‘Miscommunication’ led to Parker’s prolonged absence, working on getting explosion back

Nothing seemed apparent with Juwan Parker when he was on the court for Georgia’s exhibition against Armstrong State last November. He pressed the opposition on defense. He ran the offense and seemed fine doing so.

A week later, he was unable to start the season. By the middle of the year, it became evident Parker wouldn’t be able to play.

So what exactly happened?

"We just had a little confusion on the timeline after the surgery between me, Coach Fox and the surgeon, and the trainer at the time," Parker said. "So nothing really went wrong with the timeline, it was just miscommunication."

Georgia head coach Mark Fox said that the initial window to return turned out to be too soon, and that his guard was actually on the back end of a recovery period. Six months turned into a year, with Parker, who initially tore his Achilles during his sophomore season, unable to handle much of a pain threshold early on.

Optimism in his recovery came, however, once the summer approached. Since summer workouts began, Parker has been 100 percent, although the volume of his workload has gradually increased since the beginning. What started as an hour turned into an hour and a half, with Parker now able to work out for two hours.

Parker said that outside of some stiffness, he’s pain free.

"I’m still working on some stuff, to get my explosiveness all the way back," Parker said.

Parker participated in Georgia’s practice Thursday, which was open to the public. He’s not wearing any kind of brace on his foot. On one occasion, during a one-on-one cone drill, Parker crossed the ball over quickly, took a few dribbles to the hoop and banked a shot in. He was quick and agile running through defensive sets.

Parker is set to get a lot of game experience when Georgia travels to Spain for a basketball tour beginning Sunday. The Bulldogs are getting eight practices in before flying across the Atlantic. They’re set to play games against three Spanish teams comprised of local all-stars in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia next week.

Parker’s presence will allow Georgia to go back to the four-guard lineup it wanted to begin last season with. With Parker out, Kenny Paul Geno and Charles Mann had to play his position with Georgia elected to play small ball.

"I was the four man in those lineups," Parker said. "Geno and (Mann) ended up playing it during the year, but leading up to it, they hadn’t played it. I was the only guard who had played the position. It kind of messed them up, their rhythm was off in the beginning. Towards the end they picked it up. You get used to it, it’s basketball at the end of the day."

Georgia guard J.J. Frazier joked that Parker’s addition back to the lineup will allow him not to play as much defense. But that’s an area Frazier commended Parker for, saying Georgia’s defense should improve as a result.

"He’s a solid defender," Frazier said. "He plays hard, he plays smart. He can shoot the basketball. He’ll be that glue guy that when things are going wrong he can make something happen. He can make a play in a different type of way that won’t be in the box score. We always need that guy and I’m glad to have him back."

Parker has two years of eligibility remaining, after being granted a medical redshirt, and actually has to figure out what to do after this season since he’s set to graduate with a master’s in sports management. The joke around the basketball facility is that Parker may earn his doctorate before his eligibility is exhausted.

Fox said Parker led Georgia in scoring and rebounding during a practice this week, something the Bulldogs will gladly take with Mann and guard Kenny Gaines graduating after last season.

"I think it’s going to take some time for him to knock some rust off but he’s a very versatile player," Fox said. "He can play a couple of different positions. He’s very stable. Certainly, I think all of his strengths, defensively or being able to shoot the ball, his ability to rebound, they will all be able to help us."

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "‘Miscommunication’ led to Parker’s prolonged absence, working on getting explosion back."