The situation with Tari Eason is interesting to me. On one hand you’ve got the awful stretch, the injury concerns, the potential high salary, the chippiness and arguements going on. On the other hand, I think he’s a lot more difficult to replace and impactful than people think. The shot looks to be developing nicely, despite the bad run. His defensive versatility, speed, and ball pressure is very much needed. I’ll get push back on this, but his functional handle to get to spots is improving. What he does with it once he’s there is still a roll of the dice but there have been flashes. Common to think of 24 year olds as finished products but I’ve seen a lot of 3&D guys make big jumps between age 24-27. We’ve got a recent example with Dillon Brooks getting run out of Memphis due to shot selection, missed shots, and vibes only for that to change real quick. I would be pretty pessimistic about our chances at a chip if we lost Tari for nothing in free agency, interested to see how that goes.
It's the one issue we've got to deal with that could have the most variance I think. On the one hand, that stretch plus injuries plus his attitude coming in suggest a discount for us, on the other hand the flashes he's had and some of this actual performance since being drafted (especially as a defensive playmaker) could mean somebody else tries to throw the bag at him. I honestly would not want to predict an outcome on that one, though as a fan I hope we retain him.
I'm not too concerned with Tari's pending RFA. Since 2020 only 4 players have had teams make an offer and in 3 of those cases, the team with his rights matched, in the other the teams worked out a S&T. Also there have only been 3 players change teams via sign and trade in that span. RFA rules are built to discourage offer sheets / player movement. I do wonder if this year might be a little different because there isn't much quality in the whole of the free agent market, maybe teams are more willing to tie up their cap space for restricted free agents with the lack of quality otherwise.
Those mental issues are flying under the radar here, he only talked about it recently that he needed a Player Meeting to help him sort things out.. Mentioning his father's passing as sort of what bugged him......etc.
What are we gonna do about this bench though? Need some guys who can score more than a combined 20pts. Minny’s bench outscored ours by 30pts last night
It doesn't matter as long as Ime is here. No need to waste money when you know your team can't go anywhere due to coaching
losing him for nothing is not an option. And there’s every reason to think that he’ll play better next season if the contract is resolved. That includes more consistent shooting, which I believe is real. All that said, he’s played a selfish brand of basketball this year that many times has hurt the team. I’m not even talking about his occasional bone-head plays. That’s gonna happen with Tari. Im talking about conscience decisions to keep the ball when he should be passing the ball. Dribbling the air out of the ball. Going full hero ball when there are guys with open looks. I’ve seen it so much this year, including last night, and it always ends ugly. He’s got to cut that sh#t out.
There is a goat debate. And the actual goat of basketball is Nikola Jokic. He has by far and away the best statistics. Never played with another all star or all nba player until this season. It’s hard to win without help even Jordan didn’t do it and Jokic was soo good he won one. Plus with rule changes and three point increases it’s so much harder to win now as players are so much better. Humans evolve and sports evolve to say Jordan is the goat of basketball still means you don’t believe either thing is happening which is crazy. 5 years from now goat is probably Wemby.
It’s not potential, Jokic has put up 3 of the 5 best seasons in nba history. It’s facts. You can’t just say rings cuz bill Russell will always be the goat. Eventually it just gets harder to win.
If he can't stop being a selfish boneheaded moron he needs to ride the pine and realise how easily shutting him down completely will ruin any chance of anybody giving him a bag. Last night was ridiculous.
That's just his game, that's a huge reason why he doesn't belong in the starting lineup, taking shots away from better options, but coming off the bench - the bench needs scoring punch and he can provide that, somewhat inefficiently - He's not taking shots away from the starters (as much) in that role.
I do think part of his game is the boneheadedness, but we've clearly seen him be significantly less selfish in the past. It's the main thing causing him to suck ass, he's not playing for the team he's playing for himself to try and get a bigger bag and ****ing it up spectacularly.
I’m really curious as to what the thought process behind signing that contract was, especially for that long. Coaching can be a fickle job - you fit the roster one season completely lose them the next. What did Udoka show to convince them he can take them to a championship over the next 6 years whatever roster they give him? Truly bonkers to me.
He got the contact due to the regular season win total last season. That was enough to get them to buy into his bullshit and he got his bag. They should have known better, but Ime is a good con man.
