Chandler Parsons: DeAndre Jordan can be 'the best center in the NBA the next 10 years'
Chandler Parsons' second career as a recruiter is going swimmingly.
The Dallas Mavericks small forward – who was said to have played a big part in bringing Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets two summers ago – helped land his adopted team two marquee free agents in shooting guard Wesley Matthews and center DeAndre Jordan.
According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Parsons has been in daily contact with Jordan since Jordan's former team (the Los Angeles Clippers) lost to Parsons' (the Rockets) in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, and said recruiting Jordan and Matthews became an "obsession" for him.
Parsons reportedly organized a dinner for Jordan with Mavericks' longtime franchise player Dirk Nowitzki, owner Mark Cuban, and himself at an upscale sushi restaurant in Malibu the moment free agency started – at midnight on July 1.
"I was basically just telling him that we want you," Parsons said. "You're our priority. We believe that you can be a 20 and 15 a night kind of guy. We think that you are the best center in the NBA, and we think that there's no other place better than Dallas (to prove it)."
For Jordan, whose path out of Los Angeles was reportedly cracked open by a schism with Clippers point guard Chris Paul – said to have worn on Jordan with constant harping and criticism, and to have put minimal effort into luring him back to L.A. – it's easy to see why feeling wanted would be a big selling point.
And from the sounds of it, Parsons has plenty of faith in his convictions about Jordan's ability.
"I think he's a perennial All-Star," Parsons said. "I think he's the most athletic, best defending, finishing lob threat in the NBA. He has a chance to be the best center in the NBA the next 10 years."
Jordan, the NBA's leading rebounder and an All-Defensive first teamer this season for the first time, entered free agency with the intention of carving out an expanded offensive role on whatever team he signed with.
Dallas has given Jordan that assurance – with Cuban going so far as to compare him to Shaquille O'Neal – but as of now they lack a pure point guard who can consistently hit Jordan with the lobs he's become the best in the business at finishing.
They're holding out hope that Parsons can be that guy. They plan to let him feed his favorite recruit himself as a converted point forward.