What are Tari Eason's and Jabari Smith's Rookie Extensions going to look like?

4 years 80 for Tari, unless he really goes off and starts this year. 4 years 100.

Bari gets dealt. Signs a 3 year 40

 

However it needs to look.

 

Honestly the warts don’t matter at all, they are just opportunities for more improvement. His overall net impact in extended minutes is why he should start and that includes the negative effects of his warts. We don’t have any players whatsoever without warts btw.

There are no players in NBA history who play his level of defense, shoot 3’s above league average (let’s say 38% I projected) and elite at rebounding and stocks for their position… and they’re just a bench or energy guy. It just doesn’t happen.

The point is he’s graduated from that already. He absolutely mastered being the 6th man in college and NBA. He did that because that’s how you earn a starting spot. The test is over. To now say that he’s an energy because he ACED the assignment we gave him is not logical, not based on merit at all.

Tari is not perfect but he’s the most perfect fit for the job. Why would we leave his energy for the bench when our starters are struggling with energy early in the game? Let’s get energy for the starters. Obviously more important than bench energy.

 

I’m just saying it would be silly to be in such a hurry. He is coming off an injury and starting him over Jabari would unnecessarily set Jabari back in his development. Starting for Tari is not as important as getting the appropriate minutes for our future core players of which I count Amen, Jabari, Tari, Sengun and Jalen. The real problem with the rotation is not Jabari, it’s Brooks and FVV, because our goal is not to win a championship this year, but to progress towards that goal by developing our core. If you want to be impatient, be impatient with FVV and Brooks who are holding the rest of the team back.

 

Yeah no need to hurry. I’d wait another 10 games.

I’m not a fan of starting him over Jabari, personally I’d start Tari over Brooks. I believe Jabari is just having a shaky start and we can’t downgrade our shooting that much. Jabari is a more feared shooter, so he creates more space than Tari.

 

Amen needs to start before Tari. As much as I love Tari, Amen is the better perimeter defender and we need him to guard the other teams best perimeter player from the get go. I don’t think we differ to much in our opinions on the Rockets and what their future should look like, just need to convince Ime.

 

Tari gets what Jaden McDaniels got.

Jabari can get the max for all I care, as long as he’s not a Rocket.

 

Jabari has higher volume but is shooting .29% on threes and Tari is shooting .40% on threes, in addition to being a better overall player.

Amen can play 1-4 but was drafted as a PG and played it for his career before the NBA. He can get minutes anywhere and will eventually take over for Fred.

We shouldn't be afraid to let the best players play, earn minutes and start regardless of draft position or contract. Play and start guys making the most impact on winning imo.

 

So put Amen in for FVV and Tari in for Brooks. Then we will have our best 5 players of the future learning to play together. Jabari shot much better from 3 last year and you’re making all these judgements after 9 games. If Jabari doesn’t turn around his play by the deadline then maybe you think about it. The best move right now is to replace Brooks with Amen and when FVV goes out move Amen to PG, Tari to Pf and Brooks to SF. Every effort should be made to get Amen and Tari 30+ mins a game. Amen needs to start so he can hold down the other teams best scorer like Doncic and Brunson which he already demonstrated he can do. Give him the whole game against SGA and I guarantee he wouldn’t be scoring 30 pts on great efficiency. We are not a half court team, so why are we emphasizing that?

 

I'm fine with that lineup, also Tari was more impactful and better overall than Jabari and Brooks last year before injury imo, you have seasons of data not just 9 games. And he's also gotten better

Amen can play almost any position on the floor, I'm a big fan so you can plug him in how you like. FVV was arguably our best player for the season after Sengun went down and has started playing better. But I'd be okay with who is playing well now and adjusting minutes based on who's winning games currently.

And if we're being honest Tari has played better than Amen as well so far this season. Amen has the most talent on the team IMO and will definitely be there as a top pick. But I'm good with giving him extended minutes and adjusting the lineup based on who's playing the best as a trend also.

The question is can he run the offense better than Fred, which I'm not sure of yet, but perhaps with additional seasons, but we'll see how things go.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2025.html

 

Fred is running the offense putridly. What also pisses me off, is that it looks like Sheppard is being trained to run it the same way. Ime needs to hand over the offense to somebody else.

 

He was definitely playing poorly I agree, but he has recently gotten better. And despite our shooting, our offensive rating has ranged around the top 10 in the league, 12th currently, as well as a top 5-10 defense.

Those will level out as the season progresses IMO. But right now our young PGs aren't as good as Fred running the offense imo, which is normal. So I think riding it out and letting the averages return to the mean is the best, and adjusting minutes and even starters based on who's the most impactful to winning as a trend.

 

Bumping this thread now that we have more data.

For Tari, I think off the top it should be something like 4 years/$90 million, but I could see him asking for similar to Trey Murphy's 4 year/$112 million. I have trouble seeing him asking for or getting more than that this off-season with his injury troubles and still coming off the bench

Jabari is so much harder to place. I think there's a solid chance we let him just go test RFA. Teams seem like they hand out big contracts like candy to top 5 picks but I don't think he's played well enough to earn a big contract. But he's still a nice piece, adds a lot of flexibility, most teams would want a player like him. On principal I doubt they give him a lower contract than Tari if the extension happens this off-season. I'm not opposed to 4 years/$80. Maybe push to 4 years/$90 like I suggested for Tari. Much beyond that I'm letting it roll to RFA I think. If he plays well enough to warrant more and we gambled wrong I think that's a good problem to have honestly .

Anyways curious what everyone else is at. I think some of the numbers thrown out for Jabari in this thread aren't really facing reality compared to what most top 5 picks that start make, while also I think everyone's slightly overshooting Tari. Although Tari has had more injury problems since this thread

 

I think Jabari gets more money overall than Tari--certainly in years--due to questions about Tari's leg and availability. I'd like to see the Rockets play it safe with Tari and give him a shorter deal, though I'm okay if the AAV is a little bit higher than Jabari's.

I would try to get both of them on declining contracts similar to Brooks' deal. For Tari, I think I'd offer something like three years at $28M / $25M / $22M ($75M total value). For Jabari, I'd offer $30M / $28M / $26M / $24M / $22M. ($130M total value). The declining deals will help us when we have to hand a big contract to Amen and potentially extend Jalen again in a couple of years.

 

I actually think Tari is way more difficult to place. Bari’s going to push for 5/150 like Murphy/Johnson/etc. and probably will get close to it. Tari, on the other hand, may want to play another season to pump up his value ahead of RFA.

 

I think they both sign extensions. Even if Stone intends to trade them, good young players locked up on long term contracts are valuable.

As far as the money, you have to frame it. Max money is ~$45MM/yr, Sengun only got ~$37MM/yr so they won't get that high. The MLE in 2026 will be ~$15MM, they won't go that low.

I think the going rate for good young starting caliber players is $20-$30MM/yr. That's what they both are (regardless of if they start for this team, teams know what they are).

My guess is they sign for a combined ~$50MM/yr. The breakdown of who gets more, and how many years will just come down to negotiations. But, I don't think the rockets will choose to not sign one of them because of a $23MM/yr vs $26MM/yr type of discrepancy.

There is a chance they get them on a discount because neither is a high volume scorer or high percentage 3pt shooter, things that typically lead to higher contracts. But, I wouldn't hold my breath for a couple $15MM/yr type contracts. I think it's more likely we see some unique contract structures related to games played, wins, or defensive awards.

 

Tari - 4 yr 100

Jabari - 5 yr 160m

 

Tari I think is the easier negotiation. His unusual and open-ended injury issues mean he will be motivated to lock in generational wealth (he's making only $3M right now), this organization/coaching staff obviously values him, and even though he's very good and talented enough to start - he's not really a starter type player, stylistically. Makes more sense as an elite 6th man, which is what he's been everywhere he's played. I see an agreement on something like $100M/5 to get him to the symbolic 9 figure payday. Probably some injury protections in there too.

Jabari should be an easy negotiation for a little less than what the Jalen Johnson / Jalen Suggs level guys got, so like $135M/5. That's great money for a 4th or 5th starter, whereas Johnson and Suggs are 2nd or 3rd best guys on competitive teams right now. But the challenge with Jabari is - no way he signs unless it's clear that he is a locked in starter. Which means Dillon has to be moved. Timing that with the Jabari negotiation hanging over it will be hard.

 

I love Tari as much as the next guy unless he suddenly improves his decision making and not rely on instinct as much, but right now he shouldn’t get more than 15 million a year. Jabari is still a wait and see.