Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
I recently came across a piece by Diamond Leung on MLive.com from a few months ago and came across an interesting tidbit. Apparently, the only thing that kept Jabari Parker from committing to the Michigan State Spartans was a forward from Gary, Indiana who Parker was ceding respect to.
“Branden Dawson, me and him play the same position, and it’d kind of be a controversy if me and him were on the same floor running into each other,” Parker said. “So I just wanted to go to a school that was fitting. I don’t want to mess up his thing. Me coming in there would be kind of disrespectful. I just want him to do well.”
The 6-foot-6 Dawson, listed as a guard, has played both forward positions since arriving at Michigan State and he wears the No. 22 Parker wears at Simeon; he only averaged 10.1 points and 5.9 rebounds this season so it is a bit surprising Parker is giving him such respect, but Parker played him a few times in high school so there is history there.
Jabari apparently even mentioned Dawson’s hometown of Gary, Indiana at the press conference.
“He looks up to the older guy,” Sonny Parker, Jabari’s father, said. “He’s always looked up to the guys in front of him. He gives them a lot of respect.”
I bet Tom Izzo wishes he could have had Parker more than Dawson, but you can never look back on the past and wish it was different.
