I think there's a lot of hate for Tari for his injuries which he can't control and him wanting a bigger contract which is just normal, everybody wants more money. My concern with Tari is that he's a poor decision maker which leads to issues down the stretch of a game. Then, something that doesn't get talked about enough is his lack of versatility. Offensively, he's essential a corner 3 PF. That's fine but then he needs to be more defensively. Defensively, he's only really a wing defender. His style of defense is all about deflections and even though he's 6'8 he just hasn't been able to provide resistance on bigger guys the way that Dillon Brooks did. If he stays, I think he has to work on his strength and focus. Tari's true value and longevity will come from being a 3andD forward that can switch onto other positions without skipping a beat. Part of this is that the rockets are so weak offensively that it leads to some guys thinking they need to do too much on that end.
if the outcome was gonna be overpay, or sign and trade (for a couple 2nds), the front office failed by not trading him last offseason or at the deadline. But love the idea of a sign and trade for a resigned Ayo.
His mom completely went off on me on Twitter. What's pathetic is I didn't even go that hard after the guy nor was she even initially in the thread I was responding to. I simply said he wasn't worth a 100 mil contract because of how poorly he played over the final 3 months of the season. And I backed it up with his lousy stats, but that didn't seem to matter to the "MOMSTER" whose retort(aside from personal insults) was to cite his defense. And on that topic, his defense is good, but not spectacular, and certainly by itself not worthy of 25+ mil a season. Okogie can give us that for a fraction of the cost.
I'm fine with losing Tari for whatever. He pouted too much this season and was noticeably less motivated on the defensive side. (Amen is guilty of this too). It's as if he and Amen know that offense gets you paid, so they abandoned their Terror Twin mentality in search offensive numbers. Tari regressed in his most valuable skill (defensive energy). Tari also struggled with health again, and now his mom has decided to be the female version of Lavar Ball. In the beginning of the season, I thought he took the jump to elite shooter, but he regressed to the mean after going 1 for March from the 3-point line. He also struggles with finishing in traffic. Tari doesn't have a single elite skill, or even a single reliable skill at this point. He could be really good if he gets his attitude right and embraces his strengths, but that will be hard when his mom is in his ear telling him he's Simon, when he's really Garfunkel.
I will cut Tari and the rest of the team a little bit of slack on the pouting. I can't exactly blame the players for being moody by midseason given the way things were going. Especially the likes of Amen and Tari who were both playing for extensions. Yes, they're mostly to blame for their shortcomings on the court, but if you were stuck playing for a horrible coach like Ime, you'd probably feel the same level of despair and hopelessness that the moron on the sidelines could potentially cost you tens of millions of dollars thanks to his incompetence. I don't even wanna imagine what Reed's mindset will be going into next season. He'll be eligible for an extension in 2027, and he'll almost certainly be relegated to a minor bench role behind an aging Fred VanVleet who's playing on a bum knee.
This the nba is 2026 players like Anfernee Simons and Kyle Kuzma make $20+ mil a year, Tari will get minimum 20 mil
I hope we get him at a discount rate, if not more than happy to kove him for a more consistent piece and let him be someone else's bonehead.
The NBA in 2026 also has to contend with the aprons. Teams can no longer hand out deals like that to average players if they hope to compete for a title.
That’s not really accurate. The aprons make bad contracts more painful, but they don’t stop teams from paying good young rotation players. If anything, rookie-scale players who are already productive become more valuable because teams need controllable talent. Tari isn’t being paid like a random average player. He’s a 24-year-old wing/forward who defends, rebounds, creates chaos, and fits next to stars without needing the ball. In the current NBA, that archetype gets paid.
With his hustle and intangibles, I could live with his flaws if he could score at the rim with consistency. Never saw anyone miss so many gimme's at the rim.
It’s pretty simple. You wait to see what kind of offers he receives and then you decide if it makes sense to keep him. Some team with cap space will probably give him an offer we won’t want to match. But, we will see. Being stuck with DFS probably hurts Easons chances of remaining with the Rockets.
Rockets took the risk of not extending him, just for him to have about the worst possible outcome season (injured, inconsistent, no growth, low BBIQ) and we STILL HAVE TO OVERPAY ?
I'm ready to move on. Tired of his inconsistency, injuries, knucklehead plays, and bad rim finishing for a 6'8" plus wingspan player. I know he's still a positive impact guy despite all of that, but I don't like his fit on our roster, especially on the kind of contract he's looking for. I'd see if there's a sign-and-trade out there to find him a home. If one of the bad teams likes him enough that they would start him, maybe something to move up into the beginning of the 2nd round and get a decent bench player back. Memphis or Sacramento maybe?
Let him test the market, you can match a reasonable offer, but I'm not investing big money into him. Too injured, too inconsistent, too out of control on the court. Likely let him walk imo.
Spot on….TRADE him before his next injury turns him into DFS. Udoka loves him so expect a 3 year 70 million contract.
Tari and Amen were dogging it all year on defense. I blame Ime for a lot, but a professional making millions with an incentive of a future 9-figure contract should be self-motivated, regardless of the coach. Amen gets more leeway because he was not the consistently injured liability Tari was, and Amen made steps forward on offense instead of backwards.
