Tari Eason says he wants to start

I think he's more valuable in the offseason than he was at the deadline, mainly because he's going to get a raise and that larger contract opens up a larger pool of players for the Rockets to target in return.

At the deadline you couldn't have gotten one of the many guards that moved around in exchange for him (accept Alvarado) because his contract was too small.

If a team is willing to give him NT-MLE money maybe you get a rotation player in return instead of just a rental that really does nothing but get in the way of Reed.

 

I wish he wanted to start playing better....

 

why not try tristan newton over eason? nevermind with our stubborn coach

 

The misspelling wasn't mine:

 

Come on, Highlander !!!!!

DD

 

I should have said the first 2/3 of the season.

 

Injury questions aside, even healthy players who are of his caliber are finding they aren't making as much money in the new CBA. There was a little more money in that role player gig a few years ago but now that we are effectively in a hard cap - its just really hard to justify giving these guys sizeable portions of cap space when there are so many average 3 and D guys who can provide 90% the stats at value pricing - Nickeil Alexander-Walker is making $15mil/year and frankly is more reliable than Tari. If Tari was truly elite at something it might be a different story but his inconsistent health/play keeps him from getting into this tier.

 

I literally laughed out loud

 

The problem with Bari and Tari is that only one is allowed to be hot at one time. One of them gets to shoot 40%+ for a stretch, and during that time the other guy is a cool 15%.

 

So together they can shoot 55%.

 

I thought they wouldn't be able to trade him immediately in the offseason if they agreed on a contract - right? I think the likely path here is they sign him to a deal and keep him for now and he becomes an expendable luxury we can throw into trades in the future because he probably isn't going to get more than $15/mil year. The only unknown for Tari is if he signs a lower paying deal with more guaranteed money, or takes more money but there are team options limiting the guaranteed money. I think I read the new CBA changed the value of incentive laden deals because they have to be counted for trade purposes even if the player is unlikely to make the incentive.

 

I don’t think Tari will sign an extension for 15m. He is much more likely to take the chance on RFA. We can’t trade him until he signs with us. It’s really a showdown for the Rockets and Tari. We’ll see which one blinks.

 

Who else is giving him significantly more? I'm looking at the contracts of every forward in the league on spotrac and the very best non starting rotational players max out at about 10% of the Cap and most of those players have proven something. If you are paying Tari more than $15mil/yr you have to seriously believe in his upside AND not have concerns of his injury history. Is there really a team out there both in love with his upside and unafraid of his injury history?

He may want more money(and who doesn't?) but the actual market says Tari hasn't likely proven enough to demand much more. Bari got more but is both significantly younger, less injury prone, and has demonstrated similar improvements statistically. He has also played nearly an entire season more than Eason despite coming into the league at the same time and has started 200 more games so if Tari really thinks he is getting similar than his representation is likely leading him astray.

Again - the new CBA put a cap on the NBA's middle class and guys like Tari were impacted the most. A competitive team can't afford to dish out big money to guys like Tari without opening the door to larger team construction issues....and it's been a minute since I looked at team payrolls but last I checked most teams don't have cap space to offer anyway so take everything I said and assume that only like 2 teams even have a path to offer Tari 20mil+ and the rest can only offer Tari at max an exception amount(MLE at $14 mil/yr). In short the market is stacked against him whether him and his family feel its fair or not.

 

I don’t think he will garner much more than 15m in RFA, but I think he goes into it, which puts the Rockets in limbo until he signs, but who knows there are some really stupid orgs out there. Washington traded for Anthony Davis and Trae Young.

 

What are we paying DFS?

DD

 

I saw a thread earlier with Twolves fans talking about Jaden McDaniels (25) issues. Shooting inconsistency, low iq. can’t guard smaller quicker players, can’t create.

These types of players are the ones I’d argue to be patient with. Fast athletes that can shoot are at a premium. I’ve seen some evidence of 3 & D skill development up until age 28 or 29.

 

It's either take a contract that the Rockets or another team is offering Or take the QO for one year and that is less than half of the projected 15m per mainly because he doesn't meet starter criteria because of games played (or not) about $6.5m. On top of that he loses his bird rights which makes it much harder to sign to any sizable contract down the line.

15m or 6.5m and gamble on some team with actual cap space spending it on him.

 

Normally you can't trade a player for 90 days after signing a standard contract BUT there is still the sign and trade option and that's what I'd be banking on in this scenario - IF a team is willing to offer him anything more than the QO which is $6.5m and up to the MLE which is ~$15m.

Honestly I think the Rockets would just keep him for a year on the QO or slightly more, maybe not on all / most of the MLE.

 

With his injury history - it’s a legit gamble. The difference between 15ish and 21mil isn’t near as much as the difference between 15ish and whatever he might hope to make after another injury. He has missed 30+ games for 3 out of his first 4 years. At this point the odds are not in his favor.

My advice to Tari - Take the money, set yourself and your family up and work on getting a payday on that next contract. You can’t afford to have a serious injury and walk away from the NBA without generational money. These opportunities don’t come around too often. $60-$70mil over the life of 4 years is a very nice living in a tax free state. Don’t overthink it.