Rockets have James Harden to thank for difference-making forward

With one of the picks they got in the James Harden trade, the Houston Rockets selected Tari Eason, and he’s turned into one of the biggest steals of his draft class. Brian Windhorst spoke about Eason on The Hoop Collective podcast, as he, Tim Bontemps, and Tim MacMahon completed a 2022 NBA re-draft:

“He was red-flagged by some teams for various reasons,” Windhorst said of Eason. “He went to Cincinnati and sort of washed out there, then ended up at LSU. Was he even a starter at LSU? Anyway, but there were some red flags on him. And some teams had sort of, he slid on some draft boards because of it. And Rafael Stone is from Seattle, as Tari Eason is. And Rafael dug into his contacts in his shared hometown, and really went into the nitty-gritty, finding out about him a lot. And their evaluation was that he was miscast.”

Eason looks primed to be a huge part of the Rockets’ future.

Who went before Tari Eason in draft?

Houston picked Eason with the No. 17 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, getting an absolute steal with one of the picks from the Harden trade. It was an incredible selection by the front office.

The few picks leading up to Eason included an array of solid players, busts, and stars. Pick No. 10 was Johnny Davis, who never panned out with the Washington Wizards and is now out of the league. After him, at pick No. 11, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded up to take Ousmane Dieng. Obviously, those selections never really panned out.

However, the Thunder followed up the Dieng pick by taking Jalen Williams at 12. Picks 13 and 14 were Jalen Duren to the Detroit Pistons and Oshai Agbaji to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and then the Charlotte Hornets took Mark Williams at No. 15.

Then, after the Atlanta Hawks took AJ Griffin at No. 16, it was the Rockets’ turn, they they picked up Eason, who is a perfect fit with everything they want to do.

How does Tari Eason help the Rockets?

Eason is an elite defender and, alongside Amen Thompson, is one of the Rockets’ best options to take on the toughest offensive matchups opponents have to offer.

Though Thompson is the better defender at this point in time, Eason is a bit stockier, making him the potentially ideal choice to guard bigger forwards and guys who could try to overpower Thompson at times.

But even regardless of that, having both Eason and Thompson on the roster allows the Rockets to run some terrifying defensive lineups. Put them alongside the offense of Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, and Houston is going to be a scary sight.

And the Harden trade is to thank for Eason’s place in that puzzle.