Tari Eason says he wants to start

I did a double take when he dunked during a half court set last night. Do more of that Tari!

 

It wasn't like those times (1 each) when Matt Bullard and Ryan Anderson paused at the 3-point line, said to himself, "Eff it," and drove straight in for a dunk instead. Which was like the day your cat actually speaks to you: "Look, do I have to spell it out? F-o-o-d."

But it opened the eyes nevertheless.

 

Checks notes, Tari is the 2nd most efficient scorer in the rotation and scores at the 4th fastest rate.

PJ Tucker and Trevor Ariza were generally horribly inefficient for their careers and generally scored less. Ariza in his prime was a better overall player than Eason is now. Tari will likely be a better 3 and D player in his peak than both of them, and it will be because he is aggressive AF while Ariza and PJ were passive players.

I get Eason has some ugly games. Overall, his positives greatly outweigh the negatives.

 

That style of play is not something I would trust in the clutch. When the pace slows down and each opportunity is crucial his possession maxing is more than offset by mistakes, IMO. There simply aren't enough possessions to max in those situations. I've always supported Tari and I'm super glad he's getting to start, but his elite potential has been hampered by poor bball IQ on both ends. I thought these mistakes would disappear with experience but it's still just as bad this year. He's still a positive player, but he could be the next Shawn Marion if he just played smarter.

Shane Battier was the anti-Tari. Pedestrian numbers, but played smart the entire game. He would never leave his man open on the 3pt line to help when we are only up by two in the clutch. He would not take a shot at the end of a quarter with time left on the clock when we could run it down to the buzzer. He rarely committed live ball turnovers. That is a type of possession maxing of its own.

 

Ah yes Shane Battier the teflon don. SB rarely committed mistakes but he made few positive moves as well.

Eason has low bball IQ but if he had high bball IQ he would literally be the next Kawhi. He fits the starting lineup the best cuz he is a great defender, has accurate 3 pt shooting and is also a good rebounder. Maybe he would be less effective in a half court setting but thats what we have Sengun and KD for.

 

Kawhi is a 25+ ppg scorer primarily in iso. His midrange post ups are up there with the best of them. Tari will never have that in his bag. He doesn't have a go to move at all. That's why I compared him to Marion, someone who could score 20+ ppg but mostly off-ball.

 

Tari is clearly better than Okogie. But I trust Okogie more in crunch time. I think Udoka feels the same.

 

Definitely agree that the positives outweigh the negatives overall, but I do want to point out that the only reason he's scoring efficiently this season is because he's way, way over his head on the 3P%. His career TS% is only 54.8% which would be well below average league-wide.

Even if he's made major improvements on his 3P shot, I still don't think we can realistically expect him to stay much over 40% moving forward, if at all. So it's likely his scoring efficiency will end up being around league average or a little bit above that.

He'll still be a good, valuable player due to his rebounding and defense, but he'll probably never be great at finishing around the rim. My biggest question moving forward is, is he more of 36%, 38%, or 40% three point shooter? That will be the difference between whether he's a good roleplayer versus an elite one.

 

If I thought Tari could stay on the court, I wouldn’t be pushing for another SG. His 3 pt shooting looks to be a permanent thing. His defense is incredible, but sometimes out of control. I didn’t think it was the right idea, but I now think he should be starting at the 2 the rest of the year (IF healthy).

 

Empirically, on what has happened in the clutch

Tari is the most efficient shooter on the Rockets, and his turnover issue disappears while he can still rebound and steal the ball. The Rockets suck in the clutch with him on the court, but that is a team-wide issue for which only Reed is immune. Tari still can't finish at the rim at an above-average rate, so there is that to hate on Tari in the clutch.

With Okogie, the defense is fantastic. OKC defense good in the clutch with Okogie on the floor. Now the offense...They are Washington bad. Not Wizards. That would be insulting to the Wizards. Generals with a lead on the Globetrotters bad. Not sure why you think having Okogie's man break up every play, double team KD would be beneficial in clutch time. Okogie has the worst total +/- of any player on a winning team.

Considering that the Rockets are the worst* team in the clutch despite having Durant, I don't think appealing to the authorithy of Udoka is the way to go here.

*performance in clutch versus not in clutch

 

I dont think he's a "low IQ" player honestly. You have to remember out of all of the "young core" he probably has the least amount of time on the court. If he had the leash that Jabari, Jalen or Sengun has had, development wise. He would be further along.

 

It is not all on the coaching staff. They want to play him a lot. He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy.

 

I have no data to support my claim. Just eye test and unreliable memories. I just remember Okogie doing some clutch defensive plays and grabbing crucial rebounds. And he doesn't make dumb mistakes. I wasn't "appealing to Udoka's authority." LOL. I have been very critical of him. He would sacrifice creativity for the sake of mistake-aversion. Okogie is the kind of guy he would trust.

 

No data either but I would agree with that.

 

fwiw: one relevant memory to retain, versus PHI, Okogie got the start, but Tari got the OT. Tari nailed 2 crucial threes in regulation clutch time, and clamped down Paul George in an early OT possession.

 

Shane was hella smart. He did some dumb sh*t time to time though. That Tari play did kill me though.

 

It’s funny how much pass Bari gets compared to Tari lol. Tari is waaaay ahead in terms of handling and defensive impact. Yet he cannot do some wild s*** but Bari can.

“if Bari gets his handle right he is a legit starrrr” but “the best path for Tari is to get back to his lane and be a role player”

 

Ha, the Philly game was the one game I didn't get to watch.

 

Lol, totally. I rotate through multiple yells:

"No", when I'm trying to prevent it from happening, even before he's taken a dribble.

"Pass", when I hope to safely steer him away from the impending doom, after he starts to take the first penetration dribble.

"Oh great", when I've given up hope and just wait to see what the damage is, after he's committed himself.

 

Tari can swing the love/hate pendulum faster than any player on the team... love, hate and love again, all in a span of a single minute.