tbf peak Corey Brewer would be good value at the 17th pick. He only got comically bad as the team aged into sour milk
13. Tari Eason | F | LSU | DOB: May 10, 2001 (Age: 21) | 6-8 | 220 LBS | Hometown: Los Angeles STRENGTHS Had a breakout sophomore season. Was considered a high-level four-star recruit out of high school before committing to Cincinnati. Made the AAC All-Freshman team in 2021 before deciding to transfer to LSU, where he was terrific. Was among the most productive two-way players in the country, earning first-team All-SEC honors as well as the SEC Sixth Man of the Year award. Eason has arguably a better frame than any other player in the 2022 NBA Draft. Came into the NBA Draft Combine at 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan and a near-9-foot standing reach. Also has the biggest hands in the 2022 NBA Draft class. This is the closest physical profile to Kawhi Leonard since Kawhi entered the league over a decade ago. And Eason knows how to use it too. He’s physically all sorts of strong and has real, functional athleticism that intersects that strength with explosiveness and quickness. Throws down some absurd, powerful dunks both in transition and in the half court. Puts them down almost always with one hand, a function of having those enormous hands that allow him to palm the ball like a tennis ball. Plays through contact with ease. Doesn’t only absorb it though; often initiates it. Also, plays hard. Motor is constantly running. He is a superb defender, first and foremost. Extremely switchable. Think he has one through five upside. You can’t displace him at all as a driver. He’s stronger than you are almost all the time, and he’s quick enough to beat you to the spot. So disruptive with his hands on your dribble. If you put the ball in front of him, he might snatch it. Uses his length well to swallow up smaller drivers, then to contest shots. Does a great job of keeping his off arm high to block vision at the rim and passing lanes. Ridiculous with his closeouts. Not only does he contest and block shots with his size, but he also has great instincts and can stay down and defend to cut off driving lanes when they attack his closeout. Will make killer rotations that only someone with his length and athleticism could impact. Contests jumpers as last-ditch efforts after his teammates get beat. Constantly available at the rim rotating from the weak side. And again, never stops playing. Motor is very high level. Never dead in transition. Aggressively tries to make plays in doubles or digs. Because his hands are so big and strong, if he gets a piece of the ball, he’s taking it away. The epitome of a defensive playmaker. Needs to moderate some of his wilder tendencies, but he has legitimate All-Defense upside in the right scheme and with some development. He’ll then transition that defense to offense with terrific speed. Gets out in transition on pick-sixes and grab-and-gos and quickly creates offense. Was a top-25 transition player in the country in terms of points per game, per Synergy. One of the best transition players in the class, Eason actually drives transition opportunities as opposed to being along for the ride. An absolute freight train. Powerful driver. Can drive left occasionally, but he’s right-hand dominant and always trying to get back to that side. Knows how to use his stride length to extend past. Has no problem going right into anyone guarding him because he’s stronger than them and going to move them. And he’s not moving guards. Powered up through guys like Arkansas’ Jaylin Williams. Lived at the foul line in college because of it, averaging nearly six free throws per game while playing 24 minutes. Always gets shots up to the rim that have a chance to fall. A monster driver and physical presence. Made 55 percent of his shots at the rim in the half court, a good number for someone who was self-creating almost all his looks and drawing a ton of fouls. Doesn’t have a ton of in-between game but has a burgeoning floater off a Euro step that is occasionally interesting. Euro move is pretty good, especially for someone this big in the half court. WEAKNESSES Doesn’t seem to always make the right play. There are some basketball IQ questions. It’s all aggressiveness with his motor, all the time. Very little space for him when it comes to slowing down. Can decelerate, but he’s not processing and making high-level half-court kickouts or anything. He’s trying to get to the basket and finish. Teams can load up the paint against him without a ton of concern about him hurting them on a kickout. Made very few live-dribble half-court passes and finished with a one-to- two assist-to-turnover rate. Also wonder if his total lack of left hand hinders him here. Basically, always trying to get back to his right. Gets stripped regularly going left. So strong and physical as a right-handed driver that teams might struggle to play him toward his left, but he’s so uncomfortable with it that it feels like he can’t even get to a stepback jumper going back to his left, typically a very comfortable style of pull-up from a right-handed shooter. Another issue is that the ball comes off his right shoulder, meaning he’s a significant threat to get swatted every time he tries to pull up going left. I’m mixed on Eason’s jumper. He very clearly has real touch. Made 80 percent of his foul shots and has some impressive touch finishes in his repertoire. Also made 36 percent of his 3-pointers. But has some flaws to work through in order to be effective at the NBA level. It’s a bit of a catapult-y shot, where the ball is coming up directly off his right shoulder. It’s a very low load point that doesn’t necessarily bode well toward him being able to make anything in the way of consistent pull-ups. Also takes him significant time to load into his shot off the catch. Not in any way a movement shooter; he absolutely needs to be spotting up. Seems to be searching for the seams when he catches and takes an extra split second to find them. If he gets rushed in any way, the shot flattens out, and the trajectory gets a bit low. In the midrange, where he’s always going to be contested in some way off the bounce, he seems to lose some of his touch and throws up a hard ball at the rim. Seems to have a bit of off-hand interaction because the ball seems to drift and spin to the right as he shoots it. Think he needs to do some significant mechanical work to get the most out of his jumper in his career. Will take some real work with a trainer. Will also note there is a real wild tendency to his game that might be a bit hard to rein in. Very turnover prone because he’s always trying to make things happen. Almost always the primary guy who is pushing the tempo and the energy of the game when he’s on the court. How will that translate toward slotting in more as an impact role player early in his career, especially if the shooting remains concerning? Also has an over-aggressiveness defensively as a playmaker that can sometimes play against his team’s best wishes. He’s similar to someone like Matisse Thybulle in that way, where the overall impact is very positive but can sometimes lead to negative things happening. SUMMARY Eason is certainly one of the more confounding players in this draft class. His frame and mix of athleticism and power gives him an exceptionally high upside in the right situation. But he has some significant skill flaws that will currently hinder him from reaching it. His jumper is not consistent enough and doesn’t have much of a chance in pull-up situations within its current iteration. He needs to slow down and make better passing reads consistently. But defensively, the ceiling is enormous, and offensively, he’s a terrific driver who has enough touch to possibly project him toward being a good shooter down the road. Hopefully, Eason gets drafted by a team that has a strong developmental plan for him to get the most out of his tools because his tools are ridiculous. In many ways, it’s all going to be about him, his work ethic and his willingness to fix his flaws. I think the floor is high enough for him with his defense that I would take him in the top half of the first round. But he’s going to be more polarizing than a player with these kinds of elite physical tools and monstrous production should be.
https://www.si.com/nba/draft-tracker?config=latest B+ Tari Eason | F | LSU Eason is a pretty perfect fit for Houston, a team that strongly values his analytical profile and has time and again proven willing to take big swings on talent. He’s a versatile defender with a ton of physical ability, and he’ll fit nicely with the Rockets in theory, where he won’t have to create a ton of offense and can be optimized as a high-energy forward next to Jabari Smith and Jalen Green. While I have some skepticism about where his upside really lies, Eason made more sense in Houston than anywhere else in his range. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...first-round-wraps-up-with-surprises-all-over/ 17. Houston Rockets (via Nets): PF Tari Eason, LSU Eason was a breakout star at LSU after transferring following a so-so first season at Cincinnati. He's a versatile frontcourt option who can guard multiple positions and punish defenses in transition opportunities. With the Rockets he can play with fellow SEC standout Jabari Smith as a defensive frontcourt. My only reservation is I think there were more talented players available here for a team that is looking to get back to respectability. Grade: B https://theathletic.com/3380606/2022/06/23/nba-draft-grades-analysis-2022-vecenie-hollinger/ 17. Houston Rockets (from Brooklyn Nets) Tari Eason | 6-foot-8, forward | 21 years old, sophomore | LSU Vecenie’s ranking: 13. Eason is one of the more confounding players in this draft class. His frame and mix of athleticism and power gives him an exceptionally high upside in the right situation. But he has some significant skill flaws that will hinder him from reaching it until they improve. His jumper is not consistent enough and doesn’t have much of a chance in pull-up situations in its current iteration. He needs to slow down and make better passing reads consistently. But defensively, the ceiling is enormous, and offensively, he’s a terrific driver who has enough touch to possibly project toward being a good shooter down the road Hollinger’s team fit: Eason was always a likely candidate for Houston at 17 given how well his style fits the Rockets up-tempo and occasionally wild play. Eason’s size and defensive ability also fit well on a Houston team that needs more quality individual defenders, although the addition of Jabari Smith Jr. with the No. 3 pick may limit Eason’s ability to play smallball 4. Hollinger would have picked … TyTy Washington What Tari Eason brings to the Houston Rockets: ‘His upside is tremendous’ https://theathletic.com/3373958/2022/06/23/tari-eason-nba-draft/
I have heard this a lot. Brewer is 6’9” with a 6’9” wingspan and average sized hands and average feet side to side. Eason is 6’8” with a 7’2.5” wingspan and massive hands. He also moves very well with his feet. While Eason clearly doesn’t have the best fundamentals, he does have a better looking shot than Brewer. I do agree with the idea that the difference between him being a bench player and a good starter will be his outside shooting.
