How Jabari Parker to Duke Impacts the 2014 NBA Draft

The 2014 NBA draft will be nothing like the 2013 NBA draft.

There may not be a player in college basketball today that offers the ceiling and skill set of Jabari Parker, who recently announced he'll be attending Duke University in the fall.

Parker took a lot of backlash from bitter or uneducated fans who criticized him for choosing Duke, as if playing for the head coach of U.S.A. basketball was a bad decision. There's nothing wrong with Duke's system that should prohibit Parker from slipping in the draft or overachieving as a pro.

Assuming just about all of the top NBA prospects in college today take advantage of the lack of star power and enter the 2013 NBA draft, it should make for a freshmen-heavy 2014 NBA lottery, with Parker included.

To start next year, Parker will be contending for the No. 2 prospect in the country title with Julius Randle (undecided), Andrew Harrison (Kentucky), Aaron Gordon (Undecided) and Noah Vonleh (Indiana), all of whom will be freshmen as well.

Parker offers a unique offensive skill set unlike any of the previously mentioned prospects, because of his ability to create his own shot on the perimeter and the interior, with the willing vision and passing touch to setup opportunities for teammates.

Parker, and the rest of the 2013 class, were all knocked down a spot in the recruiting rankings when a kid from Canada named Andrew Wiggins decided to reclassify.

Wiggins is the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, and is widely believed to be down to just Kentucky and Florida State, his father's alma mater, as his final two choices. If Wiggins does choose to become a Seminole, we could be in for an epic year in the ACC in terms of head-to-head individual talent.

Parker and Wiggins are guys who NBA General Managers have tabs on before they even decide what school they're attending. These guys have franchise-changing potential, and while NBA scouts are barred from high school gyms, they're made very well aware of what kids like these are capable of.

Wiggins is a pure scoring-wing, who some say is even more advanced offensively that LeBron James was at the high school level. He's a guy scouts view as a player you build franchises around. Take a look: