Something most are overlooking here is the fact that league wide, there isn't a lot of cap space out there. Those teams with cap space are highly unlikely to tie up that space on Tari only to have the Rockets match or twist their arm in a sign and trade. Those teams are fishing for bigger fish. If a team makes an offer for Tari, it's highly likely its an MLE.
All anybody could have offered Fred last year was the MLE, didn't stop us from offering him 10 million more per. Not one bit.
Correct .... It really didn't surprise me that they did it as for teams over the cap, that's fairly common practice to preserve cap space "above the cap." The alternative is not being able to match salaries without sending guys you want to keep out. It's a Daryl Morey cap manipulation special. Yes. it backfired .... but if a trade came along and the team had no salary to match - we'd have been calling them cheap bastards. Looking at last years cap, Stone used pretty much every dollar available to him to assemble the roster - those injuries blew the whole thing up but if you look at the plan he had laid out, the finances were well managed and in some alternate plane of reality where the injuries didn't happen - they are still playing right now. I think they'll get Fred's cap number down this year to a more appropriate figure - they'll be able to justify playing him as a backup or still have a mid sized salary to move. He'll decline the $25m option and sign a 3/$45m or something close to that. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit .... but this is generally how teams think about space over the cap. You either preserve it with players bird rights or you don't and lose that flexibility.
I hope some team with a late #1 pick wants him enough to offer the full MLE and give up that late pick in a sign and trade .... I really don't think resigning him here is a good idea.
Spoiler I’m sorry, Tari is not a $20M+ player https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...en-lebron-reaves-bobby-marks-top-20-contracts 4. Tari Eason, Rockets The deal I'd offer: Four years, $85.1 million. Durant's extension last offseason gives Houston the flexibility to re-sign Eason, avoid the second apron and still fill out their roster with minimum signings. Eason's $11 million first-year salary is more than his qualifying offer. Best fits: Houston, Chicago A new contract for Eason probably puts Houston over the luxury tax for a second consecutive season, but the 25-year-old wing received the ultimate backing from GM Rafael Stone after the season. "I do want to compliment him on his level of fearless fight, every game," Stone told Space City Home Network. "You don't worry that Tari is not going to compete, and I love that about him. At its core, that's who we as an organization are and want to continue to be. I just think he fits us really well." With Durant sidelined for most of the first round, Eason started four games, averaging 13.4 points (on 48% shooting) and 6.7 rebounds. From Feb. 1 to the end of the regular season, Eason had averaged 9.2 points on 38% shooting and 26% from 3. Defensively in the playoffs, he held LeBron James to 44.7% from the field on 163 possessions. His others: 1. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers: The deal I'd offer: One year, $30 million. The contract includes a full no-trade clause. 2. Norman Powell, Miami Heat: The deal I'd offer: Three years, $65 million 3. CJ McCollum, Atlanta Hawks: The deal I'd offer: Two years, $43 million 4. Coby White, Charlotte Hornets: The deal I'd offer: Three years, $54 million 5. Ayo Dosunmu, Minnesota Timberwolves: The deal I'd offer: Three years, $51 million 6. Rui Hachimura, Lakers: The deal I'd offer: Four years, $64 million 7. Tobias Harris, Detroit Pistons: The deal I'd offer: Two years, $38 million 8. Kelly Oubre Jr., Philadelphia 76ers: The deal I'd offer: Three years, $40.5 million 11. Quentin Grimes, 76ers: The deal I'd offer: Two years, $30 million
At this point I honestly don't even think he's worth that much. He tanked his own value this season with that massive slump and yet again missing a quarter of the season with injury. When you look at his overall production, everything is down despite his minutes going up, except for his 3P shooting and free throw percentages (barely). His scoring efficiency this season overall was atrocious; a 51.4% true shooting isn't going to cut it. I'm offering him just over the non-taxpayer MLE, and if he doesn't like it he can bring back an offer sheet and we'll match or sign & trade. Something like four years $70M or just a tad over that. I also have a gut feeling the relationship is kind of broken at this point, so I'm assuming we'll be trading him within a year or so regardless. Which means we need to be maximizing his value per dollar, not worrying too much about his feelings on it.
Tari's health and his shot are huge question marks. He also can't dribble or pass like a wing, but he's undersized as a PF. And he's already 25, which should be his prime. I would just sit back and wait for someone else to make an offer - don't bid against yourself.
the only problem with that is matching an overpaid offer is unacceptable and losing him for nothing is unacceptable. I do think there are teams with cap space that will offer $25 mil. That would suck.
I'm okay to give Tari 20M per. I'd make the 4th and the 5th years team option though. His health is still too risky.
I don't think any team will overpay for Tari Eason. I don't think any team looks at him as the missing piece. Let the marketplace do the negotiating for you.
I worry about Tari's injuries this year more than I did as it was a lot of nagging things instead of Tari missing a lot of games while rehabbing from one single injury. That said, Tari is about the same size as or bigger than almost half of the NBA starting PFs. The mid-range ineptitude was a big scary factor as it had looked like he had made decent strides the year before in that area before he started to have to load manage. Three point shot is about the same as JSJ's other than JSJ having a quicker release. Considering Tari's defense, I'm still fine for a 20M starting value, but would want team options after year 2 or 3. If he gets healthy, he's likely going to easily be worth well over 20M. If he's hurt, it is worth the gamble as the Rockets just don't have safe options that give the Rockets a chance at winning anytime soon. Granted, I'm fine taking chances on injury-prone players on short contracts in which Rockets don't have reasonable chances of getting similarly skilled players with great health for same price.
Can't just let him walk. $20M isn't too bad and that's easily tradeable down the line. If we trade for someone like Giannis or Jaylen Brown for example we'd have to piece together around $60M in salary and having big chunks like that makes the math a lot easier. We were paying Ryan Anderson that when the cap was way way lower.
