Bad Contracts over the Years Fred VanVleet - The timing was terrible, should've waited. Steven Adams Clint Capela Dorian Finney Smith
I think he’s healthy but they tried to low ball him by exaggerating the health issues. I would be furious if I were Tari. They should have allocated funds to him before signing Adams and DFS. Tari was the original “come off the bench and achieve a huge impact” guy and he’s done it against an average schedule rather than against the small sample size of easy games Adams made a big impact. DFS I don’t even know why they signed. We’re overloaded at these positions. Ime wants to live out this let’s go big gimmick and he prioritized it over a long term piece developed in-house. So our new strategy could end up costing Brooks, Green, Maluach and Tari for Durant, Adams and DFS. Idiotic for a team whose core is in their early 20’s. Let’s be honest, Udoka has succeeded in rushing Stone who seems to faun in the presence of any masculine person. Which is ok if we win a title but you’ll never hear the end of it from me if we don’t win a title in the next 2 seasons. Basically, Udoka has pulled the old T-Mac “it’s on me.” Well, let’s see what you got boy.
Yeah, I don't think he'll be dogging it, but he will probably feel like he has to prove himself somehow. Ideally, he can turn that added pressure into a plus for both his game and the team.
After thinking about for a bit, there's no way this turns out good for the team. If Tari balls out, let's say he has something similar to what Dyson Daniels did last year. Steals leader, DPOY runner up, 1st team all-nba. Okay, Dyson got paid for 25M per so Tari would want something close to that or higher and a team pays him that, guess what? We cannot match because we'll be at the 2nd apron. I got a feeling whatever Tari feels he is "worth" Stone didn't give him because of the 2nd apron. Let's say he gets injured again and only plays 35 games or he just plays about same as last year, teams only give him a lower offer than whatever Stone offered (it would have been below 25M per). Now Tari is bitter and jaded because Stone isn't going to give him the original offer, he'll just match the even lower offer. I say that teams won't offer him more than 25M because look at all his peers that just got extended, players who have more awards, health and stats getting around 20M per. I highly doubt extensions broke down because Stone refused to give him even 20M. This isn't even including the possibility we might see Tari look off KD or play more selfish basketball because he's trying to get his stats up for a bigger contract. I know on CF, people definitely going to have a microscope on him now, if he makes a bad decision to drive instead of passing, we might question if that's just a mistake or he's purposely doing it for the money. I just think this is a distraction we don't need. Btw, how come we never hear anyone on the OKC bench ever complain about their role and contracts, I watch that team a lot last year and it's like everyone just buys into whatever is going on there flawlessly. Like Dort for example, getting paid 16M per shooting 41% from 3 and voted 4th DPOY and 1st team all-defense last year. OKC just has all these insane bench players on incredible contracts and they all can shoot 3s, it's no wonder their team is so deep.
They likely did allocate funds for Tari, but they had a number they wouldn’t exceed because of his role and injury history. There’s nothing unreasonable about that. Tari isn’t gone, he’s under contract and will be an RFA, so all of this handwringing like we lost him is overblown. But, even if we do lose him—which, again, is not a foregone conclusion—I would gladly trade Jalen, Dillon, Malauch and Tari for KD, DFS, and Adams, and I bet I’m not alone in that opinion. Lastly, your weird psychoanalysis of Stone is bizarre and doesn’t further your point in the slightest. It’s complete and total speculation and you disingenuously preface with “let’s be honest” like it’s some kind of factual observation when it’s just the opposite.
I hope all take time to digest just how underratedly and uniquely dominant Tari Eason has been when he’s playing and stop trashing him for wanting to properly get paid.
It's ok and actually may turn out better for the team. I like Tari a lot and want him to stay on the team, but he is an injury-prone role player, period. It's ok to not reach an agreement with a role player, not even mentioning how many wing players we have on the roster right now.
Pretty much this. I get it, some of us have been jumping the gun a bit on how Tari may or might respond to this given his media day appearance and the everpresent mom who’s not afraid to speak her mind. The tweet by his mom is a good sign, IF she actually can keep it about basketball and just ignore the nonsense. I don’t want no snarky ass tweets after every good game about how he should be paid now or even something slick like: “See what a motivated Eason can do? Y’all just fueled the fire”, “Keep this same energy when ….” or “He knew he would produce, why didn't yall” or “keep ignoring the stats my boy is putting up” or whatever. I get it from Tari’s side in terms of his on court value, how hard he works and seeing all these other guys getting contracts. You want to be one of them, I get it. Same as far as having at least one play run for you. However, he is not acknowledging some clear facts here, which is how injured he’s been, how he hasn’t been steady on offense at all, how he’s made boneheaded plays that can cost you a game or a series (remember Jeremy Lin) and how he’s not the type of guy you really run a set play for specifically. Why? Because he’s not the best shooter, he’s not reliable as a ball handler, not efficient as a scorer, not a guy who can break down a defense and Ime is not doing that for a lot of guys. We were screaming for him to run more plays for Jabari last year. It’s just not Ime’s MO and nor is running a set play for Tari a strategy that plays to his strengths. His unpredictability is his strength in my opinion. And of course, once he proves he can be relied upon and we actually are using the Senhub effectively than we can run some sets for a Tari / Amen cut to the hoop off of a screen set. But maybe Tari was just speaking in general about his value and that “running one play a game” for him just means he wants to be included, one of THE guys as I’m sure he’s aware Ime’s coaching is not that extensive on offense to the point where plays are run for anyone beyond Sengun, trusting FVV to make the right decision off of a pick by Sengun - can that be called a play called for FVV and or Sengun? - and maybe Jalen. All in all, I want him to stay and be realistic, but with some of these quotes and his demeanor on media day I just get a bad feeling. I do think FVV’s injury and DFS being out will impact his role on this team more so than anything, but at least want him to be here for the whole year, be with us for a long play-off run so he can prove his value. Who knows, he might stick around and get an even bigger bag because of how awesome he is. It’s all up to him, so do the work and don’t put your money over the team and please do not be a distraction. It’s not like when he was playing, he didn’t get opportunities. He was pretty much our 6th man with Amen and we definitely valued him. It was mostly his own erratic play and inconsistent finishes around the hoop on top of injury concerns that kept him from getting more minutes. So honestly wish this is not a Cam situation where he doesn’t know what else he needs to do to get more minutes. Play your game, ball like you did in pre-season and all should be well. Take your mom’s advice Tari: if you play your game, you will produce and money will come. So let the results speak for themselves and keep the “I should’ve been paid” thoughts to yourself.
What could you get for $5,675,766 in salary? With FVV having a NTC, what salary would you add to it to make a move? At this point. I think I'd just let him hit RFA and match if I felt comfortable or S&T otherwise.
I'm trying to understand this in the only way I can. If the choice were mine and framed within the corporate ranks, would I rather be a lesser, but important part, of a leading organization, or be a leader on a lesser organization? I know it's not apples to apples, but honestly I think the Rockets are Tari's best chance to become a leader on a leading organization, and get paid for it. Not right now, but maybe soon.
Let me start with the obvious. I like Tari Eason: his desire, the way he imposes his wlll through gritty play, etc. But let's take a slow look at a few numbers. Minutes played per season: Season one (age 21) 82 games 1767 minutes -- on a terrible team, and he had a lot to work on. Season two (age 22) 22 games 480 minutes --many positive improvements: ball handling, impact on the game, efforts cut short by the need to rehab to health. Season three (age 23) 57 games 1400 minutes. By every measurement, season three was a very up and down year. Still getting healthy. Best 3 point shooting of his career (32%, respectable 35% from the corner 3 but that was only 36% of his 3-point shot attempts). 53% of all his FG makes were assisted (and 98% of his made 3s). His first playoff experience was a mixed bag with all kinds of inexplicable mental errors and blown assignments that don't easily translate to the stat sheet. [I know, I know the whole team faltered, but I'm remembering the simple plays (and layups) which should be givens for a player of Tari's stature.] Career best 43% shooting within 3–10 feet (which isn't glamorous at all). In his seven playoff games that number plummeted to 15%. For the season, on midrange shooting (16 ft to the 3-point line), he was a blustery 14% from the field. He didn't make a shot from this range in the playoffs. The game plan was put a body on him, expect Eason to fight for the ball, run him off the line, and force him to do something else. And while we would or expect Tari to thrive under that pressure, he didn't. We've added Kevin Durant and DFS who are proven playoff-level forwards to pair with a growing, maturing Tari and Jabari. Will Tari give us more than 1,400 minutes this season? Will he approach the 1800 mark and be up to 22 minutes a game? Will he give us more minutes than Durant or DFS? In a perfect world, Tari meets the challenge and rounds out his game. The early preseason returns look like he spent quality time in the gym working on his fundamentals in a contract year. I can't wait to see more of him with Durant because Tari will likely be defended by a SF. Tari should win those more and more of those matchups besides crushing it on the glass. While my heart wants to sign Tari to a multi-year deal and see him in Rocket-Red for the foreseeable future, I can appreciate Stone wanting to show a touch of caution.
White has been mentioned often here in recent months. The question is, how do you match salary? The Rockets need to send out a minimum of $27.85m .... With it highly unlikely that FVV would give up his bird rights and be part of that number - how do you reach $27.85m in outgoing salary? Tari I'm sure would be part of the "plan" but he makes only $5.675m .... You need to account for another $22.175m. Who you sending out?
I'd offer two potential reasons for your observation. First, great leadership that communicates a vision for the team is critical to building this type of culture. Second, you must acquire or draft players that buy into that vision and are willing to sacrifice individual needs for the greater goal. While I love Tari's dawg mentality and understand why he wants a greater role, he must also understand that he has to earn that by staying healthy and cleaning up his mistakes. It's a long season and we're just starting tonight. Tari's future will be one of the undercurrents that we'll all follow this year. Lots of paths could unfold depending on how the team plays, injuries, etc. My only hope is his situation doesn't distract from our pursuit of a championship (as you alluded to).
Money doesn't work - Grimes $8.741m Tari $5.675m Also, Grimes has an inherent no-trade clause because he would lose his bird rights in the process - The Rockets couldn't exceed the cap to resign him next offseason. They will likely be near the 1A as well which would eliminate the NT-MLE as an option - without making other moves (FVV?).
I don't see this as a bad thing. If Tari is worth enough to put the Rockets into the second apron, the Rockets will just have to trade someone to get under it. Losing a player would suck, but Tari being worth losing someone is a plus overall. Alternatively, Tilman may just man up and go into the 2nd apron as the Rockets will be very good.
This is the path I see. I'd rather have had a deal that was comfortable right now, but it seems Tari didn't give the Rockets that option. I don't harbor negative feelings for a player betting on themselves.
If we are healthy and have a good record, would the team have motivation to freeze/hold Tari out in order to secure him for future seasons at a better rate?
We weren't going to win a title with Jalen Green so whine all you want. Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason are replaceable...
