The Houston Rockets have been in the middle of a huge rebuild ever since trading away franchise star James Harden back in January 2021. And with one impressive preseason performance after another, it seems as if Tari Eason, the 17th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, has crashed the party as one of the pieces the Rockets will seek to build around as they claw their way back to the top.

In the Rockets' 116-100 preseason win over the Toronto Raptors, Eason tallied 24 points on an impressive 8-of-15 shooting from the field, throwing in eight rebounds, two steals, and two threes for good measure. After the game, assistant coach John Lucas, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, compared the highflying 6'8 combo forward to Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman.

In fact, Lucas even called Tari Eason a better version of the five-time NBA champion, two-time All-Star, and one of the most proficient rebounders of all time, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

Those are some pretty lofty expectations out of a 21-year old who hasn't yet played a single minute in the NBA. Dennis Rodman, in spite of his many eccentricities, went on to become one of the most crucial parts of two championship winning cores in the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons and Michael Jordan's second three-peat with the Chicago Bulls.

The Rockets will be stoked if Eason achieves anything close to what Rodman did for his career.

Nonetheless, Tari Eason has appeared to be an entirely different kind of player to Dennis Rodman thus far. For all of Rodman's strengths, scoring wasn't one of them. Meanwhile, Eason has shown the ability to shot from deep and slash to the hoop, all the while displaying his motor and hustle that perhaps drew the comparison in the first place.

Rockets fans on Reddit, on the other hand, likened Eason to a young Kawhi Leonard, who was known for his defense and the occasional 3-pointer. However, fans should pump the brakes on those kinds of expectations and allow the 21-year old to grow into a unique player in his own right.

The Rockets have drafted Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, and Alperen Sengun as the foundations of their new young core, in addition to fiery scoring point guard Kevin Porter Jr. But with the potential emergence of Tari Eason, it might not be long until Houston gets taken seriously yet again as playoff contenders.