{"id":104591,"date":"2024-11-02T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=104591"},"modified":"2024-11-02T04:30:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T08:30:26","slug":"rockets-eason-no-easing-in-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/02\/rockets-eason-no-easing-in-required\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets&#8217; Eason: No Easing In Required"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are off to a mixed start in 2024-25. One constant has been the play of returning third-year Rockets player <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/easonta01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tari Eason<\/a>. He may not have the theoretical potential of some other <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/01\/rockets-player-comp-former-dpoy-candidate\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">recent Rockets draft picks<\/a>, but Houston&#8217;s opponents are going to see a lot of Eason this season, and they probably won&#8217;t enjoy it. Houston fans, on the other hand, will love every second of it.<\/p>\n<h2>Rockets&#8217; Eason: No Easing In Required<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tari Eason 2023-24 FULL Season Highlights | Houston Rockets\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F3fwc7mafi4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eason was the Rockets&#8217; 17th pick in the 2022 draft. After an encouraging rookie season noted for his defense, for which he received All-Rookie Second Team honors, he was sidelined by injury for most of his sophomore campaign. Eason averaged 9.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in 2023-24 but played only 22 games.<\/p>\n<p>Technically, he was eased in a little this season, with limited <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/08\/rockets-preseason-game-1-overreactions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">preseason<\/a> play and under 13 minutes in the Rockets\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/24\/why-rockets-opening-loss-to-hornets-strings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">first game<\/a> against the Hornets. But since then, Eason has been one of the team&#8217;s key contributors off the bench. It may come as no surprise that head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/udokaim01c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ime Udoka<\/a> prefers the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/24\/projecting-the-rockets-defense-in-year-2-of-ime-udoka\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">defensively<\/a> rather than offensively-oriented players off his bench. Of course, his theoretical scoring options haven&#8217;t started the season scorching the nets.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitmca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Whitmore<\/a> finally made his first three-pointer of the season against the Dallas Mavericks in the fifth game. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/28\/rockets-player-comp-a-finals-mvp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">His shot<\/a> should come around as the season progresses, but if he isn&#8217;t shooting well, then as good of a finisher as he is, he doesn&#8217;t offer much improvement in that regard over Eason. Eason might miss a few more easy ones at the rim, but that&#8217;s just to invoke the spirit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/malonmo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Moses Malone<\/a> so he can consume the offensive rebound.<\/p>\n<p>The other nominal scorer coming off the bench for the Rockets is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/19\/will-reed-sheppard-be-among-best-ever-rockets-rookies\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">rookie<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sheppre01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reed Sheppard<\/a>. He&#8217;s looked overly cautious to start the season, but an adjustment period is to be expected. A surprising amount of his time on the floor being shared with fellow point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vanvlfr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fred VanVleet<\/a> might not help matters.<\/p>\n<h3>How Eason&#8217;s Playstyle Fits Houston&#8217;s Culture<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, overly cautious certainly isn&#8217;t a way anyone would ever describe Eason. Eason missed most of last season. During the games he played, however, he was a leading contributor to the Rockets&#8217;s tendency to get <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/30\/the-rockets-get-blocked-and-just-keep-coming\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">blocked a lot<\/a>. That isn&#8217;t strictly a bad thing though. Eason has an attacking mindset. The most impressive part of Eason&#8217;s game is how he&#8217;s able to maintain that attacking mindset while playing within the team. It&#8217;s exactly the brand of basketball that Udoka wants Houston to play.<\/p>\n<p>It helps Eason that his role is simplified compared with some other players. Eason isn&#8217;t necessarily expected to score. He&#8217;s expected to go out there, cut off the ball, play hard, be aggressive, and, should scoring opportunities present themselves, pursue them vigorously.<\/p>\n<p>This opportunistic quality of his game is reflected in his points and shot attempts. Sometimes the opportunities are there, sometimes they aren&#8217;t. Sometimes they&#8217;re there and then get snatched away at the last second by a shot-blocker. And sometimes, it has to be said, the opportunity is there, but the shot won&#8217;t go down.<\/p>\n<p>Eason hasn&#8217;t exactly established himself as a knockdown shooter so far. For his career, he has connected on 34.8% from three-point range. That lack of shooting threat is the main thing that holds Eason back as a player, as well as the Rockets&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/09\/the-houston-rockets-and-the-modern-big-man\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">depth at forward<\/a>. It especially holds Eason back from being considered a viable small forward.<\/p>\n<h3>Eason and the Rockets&#8217; Next Steps<\/h3>\n<p>As a mostly non-shooting power forward, Eason isn&#8217;t particularly remarkable. Still, with his size and defensive instincts, he could be a starter-level player in that role. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/washipj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">P.J. Washington<\/a> just made the finals in that role with the Mavericks.<\/p>\n<p>However, providing just enough shooting threat to slide in at small forward would make Eason a truly premium role player. That same Mavericks team managed to get by with the shooting of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jonesde02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Jones Jr.<\/a> at that position, with just 34.3%. That was alongside Washington too, who shot 31.4% in Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a> might not be the shooting threat he was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/06\/07\/jabari-smith-2022-nba-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">advertised as<\/a> coming into the draft, but, at 36.3% last year, he has to be guarded out there. Even the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/21\/rockets-agree-to-a-185-million-contract-extension-with-young-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">recently extended<\/a> starting center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a>, is shooting well on limited attempts thus far this season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brookdi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dillon Brooks<\/a> will hold down the starting small forward spot for the Rockets this season, but if Eason is going to have a long-term future with the team, that&#8217;s the spot he&#8217;ll have to earn. The front office will be keeping a close eye on Eason&#8217;s three-point shooting this season for signs he might be able to do it.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>For now though, Eason&#8217;s contributions will be felt with the Rockets&#8217; second unit. Whitmore and Sheppard will presumably get more time to shine. Don&#8217;t expect it to come from Eason&#8217;s slice of the pie though. Don&#8217;t expect Rockets fans to complain about that either. If there&#8217;s one thing fans and Udoka agree on, it&#8217;s being glad to have Eason back, with no easing-in required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are off to a mixed start in 2024-25. One constant has been the play of returning third-year Rockets player Tari Eason. He may not have the theoretical potential of some other recent Rockets draft picks, but Houston&#8217;s opponents are going to see a lot of Eason this season, and they probably won&#8217;t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5223,"featured_media":104637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,31,62],"tags":[4794,772,4528,2111,49134,4475],"class_list":["post-104591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-nba","tag-cam-whitmore","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-jabari-smith","tag-pj-washington","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-tari-eason"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}