[Woj] Free agent C Isaiah Hartenstein has agreed on a three-year, $87 million deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder

[phanman]

He has worked out better than I hoped or imagined. It's possible he is a better fit than Chet even. He rebounds better, sets better screens and passes better than Chet, while operating more out of that high post area which Chet doesn't do as much (wonders out to the perimeter more).

Chet is a better shot creator, rim protecter and 3pt shooter though. Luckily OKC has both. My next reservation is whether OKC will lose some of its perimeter punch if they play both at the same time. The small lineups work for OKC because NBA 4's aren't the Karl Malone or Amare Stoudemire power forwards of the past and are basically perimeter players now, so playing a guy like Jalen Williams or Dort on them is just fine.

If I'm Daigs, I'm keeping one of Chet/Hart on the court at all times. Split 24/24, then they can share the court for some minutes. Of course this is all matchup dependant as well.

Agree 100%, I'd also like to add that allowing JDub to slot down to a more natural perimeter wing position will only make that perimeter trio even better on both sides of the floor. A backcourt of SGA-Dort-JDub is still menacing to face defensively and Chet has shown the lateral quickness and help side defense to make it work in spurts.

Looking at the Western conference landscape, the majority of playoff teams do feature 2 real bigs for Chet/IHart to matchup against:
Memphis - JJJ + Clarke/Edey/Aldama/Huff
Rockets - Jabari + Sengun
Nuggets - AG + Jokic
Suns - KD + Nurkic/Plumlee
T'Wolves - Randle + Gobert/Reid
Lakers - Bron + AD

It's really just the Dubs and Mavericks where things can get tricky with PJ, Draymond and JK.

[Hatrick Ewing]

He must be the highest paid German athlete. And one of the least known.

I hate these kinds of arguments, but he's basically American. His mom is American. His dad is a black guy who played pro ball in Germany. I assume he's from Germany, but wouldn't be shocked if he's also from the US. Anyway, I met his mom and she's very clearly American.

Why do you hate arguments about whether someone is German or not.

[Warriorfan]

I have no dog in this fight but claiming someone isn’t great at their job as a GM because they haven’t won a title yet is a ridiculous thing to say.

Depends how you define great.
If you can't make a championship team with HOF MVP players and a 4th multi All Star you might never do better in team building a champion.

Well so far we aren’t at that point where we can say that he couldn’t do it… so it’s pointless to speculate. Regardless, this is still a poor argument.

17 yrs GM after leaving SA where they had a successful model. Can't recall more tenured GM wo a championship.

[Iwasawitness]

Depends how you define great.
If you can't make a championship team with HOF MVP players and a 4th multi All Star you might never do better in team building a champion.

Well so far we aren’t at that point where we can say that he couldn’t do it… so it’s pointless to speculate. Regardless, this is still a poor argument.

17 yrs GM after leaving SA where they had a successful model. Can't recall more tenured GM wo a championship.

Yeah and how much bad luck did he endure during that time frame? I rest my case. Next time use context.

[scrabbarista]

He must be the highest paid German athlete. And one of the least known.

I hate these kinds of arguments, but he's basically American. His mom is American. His dad is a black guy who played pro ball in Germany. I assume he's from Germany, but wouldn't be shocked if he's also from the US. Anyway, I met his mom and she's very clearly American.

Why do you hate arguments about whether someone is German or not.

I hate how emotional people get about it (any country, obvs), when my only interest is to get the facts straight.

It doesn't affect me at all that Hartenstein was born in America, lived there until he was 10, then went to Germany and moved back to the States when he was still a teenager, has an American mom and a German-American dad who was educated in America. It's all just facts to me.

But as seen from one or two of the replies to my comment, others are more emotionally invested and will resort to ridicule and distortion of the facts.

I just hate it because it's so emotionally charged, like people are like "No! He belongs to ME! He belongs to MY COUNTRY!" (if not literally, that's the subtext), whereas for me it's just fun to know a player's background. I'm not trying to establish "ownership" over anyone, but any time this kind of topic comes up, there are always people who are, and I find it puerile and tiresome.

[DaGawd]

he really can’t guard centers who have any semblance of offensive talent

[Warriorfan]

Well so far we aren’t at that point where we can say that he couldn’t do it… so it’s pointless to speculate. Regardless, this is still a poor argument.

17 yrs GM after leaving SA where they had a successful model. Can't recall more tenured GM wo a championship.

Yeah and how much bad luck did he endure during that time frame/ ? I rest my case. Next time use context.

Context is subjective and have cognitive bias. I stated fact. How many teams with 3 home grown HOF/MVP level, plus another all star in Ibaka can you name that did not win at least 1 championship.

[Slimjimzv]

Work on reading comprehension quote is benefit of doubt in trade not great and statement of fact is no titles despite multiple concurrent MVP talent and HOF players.

Brilliant is your subjective opinion not grounded in logic. You seem to believe what you post is logical because it comes from yourself but you post little facts here as a counter.

Do me a favor and Google 'facts' then Google 'logic'. Also, go away.

OKC not winning a championship is fact.
Brilliance is a subjective term.

Does it follow a system of logic that one is brilliant if they have not won a championship in a competitive sport

Is it logical to assume that a player from another system will fit or subjective conjecture.

Is it logical to pay more to a player who had performed less than others in some metrics.

https://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c

Have you come to terms yet with what a great fit Hartenstein is for this team? Or are you still in denial?

[cgf]

he really can’t guard centers who have any semblance of offensive talent

He did well with Bam. It's the skilled centers that are just too big for him (Embiid / Turner) that killed him.

[KokoKaizer]

No matter what haters said, he's awesome for the Thunder.

Great team, hope they win it all, that would be incredible work after the KD/Westbrook era

[DaGawd]

he really can’t guard centers who have any semblance of offensive talent

He did well with Bam. It's the skilled centers that are just too big for him (Embiid / Turner) that killed him.

stretch bigs i should say

[Warriorfan]

Do me a favor and Google 'facts' then Google 'logic'. Also, go away.

OKC not winning a championship is fact.
Brilliance is a subjective term.

Does it follow a system of logic that one is brilliant if they have not won a championship in a competitive sport

Is it logical to assume that a player from another system will fit or subjective conjecture.

Is it logical to pay more to a player who had performed less than others in some metrics.

https://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c

Have you come to terms yet with what a great fit Hartenstein is for this team? Or are you still in denial?

8th highest paid C for one this publication for example ranks in the bottom half

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-ranking-top-30-centers-2024-25-season/

[DudetheObscure]

OKC not winning a championship is fact.
Brilliance is a subjective term.

Does it follow a system of logic that one is brilliant if they have not won a championship in a competitive sport

Is it logical to assume that a player from another system will fit or subjective conjecture.

Is it logical to pay more to a player who had performed less than others in some metrics.

https://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c

Have you come to terms yet with what a great fit Hartenstein is for this team? Or are you still in denial?

8th highest paid C for one this publication for example ranks in the bottom half

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-ranking-top-30-centers-2024-25-season/

Dude, that article was written in August. Since then iHart has posted 13 double doubles in 19 games. He has definitely been a great fit for the Thunder.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

He has some interesting non double doubles. 2/14/7 assists, 21 points 8 rebounds, 12/9/6, 11/9/6, and another strange 2/16/6 assist game. Not many guys capable of putting up sub 5 points, but over 12 rebounds and 5+ assists in a game lol. He's done it twice.

Draymonds best attempt this year is 3/10/6.

[Warriorfan]

Have you come to terms yet with what a great fit Hartenstein is for this team? Or are you still in denial?

8th highest paid C for one this publication for example ranks in the bottom half

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-ranking-top-30-centers-2024-25-season/

Dude, that article was written in August. Since then iHart has posted 13 double doubles in 19 games. He has definitely been a great fit for the Thunder.

If Chet was there his stats would be less.

[UcanUwill]

I hate these kinds of arguments, but he's basically American. His mom is American. His dad is a black guy who played pro ball in Germany. I assume he's from Germany, but wouldn't be shocked if he's also from the US. Anyway, I met his mom and she's very clearly American.

Why do you hate arguments about whether someone is German or not.

I hate how emotional people get about it (any country, obvs), when my only interest is to get the facts straight.

It doesn't affect me at all that Hartenstein was born in America, lived there until he was 10, then went to Germany and moved back to the States when he was still a teenager, has an American mom and a German-American dad who was educated in America. It's all just facts to me.

But as seen from one or two of the replies to my comment, others are more emotionally invested and will resort to ridicule and distortion of the facts.

I just hate it because it's so emotionally charged, like people are like "No! He belongs to ME! He belongs to MY COUNTRY!" (if not literally, that's the subtext), whereas for me it's just fun to know a player's background. I'm not trying to establish "ownership" over anyone, but any time this kind of topic comes up, there are always people who are, and I find it puerile and tiresome.

Love you man, but relax, I think this was just observation of how much NBA guys are paid. I don't know how much German national team soccer players are paid, but I imagine they are far more famous and its not even close, but Hartenstein is getting paid, he just became big investor of Ratiopharm Ulm, a German team that plays in Eurocup. He is obviously German, he grew up and learned to play in Germany, but it does not matter what nationality he is, the fact guy like him is paid so much money, hopefully means that interest in the sport is growing highly worldwide, again, I don't know how much guys like Mussiala get paid, but I imagine NBA superstars probably get paid more than Soccer stars nowadays, so we could flex on that.

[DudetheObscure]

8th highest paid C for one this publication for example ranks in the bottom half

https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-ranking-top-30-centers-2024-25-season/

Dude, that article was written in August. Since then iHart has posted 13 double doubles in 19 games. He has definitely been a great fit for the Thunder.

If Chet was there his stats would be less.

Why is it so hard for you to admit that he is a "great fit" on OKC? What he has done alone while Chet has been out should dispel any doubt. The NBA world said last year that Giddey's lack of defense and shooting and the team's overall weakness on the boards were holding the Thunder back. Presti traded Giddey for Caruso and signed iHart as a FA. Caruso has been effective, but needs to stay healthy and Hartenstein has helped tremendously on the boards. Not only is Hartenstein a good rebounder, but he doesn't need a lot of shot's, is a good screener and is a very good passer for a big man. He is the definition of a "great fit".

[Warriorfan]

Dude, that article was written in August. Since then iHart has posted 13 double doubles in 19 games. He has definitely been a great fit for the Thunder.

If Chet was there his stats would be less.

Why is it so hard for you to admit that he is a "great fit" on OKC? What he has done alone while Chet has been out should dispel any doubt. The NBA world said last year that Giddey's lack of defense and shooting and the team's overall weakness on the boards were holding the Thunder back. Presti traded Giddey for Caruso and signed iHart as a FA. Caruso has been effective, but needs to stay healthy and Hartenstein has helped tremendously on the boards. Not only is Hartenstein a good rebounder, but he doesn't need a lot of shot's, is a good screener and is a very good passer for a big man. He is the definition of a "great fit".

Because finances in the past is why potentially great OKC teams in the past were dismantled. Money after a good season last year could potentially brought a better player than a bottom half starting C.
3 backup guys make starters money on OKC.

[ahartleyvu]

Seems like he hustles less on OKC and maybe a bit slower? Injuries?

[Homer38]

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