with 20 or more points. He had a season high of 53 points against Kopp and

Starting point is 00:02:04 state. And then when you look at some of his games against high major caution, he had 23 points and six rebounds against North Carolina. He had 10 points and five rebounds against South Carolina. And then he had 18 points, four rebounds, three steals in the game he played against SMU. But obviously he does have that Power 5 experience from his two previous seasons where, you know, it was more of in a role player role as an underclassman, right? Metrics, 63rd percentile in RAPM, 85th percentile in wind shares per 40, 97th percentile in PER, and then 94th percentile in wins above replacement player.

Starting point is 00:02:44 The team was much better when he was on the floor. You're talking about 11 points better per 100 possessions when he was out on the floor. And even if we go back to his sophomore season at NC State, the Wolfpack were over nine points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. So this guy was having an impact when he is on the floor for his team. as kind of a three and D wing prospect, right? But he comes in in the top 160 in the 24-7 transfer board.

Starting point is 00:03:12 He's in the 370s at Evan Miyaka, not in the athletics top 100. And last I checked, he wasn't rated over it on three. But to me, this would be a great addition, right? This is the type of player who at worst, if he's what he was at NC State, that's a eighth or ninth man for you, role player for you. But after having a season where, sure, he played worst competition, but he probably had an opportunity to get more reps and get better. He's the best version of himself.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Maybe he could be a six-man type player who provides shooting and defense for you off the bench. So I'd be very interested in this one with Parker, but let's get to a scouting report more next. This is locked on Jayhawks. But to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure is on, you need the right higher. This is a job for Indeed, sponsor jobs, which helps you reach the people who actually fit which you're looking for with the right skills, experience, and location.

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Starting point is 00:04:34 the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast now. Support our show by saying you heard about it on Locked on Jayhawks. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsor jobs. Thanks again for joining us on the show as we continue on with our Dennis Parker deep dive. Let's start with the strengths of the scouting report here, scoring and shooting.

Starting point is 00:05:02 So he shot over 37% from three on good volume. He was pretty zone proof. Like, no matter where he was shooting in terms of the five main zones from three, he was pretty consistent and good there. He's more than just a shooter, though, which is why I classified this is shooting and scoring. He shot 61% at the rim, despite only 35% of his makes there being assisted. He was in the 84th percentile in effective field goal percentage. He was in the 83rd percentile in true shooting percentage.

Starting point is 00:05:32 Scores a ton in fast break on average efficiency. he did a really strong job of relocating on offensive rebounds and making a ton of shots off of them and knowing where to go there. So I think he found a way to score in a lot of different ways that made him valuable there. He's also a really good rebounder too. I mean, you're talking about somebody who is more of a wing. He, if you compare him to guards, was in the 90th percentile for offensive rebound rate and the 91st percentile for defensive rebound rate among guards. And this is crazy. like, yes, lower competition, but his defensive rebound rate was only like one tick off of what

Starting point is 00:06:11 Bryson Tiller did. And that's what he was providing at a two, three position compared to Tiller being, you know, four, five for Kansas. Parker also gets the free throw line a lot, 89th percentile free throw attempt rate. So again, this goes back to the idea he is a really good shooter, almost 38 percent from three on like five attempts per game, but he has other ways of making an impact as well. And the defensive playmaking was good also. 89th percentile Hakeem rate, which a reminder,

Starting point is 00:06:40 Hakeem rate is a combination of steel plus block rate. So what kind of defensive playmaking are you having? He would have had the second best block rate among non-KU big men, only behind Darren Peterson. If you just compare it to KU, he would have had the second best steel rate among all KU players, again, only behind Peterson by 0.1%. So there's somebody who gets steals, he gets blocks,

Starting point is 00:07:01 he's a good defender. He can hit threes. He can get to the free throw line. Like there's a lot to like here for Dennis Parker Jr. Also the idea that he has succeeded as a role player at a Power 5 school, that if that ends up being the case, you've seen it before. But if he's gotten even better than that, then great, even better. Now, some of the weaknesses here, I think the lack of passing and creation for others is certainly a big thing here. He was only in the fourth percentile for assist to turnover ratio. So you're not going to run the offense through him. You don't want him dribble in a ton. You don't want him setting up others. That is not.

Starting point is 00:07:31 his game, not his go-to, right? Even though he got to the free throw line a lot and was a good three-point shooter, he was not a good free-throw shooter this past season. Now, is there any worry that the three-p shooting, if, you know, a lot of times NBA scouts will look at free throw shooting. There was actually a really good article done over a basket under review looking at guys who shot under 30% from three, but shot 80% or better at the free throw line and entered the transfer portal. And it was like, I forget the number. It was like all but like two. It was like 12 or 14 or something like that. shot better from three, and a lot of them were like huge boosts from three. The flip side was guys who, you know, shot above X percentage from three,

Starting point is 00:08:10 but a lower free throw percentage. A lot of them went down the next year. You look at the career numbers for Parker at NC State, it through 30 percent. Is there a chance you'd be buying a guy who maybe is more of a low 30 percent, three-point shooter at the power level? That certainly is a worry, or did he unlock something and figure something out? That is something you would have to, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:28 certainly be figuring out or controlling out. concerned about at least, right? He also wasn't the best working off the dribble in terms of as a score. Obviously, we mentioned the passing stuff. And I think that's part of this as well. So knowing all of that, is this a take, how does this compare to say an Abdi Bashir, a victorious Miller, other guys that KU has kind of kicked the tires on for being kind of one of those bent, inch wings or bench scores for KU. We'll get to all that next. You can get locked on Jayhawks ad free every day. All you got to do is go to lockdownjahawks.com. That is locked on jhawks.com. com. Okay, so this to me would be a good fit. Yes, I would be a little bit worried about maybe some

Starting point is 00:09:09 of those shooting things, but I do think in general this will be at least a decent shooter for you in Parker Jr. I like his ability to get to the free throw line as well, where you do know he has that skill in his back pocket where he does have another way to impact the game on the offensive end, and I like the fact that he's a good rebounder, right? Some of these players who have gone wrong for KU under Bill Self, who have been shooters and haven't shot it well, have lost their confidence maybe, because they haven't stayed on the floor when they're missing shots. But because Parker can get to the free throw line, because Parker can defend, because Parker can rebound,

Starting point is 00:09:41 I think he would stay on the court for Bill's self, and that would allow him to work through any shooting struggles. So I do think he would be a good fit. He would definitely be somebody I'd be very interested in. I would definitely take him. And to me, he'd be, you know, it would be a competition booking him and Coleris Ario for, you know, who's going to be that kind of wing score.

Starting point is 00:09:59 And whoever the first one is is your sixth man. and whoever the second one is is basically your seventh or eighth man, just depending where you view your backup center or they have six, seventh eighth man, it doesn't really matter. The big question just comes down to kind of wanted cost and roll. Like from his perspective, did he leave NC State because they got a new coach?

Starting point is 00:10:19 Or did he leave NC State because he was tired of being a role player and wanted to be a starter somewhere? And maybe he's sitting there right now going, I want to be a starter at a bigger school than Radford, but I don't want to go back to what I was doing at NC State. Or is he saying, no, I'm cool going back up to that, but, you know, does it depend on the money? And then you get the comparison stuff in there. It seems like the victorious Miller ship has sailed at this point for KU.

Starting point is 00:10:43 But, you know, if we're to compare it to like Obdi Bashir, for instance, like Bashir is going to be the better shooter. I feel good about that. Parker's going to be good at basically everything else. You know, that's kind of what you're looking at. I take that back. Bashir is the better passer too. Bashir, you can have the ball in his hands a little bit more, too. So there are a couple advantages to Bashir, but the shooting.

Starting point is 00:11:01 is like that good for Bashir that it's like does that one just skill being so elite make it so that you want to him over the other guy to me it would kind of come down to this like what's the cheaper addition like honestly that might just be what it is if one guy's asking for 800,000 the other guy wants 1.2 million i might take the 800,000 guy if the extra 400,000 can be diverted to adding something else into the rotation potentially right if it's just going to go you know to waste and it's like oh it doesn't matter going to be our last big addition, then sure, spend the $1.2 million and get the one that you like better. So I think, I think in a weird way, like you could argue Parker has a higher floor because he does some of the other things well.

Starting point is 00:11:44 But you would argue that Bashir has a higher ceiling with the impact from the three point shooting. So take a pick for what you'd want. But I'd be very happy if K. You ended up with Dennis Parker. I'll put it that way. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe.

Starting point is 00:12:01 to the show. See you next time on L OJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayhawks Portal Target? Dennis Parker Jr. is a 3-And-D Wing with Power 5 Experience

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