IMO it would be a pretty bad indictment on Jabari if he isn't pretty easily named the 5th starter when KD is healthy. It could be that Tari our DFS outplay him, and earn that role but even if they do alot of great things, I still would expect what Jabari does if he does it adequately SHOULD pretty easily earn that starting spot at least early on.
As of today, DFS is the last starter. He doesn't need the ball like every other start to make a difference and he'll bail out Amen and Alpi when they torpedo terrible passes to him with the shotclock expiring. He's going to be Rober Covington with Athleticism and better shooting, both midrange and from the 3.
For their careers, Tari has generally easily outplayed JSJ other than the last 15 or so games last season (JSJ absolutely killed in the double big lineups). If JSJ is just adequate, he should not start over Tari. I think it will come down to what Udoka wants from the 5th starter. If it is someone that can guard centers to allow Sengun to "guard" the weakest offensive player and roam around the basket, it will be either DFS or JSJ. If Udoka wants to limit KD running around after SFs, it will probably be Tari as he used Tari on the tougher defensive assignments when he was on the court with JSJ.
Well damn, guess this shakes it all up and there’s no FVV. Please no Reed as a starting PG though, give me Amen and then a DFS / KD at SG, with Tari / Jabari at the foward and Sengun at Center.
The Rockets played pretty well post-All-Star Break with Tari as a starter. I remember seeing lineups like Tari-Dillon-Alpi-Amen-Jalen that were killing it out there. Just replace Dillon and Jalen with DFS and KD and that combo should do pretty well.
I posted this in a separate thread, but after the FVV injury, I think we'll run a 10 man lineup of... Sheppard / Holiday Amen / Okogie KD / Tari Smith / DFS Sengun / Adams or Capela
Ugh if that’s our line up I will give up on Ime. Contenders don’t start terrible midget sophomores. That bench is terrible at scoring btw. Give me actually that double big line up with Capela, Sengun, KD, DFS and Amen. Then Adams, Jabari, Tari, Amen, Holiday / Reed as our bench squad.
Putting aside your idiotic insult - which makes no sense considering Sheppard is taller than FVV - "contenders" start young guys all the time. The Pacers started Nembhard. OKC started Chet. The fourth overall pick should start within the first couple of years, regardless of whether he is on a "contender" or not.
"For the most part we have four guys penciled in and we'll figure out what to do with the fifth" - 10/2/25 Ime. Who's the four guys?
FVV was one of the four starters. We thought the fifth would be one of Jabari, Tari, and DFS. Since FVV is out, the fifth guy has been promoted to fourth. Now that DFS is out for the opener, that leaves Jabari and Tari. I think Jabari has the higher likelihood because he's the incumbent starter before his injury last season. It's his job to lose. Tari also has the added concern of health.
Tari Eason adds nothing to the starting unit though. For that reason, I think Reed Sheppard has a very good chance of being that 5th starter so they have at least one guard in the starting lineup and he'd provide a ton of spacing that no one else really could.
I tend to agree. With Amen and Sengun carrying a lot of the playmaking burden, you need to surround them with shooters. I see Jabari in the starting 5 and lots of court time for Sheppard/Holiday with units that have Amen/Sengun both on the court. If one of Amen/Sengun becomes a quality 3 point shooter (not my baseline assumption this year) then you can open up the lineups to have Okogie, Tari, Aquaman, Capela on the court more with Amen and Sengun (Outside of the double big lineup). Even in the double big, I would expect Sheppard/Holiday and Jabari to get a high percentage of minutes. Now, in small ball lineups, or when Amen OR Sengun are on the bench, I would expect a high percentage of those minutes to have Tari Eason and Josh Okogie on the floor. The flexibility isn't as great as before FVV's injury, but I think there is enough flexibility to keep a very good balance of both good playmaking and very good defense on the court at all times.
