The Mastery of Chandler Parsons

 

 

 The Mystery of Chandler Parsons

By Phillip Dang

 

Should he stay or should he go? That is a question all Dallas Mavericks fans are thinking to themselves this off-season. Will he live up to the hype of his max contract that he will likely receive this off-season or will he always be the player that “could be” due to his injury problems? These are all huge question marks that surround Chandler Parsons and his future regarding the Dallas Mavericks. I’m here to help convince you that the Mavericks SHOULD keep Parsons, no matter the size of the contract.

 

There is one thing that’s for sure and that’s that Parsons was playing his best basketball before he got injured. It was unfortunate that he was hurt again for the second year in a row, but you have to realize that this injury was somewhat of a fluke, as most of his injuries are. If you consider the time frame that it was in, and the way that he got injured, it all seems to be things that won’t happen down the road. I would compare his injuries to somewhat the same as Wesley Matthew’s Achilles injury; there’s really nothing to foresee them from happening. If an Achilles chooses to tear, it will, and a person has no control over that. Parson’s knees are somewhat the same. Sure, if they keep getting operated on they will become weaker and weaker, but after seeing how hard Parsons worked to get back into shape last season, it only makes me believe that he will work even harder to strengthen the knee again this time around.

 

In the month of February, Parsons averaged 18.8 points per game, 5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists while shooting 52% from the field, 48% from three, and 85% from the free throw line. These are arguably the best splits of his career. He then went on to average 16.2 points per game in March while improving his rebounding to 6.3 and his assists to 4.4. His shooting splits were also very similar in this timespan. Any Maverick fans that were watching during this stretch would realize that Parsons was a catalyst to our team. He was really getting into a groove so if he was doing well, the Mavs would be doing well also. Those two went hand in hand, and it will be evident if the Mavs choose to resign Parsons and move forward with him.

 

 

Another reason why the Mavericks should keep Parsons is because of one of his best non-basketball related skills, which is recruiting. Before every game, you can see Parsons greeting opposing players with a smile on his face. It is clear that Parsons has a great relationship with other players, and that would be huge going forward into each summer. A prime example would be the relationship that he had and still has with DeAndre Jordan. Although that whole thing didn’t pan out as expected, the Mavs were very close to bringing in a cornerstone piece to the franchise solely because of Parsons. The Mavericks are in dire need of a cornerstone piece and with Parsons, every summer that will be possible. When you think of this summer’s free agents, there are a lot of players who have a history or some sort of connection with Parsons. Dwight Howard is the obvious player whom Parsons famously recruited to Houston and played with for several years. Joakim Noah went to the same college as Parsons, the University of Florida. Andre Drummond and Parsons have a similar sock deal with Stance, one of the only two players to rep the sock before they struck a deal with the NBA. With Parsons on the Mavs, he can act as a co-general manager with Donnie Nelson to bring in the key pieces to make them a contender.

 

I believe that what we have seen from Parsons is only the beginning of what could be a very promising future. He gave us a glimpse of the level of basketball he can play at when he’s fully healthy. He gave us a look at how he can navigate through the summers by helping recruit players such as Wesley Matthews. If the Mavs front office shows complete confidence in him and sign him to a deal that makes him happy, I believe that the Mavs will have the heir to Dirk Nowitzki’s throne and a superstar in the making.