Jabari Smith, TyTy Washington, Tari Eason open up on going from SEC rivals to NBA teammates

From SEC rivals to NBA teammates with the Rockets — Jabari Smith, TyTy Washington and Tari Eason are bringing the pride of their conference with them to Houston following the 2022 NBA Draft.

To illustrate, Smith was selected with the No. 3 overall pick out of Auburn, Eason was brought to town out of LSU with the No. 17 overall pick, and Washington — the former Kentucky star — was acquired using the No. 29 overall selection to round-out the first round trio.

During their introductory press conference, the three draft picks were asked about what it means to go from playing against each other in the SEC, to hoping to build a contender in Houston.

“It’s crazy,” began Washington. “We actually just talked about that earlier today. All of us being in SEC schools, playing each-other twice or once, it’s just real crazy now that we’re NBA teammates. So, we all know what we can bring to the table.”

Evidently, Smith agreed with Washington, seeing the main goal of bringing a trophy to Houston on the horizon.

“It’s fun,” answered Smith. “I think we’ll gel pretty easily, because we all care about winning. We all want to get better, and we all know the main goal is to just get better every day and just keep working. Keep pushing forward. So, that’s going to be our main goal.”

Additionally, Eason opened up regarding what he’s learned about each of his new teammates as their paths have crossed.

“Playing with TyTy throughout this process and getting to know him, his poise and his pace, his ability not to be sped up is really special,” explained Eason. “I like that about his game. He’s always trying to get everybody involved. So, he’s a really unselfish player, and he’s someone you can’t speed up. I think that’s a really important thing in this league, having your own pace.

“Jabari kind of goes without saying. His ability to just catch and shoot over anybody is second to none. His defensive versatility, his ability to switch multiple positions and just how he goes and competes every night. Playing against him, I know he’s a competitor — I know both of these guys are competitors. So, it’s going to be exciting to get to work with these guys.”

As for Washington, he couldn’t sing the praises of Eason and Smith enough, speaking about how difficult each of his new teammates made his life while at Kentucky.

“Playing against them this year, one thing about Tari, nobody can stop Tari from getting to the rim whenever he wants. He plays hard for the whole game, on both sides of the ball. One thing about Tari, he didn’t start, and he came in with the same mentality. He never let that affect him. At the end of the day, he’s just a hooper,” explained Washington. “He wants to go out there and win, and he was just out there competing.

“Same thing about Jabari. Everybody knows who Jabari is. Jabari’s the guy. So, it’s just like he was a big cover for us. He’s going to go out there, he’s going to play hard, he’s going to talk trash. He’s going to play hard on both sides of the ball, and ultimately he just wants to win. So, I mean things that sum up both of my teammates is they just both want to be winners, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win.”

While Smith may have been drafted No. 3 overall, he’s not letting the pressure get to his ego — he had nothing but kind words regarding Eason and Washington.

“I would say, just about TyTy, playing with him at Pangos, it wasn’t ever about like, him trying to score a lot. He was always trying to win, you know what I’m saying,” started Smith. “Him going into that camp, he wasn’t really known at the time, so you would think he would try to go in and a lot of iso, try to get his shot off. But he was just always about winning.

He always said he wanted to win a championship, so that kind of stuck with me. It kind of followed with our team. So, that’s kind of why we gelled so quickly. He just always plays the right way. Everybody knows he can shoot, everybody knows he can score but at the end of the day he’s always looking to make the right pass, get his teammates involved. That’s what I like most about him.”

As far as Smith on Eason, he added, “Tari, playing against him, how physical he is gives him the ability to guard multiple positions. Everybody knows how well he moves, so just how physical he is, and especially guarding him, he’s going to get to the rim. That’s just one thing you know, one thing on the scouting report. Just as the years come, how hard of a worker he is. Everybody knows his jump shot is going to improve. Sky is the limit.”

As you can see, Jabari Smith, Tari Eason and TyTy Washington are eager to grace the court together. The future is bright with the three former SEC stars in Houston leading the way.