Isaiah Hartenstein made a decision Thursday night: he’d back away from Tari Eason, leave him wide open and dare him to shoot. Eason took it personally. The three-pointer that followed was one of two he hit on his way to 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in under 17 minutes of the Rockets’ 116-89 preseason finale over the Thunder, and it said everything about where this forward is headed. For years, the plan against Eason has been simple: give him room to shoot and make him dribble. Ime Udoka told him this summer to fix that. Eason did it with a basketball that was heavier than the real one – on purpose!
Tari Eason Ball Handling: Udoka’s Order and a Heavier Basketball
After last season, Udoka told Eason to clean up his dribbling, and Udoka isn’t known for sugarcoating. Eason’s answer was a heavier basketball, a drill built to weigh him down so a regular ball feels light come game time. Think of a baseball hitter swinging a weighted bat in the on-deck circle: make the practice tool harder, then let the real one feel weightless. Amen Thompson, who worked out with Eason in the offseason, said it was the most locked in he’d ever seen his teammate. It showed all preseason, and it showed loudest Thursday. Hartenstein backed off, Eason buried the three, and late in the first quarter he blew past Jared McCain on the way to the rim.
The Bigger Story May Be His Health
Here’s the part worth connecting. Last season Eason played just 60 games, limited by oblique and ankle injuries, and now he’s saying out loud what the film showed: “I was limping for a lot of the time.” His numbers fit the limp. His shooting efficiency (a stat that gives extra credit for threes) was the lowest since his rookie year, with a sizable drop on mid-distance jumpers and fewer shots at the rim, more threes instead. That’s my read, not a stat: a forward who can’t push off his legs settles for whatever shot is available. A healthy Eason who can really dribble goes back to attacking the rim. Preseason can’t prove that, but 5-of-7 with two threes in 17 minutes is at least consistent with it.
Why Daring Eason to Shoot Just Got Expensive
Defenses had reasons to back off him. Eason is a 35 percent career three-point shooter on 666 attempts, and he wasn’t a threat to create his own shot. Now that plan is a gift to Houston. The Rockets don’t need Eason to become a star. They need him to become impossible to ignore. He already guards everybody: Udoka has put him on Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, Karl-Anthony Towns and Victor Wembanyama. He’s also among the best offensive rebounders at his position (96th percentile), grabbing about 8 percent of his own team’s misses. Add real dribbling and a three that has to be respected, and a player who steals possessions starts creating them. For a team that went 52-30 and lost to the Lakers in the first round, a bench player who can create a shot for himself and others, next to Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson, is the kind of depth that wins series. Eason is locked in too, on a five-year, $81 million contract with a player option in year five, per his NBA.com profile.
Before Anyone Crowns Him
Keep the seatbelt buckled. This was preseason, the Thunder were without Chet Holmgren, Carson Wallace and Jaylin Williams and shot 5-of-36 from three, and Eason picked up four fouls in under 17 minutes, so the chaos agent is still on the payroll. The real test starts Wednesday, when Houston opens the season at home against Dallas and opposing coaches start preparing for the new Eason. If defenders stop backing off him, the Tari Eason ball handling project worked. If they don’t, he’ll keep making them pay, one three at a time. Either way, the summer came down to one simple story: Udoka said the hard thing, and Eason answered with a heavier ball.
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