2022 NBA Draft Profile: Tari Eason

A versatile big wing who did himself a lot of favors at the NBA Draft Combine, could Tari Eason give the Knicks a solid two-way player at the 11th pick?

Position: F, LSU

Age: 20

Height: 6 ft 8 in

Wingspan: 7 ft 3 in

Weight: 216 lbs

The Sales Pitch: Tari is unprecedented. No one — literally no one — shares his combination of defensive versatility, defensive disruption ability, shooting, strength, speed, and athleticism. He’s defended centers, wings, guards, all successfully, due to his physical tools and great instincts. He’s a big wing with a crazy wingspan and Kawhi-size hands, he’s super strong, he jumps high as shit, shot well from three and from the free throw line, has advanced metrics that look like mistakes because they rate him so highly, and has shown the ability to improve his game. He scores from three, from two, from the free throw line. He is also more crafty than given credit for. And dude hasn’t even played in space yet. Despite all that, there are clear avenues for him to become even better, really quickly. When you’re this productive in college, you’re not supposed to have tons of obvious room for improvement. The sky is truly the ceiling for him. 

Elite Traits/Skills: Physical tools (wingspan, agility, hand size, athleticism)

The Devil’s Advocate Argument: This man somehow has crazy advanced metrics, but can’t drive left, never passes, and has a slingshot for a jumper. All that battering ram shit won’t work in the NBA. He won’t be playing center vs. college students, he’ll be playing forward vs. Jaylen Brown and Kevin Durant and Pascal Siakam. He may not suck from the free throw line, but he’s not a good enough 3-point shooter or cutter to impact the game off-ball and isn’t good enough on-ball to demand pick-and-roll or isolation touches. He is the draft’s most overqualified closeout attacker. He also somehow manages to space out, foul guys needlessly, and his motor runs between MAX EFFORT and springtime jog a little too frequently for me. No thanks!

The Misconceptions: People think his shot is fluky because he shot horribly earlier in his college career and he has a very low and right shoulder-based set point. I don’t think you can really fluke 80 from the line on high free throw volume and 35 from three in a crowded, crappy offense, though. 

Important Numbers:

• 31.8: His usage, only Johnny Davis was higher among projected lottery picks

• 52/36/80: His slash line

• .515: His free throw rate. He drew tons of them because of the combination of his FTR and his high usage, as usually higher FTR guys have lower usage

• 39: His points per 100 possessions, a number only topped in this class by Keegan Murray

• 4.5%, 6.5%: his STL% and BLK%, eye-popping numbers only approached in recent history of draftees by Matisse Thybulle

• 62%: His TS%

• 11: His hand width in inches (Kawhi’s are 11.25)

• 14.7: His box plus-minus, an insane number only bested by Keegan Murray this year

• 0: The number of players since 2015 who have shot 35% from three, had a STL% of 4.5%, a BLK% of 4.5%, and usage of over 28

Knicks Fit: Great, because they lack any blue chip versatile big wings, but a little tricky because of the roster glut. If both Julius and Obi remain, there isn’t really a pathway for consistent minutes. He could moonlight as a big 3 or a short 5 because of his quickness and length, respectively, and he did indeed do that in college often, but do we really trust these Knicks to get creative for a rookie?