A team can go over the 2nd apron to re-sign its own players. So any contract Tari gets in RFA can be matched. If he gets a contract that puts us over the 2nd apron we can try and move salary elsewhere to stay below. If Tari gets injured again and plays 35 games I don't think any fan here will wish we had signed him to a long-term contract. We will have dodged a bullet and whatever contract the Rockets just offered was more than fair and Tari should have taken it. Tari wouldn't be the first player to bet on himself and lose. He might be bitter about dropping the bag, but if he's had three injury plagued seasons in a row he might just be grateful to get a multi-year deal at all. If Tari looks off KD or plays selfish basketball for a bigger contract then he didn't deserve a second contract with us. I don't think that's in his personality so I'm not worried about that.
The role we need Tari to serve we can get that from DFS at $13M per year. I'm a fan of Tari, but I think we see where his ceiling is at. If we're in win-now mode, we can upgrade our biggest weakness which is the pg position by trade deadline. Our best tradeable assets are Reed, Tari, (combined salary of $16.2M), and draft picks. The players we should monitor this season for potential acquisition are: Austin Reaves $13.9M Colby White $12.8M
Tari is a very, very good sparkplug off the bench, one of the best in that role in the league, and does it in pretty unique ways. But I think some of y'all are overstating his talent level a little bit here. A lot of what he does comes down to having a really great motor (which might not hold up to the same degree if he were to play more minutes) and having above-average NBA athleticism and a big wingspan. His actual basketball skills are not bad by any means, but I don't know if he has a true plus skill, unless you count rebounding, which again... a lot of his success in that area comes down to his motor & measurables. There have been times when people have compared him to Kawhi, but he just doesn't have the ballhandling, the footwork, the shooting, or the basketball IQ to ever be anywhere near that level in my opinion. He is prone to making some really boneheaded mistakes, he's a mediocre jump shooter, and his rim finishing ability is surprisingly not that great given his raw physical talent. His fit alongside our best two non-KD players is a little bit questionable since he's not a great jump shooter and not really that great in half-court offense in general. His natural position at the 4 is arguably our deepest. On top of all of that, he has a rod in his leg and couldn't play any B2Bs last season. None of this is to say I'm not a fan of Tari! I love having the guy on the team, and I hope we can find an extension that makes sense next offseason, or match a reasonable offer sheet. But ultimately, I view him as a bench player for us in the long-term. If they do decide to trade him as a roster-balancing move, I'll be okay with it as long as the value coming back makes sense.
According to the reports, it never came to pouting because the organization swiftly took action to not just get rid of him, gained Caruso. But actually granted his wish to star on a perfect fit for his talents - The Bulls. Turning it into a Double Win without ever going thru the Process of turning it sour. After the Playoffs, you have tons of time to get that done though.
His offensive rebounding, defensive disruption, motor, and off-ball rim pressure are easily skills, and easily plus skills. On not fitting with Amen and Sengun, that is mostly based on expectation than what has happened. When Tari is in with Amen and Sengun, the defense is generally amazing, offensive rebounding is through the roof, and the Rockets actually score efficiently. If Tari isn't healthy, it won't matter. That said, his mid-range shooting was okay and his finish % at the rim was good when he was healthy last season. I expect the rim percentage will be fine this year. I'm not sure if the mid-range shooting was just a small sample luck early last season. 3-point shooting is the swing skill as it often is. He gets his 3-point percentage over 37% and people are going to be amazed at how much he's improved (i.e., He's got a lot of plus skills that get overlooked because he's not a playmaker and not a good shooter). He's not Kawhi. I really hope early last season was just not a 15-20 small sample size luck even if it was not Kawhi level.
Eh, well, we can argue about the difference between a developed basketball skill and something that's instinctual and product of motor and physical talent, but it doesn't really matter. I agree he's very good at the things you mentioned, in any case. He is a good player, I don't disagree with that. I just do think he's probably consigned to the bench here in the long term. He could (if he stays healthy) continue to be a great 6th man for us though, and I hope he does.
It could be that Tari wants a contract similar to Jabari's, averaging ~$24.4m per - I wouldn't give him that either - unless RFA forced me to match it. I think consensus around here was $20m was on the high end of his potential contract and that MLE money ($15,091,000) is the low end. The reports have said the two sides were "Far Apart". That kinda leads me to believe Tari is asking for more than the numbers we've projected. I think Stone would have given him something in the neighborhood of what we have projected - that 15-20 range. He gave DFS nearly that ($12.7m) this past offseason as insurance against this situation. Looking at cap space projections - Only Brooklyn will have actual cap space and they will have less actual space than the NT-MLE, right around 14.1m, the MLE being $15,091,000 and the taxpayer version $6,083,000. IF the Rockets were offering him anything above the $15m mark, that's as much or more than literally any other team can give him next offseason, outside of Houston - without a sign and trade.
That's my thinking on the expectations too .... he's looking for a contract similar to Jabari and it's just not there for him. Looking at the cap space projections, there isn't a team out there that can make him that kind of offer without the Rockets being involved in a sign and trade. Only Brooklyn projects to have any practical cap space and that figure is actually lower than the NT-MLE. Kinda like the FVV situation this offseason - there wasn't a team who could offer him near the $40m+ figure he probably wanted and the Rockets were the only team that could give him more than MLE money. He had no leverage in that negotiating at all. Tari might find himself in that same situation. Other teams just can't give him what he's looking for. Players just don't have the same leverage when teams can't blindly spend above the cap (apron levels). They probably aren't very happy with the current state of team spending but as a fan I really like how it limits teams from building superteams like Miami / GSW / Brooklyn in the last CBA and even before that. Teams that are successful over long periods of time will be the teams that draft the best and manage their finances along the way rather than teams that buy mercenaries.
yeah 100% agree with you. I was interested to see how the new CBA was going to change spending habits. It appears the number of max players hasn't declined but what has the spending on mid level players. The stars still demand maximum money, but the middle class in the NBA has shrunk a bit. I think this is part of what Tari and players like him are facing - in addition to exactly what you said that the timing of available money on the market doesn't appear to be on Tari's side so he has less leverage than he thinks. It also probably doesn't help Tari that he is playing along side a player who does everything he does but is younger, better, and less injury prone so far. The team is likely assuming Amen is close to if not a max player next year and Tari is whatever we can afford after that. Feel bad for Tari - he would be someone most teams would definitely prioritize keeping if he played for most any other team but all world defense Amen, sharpshooting and versatile defender Jabari, and HOF legend KD are also forwards on this team AND Tari is competing in minutes with similar defensive specialists in DFS, Okogie, etc. Hoping the term "pressure makes diamonds" applies to him.
How is his stealing not a plus skill? He's probably top 5 in the league at causing turnovers, his steals per 36 last season was 2.5 and before that 2.3. Whilst I can accept he's definitely more an athleticism and instinct player, his ability to disrupt and cause turnovers is genuinely elite.
If he wants a Jabari like contract, then they should trade him because he's not even remotely as valuable. Having said that, I'm bummed out that they couldn't reach a deal. If you can get him at a fair price I absolutely want him back, but with his injury issues there's simply no way I would want to overpay for potentially damaged goods. My guess is that Stone probably felt the same way.
Yeah, fair enough. I mean he's very good at the things he's good at, and that's one of them. Sometimes I just wonder how much of it is basketball skills he developed and how much of it is just sheer gut instinct and incredible motor and long-ass arms. Again, it's not that I'm saying he's not a really good basketball player. He is.
They were probably far apart on TOTAL guaranteed compensation. With the way Stone and Eli (Stoneli?, Witstone?) get creative, it wouldn’t be a stretch that a lot of their offer wasn’t guaranteed, and even still being low AAV. Like I said before, I can see how Stone didn’t feel a need to budge much right now, preferring to wait and see how he does this year wrt availability.
I get where you're coming from, I just had to defend that one skill at least that is genuinely amongst the highest in the world. Now, I don't see a Kawhi level player in him either whilst saying that. I think we're talking more those fringe all-star level players who get 1-3 appearances at their peak. But I do think he deserves his respect as a genuinely elite defender, even if that may not make him a true all star.
You can't blame a guy for wanting a bigger role, he may have to go elsewhere to get it. We knew we couldn't keep all 7, and it would be a miracle to keep 4..... If he outplays any of the starters, you get rid of them....including guys like DFS..... DD
I really, really like Eason. But I wouldn’t really have offered more than anything above 25 million a year and I would’ve wanted a mutual option Maybe after the second year. I don’t know what to think. About the health stuff. It’s just hard to say. He hasn’t been reliable But that is not necessarily predictive. I am not knowledgeable Enough about his specific injury to talk about the odds and the risks of it being a problem. The data definitely shows he’s been an impact player both at the collegiate and the pro level. I definitely have some issues with his own court decision making on both ends. Specifically, the offensive end. Ultimately, I think letting him go to restricted free agency is a good thing. And I certainly think he could be a trade candidate. While this might, we can ask there is some duplicity with Amen and DFS. Although I do think we need more than just those two as far as wing defense. I’m not ready to count on Okogie. He is just probably valuing himself off of the Murray contract and that is OK, but I wouldn’t pay that much either. Eason, FVV, Capela, And whatever else can get us pretty close to A franchise changing player if it comes to it in the middle of the year. Obviously VanFleet would have to opt into his deal and the receiving team would have to be OK with that, but I think there are many franchisees that would accept it FVV Himself may just do it because he appreciates what we did for him, and the fact that he is gonna get paid this year for doing not very much other than being a vocal leader.
