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Isaiah Hartenstein Rumors
“Do you remember when some loud dude named Stephen A. Smith referred to you as ‘some dude named Hartenstein’? You got anything to say to somebody that said that? Gotta ask you that.” Isaiah Hartenstein: “The funny thing is, when I saw it—I wasn’t not playing at the time. Like, I was playing. I was a part of the team. I was a big part of the team at the time. So I don’t know who showed it to me, but he’s like, ‘Yo, you saw this?’ I was like, ‘What?’” “Funny thing is—he came back to me in the Finals. He was like, ‘Bro, I miss you. I miss you in New York.’ So we cool and stuff. But I think just at the time—it’s funny—but that’s kind of what Mark, our coach, talks about a lot: just blocking out the machine.” “Most of these people, he said, they put on makeup before they get on set. Most of them don’t watch every single game. So they’re just doing what’s best for TV. So it’s no hard feelings.”
Isaiah Hartenstein: “And just going through what I’ve been through in my career—I mean, there were stops where people said I wasn’t an NBA player. Stops where people said I couldn’t play in the playoffs. And now—actually being a starter on a championship team—it’s like you’re just grateful for the journey. It’s something special.” “Even now, every now and then it’s like, ‘Oh yeah—we actually did it.’”
Isaiah Hartenstein on toughest defensive matchup: 'It's between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic'
Q. Who is your toughest defensive matchup in the league right now? Isaiah Hartenstein: It depends. Nikola Jokic is just hard to guard because he's so good at passing, but probably just like just straight one-on-one, I think when Joel was healthy, I think Joel Embiid, just straight one-on-one. It's hard because you can't really be physical with him because he's good at drawing fouls, so strong and can just do it from all angles. So, it's probably between Joel and Jokic, but just like they're kind of different in those aspects. Joel is kind of more into straight ones and Jokic is like you can't really play team defense on him, because he can pass so well. So, I think it's two different guys, but at the end of the day, those are probably the two hardest I would probably had to guard.
Q. You're bringing the NBA championship trophy back to Germany. Isaiah Hartenstein: Yeah. For the for the first time. I mean I think it's something cool. I grew up there. So just to have the people out there to see it, the kids…
Rich: What kind of coach is Coach Daigneault? Isaiah Hartenstein: He’s a great coach—but like, very good-crazy in a sense. Rich: What do you mean? Isaiah Hartenstein: He would show us—before games or practices—videos of animals hunting, weird stuff like that. He would relate it to basketball somehow. But he’s a great motivator. Very stoic—that gives us confidence. He always says: "zero-zero mentality." Never too high or too low, always in the present. His in-game adjustments are great too. One of my favorite coaches to play for.
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Quick Overview Oklahoma City won the physicality on a game by game basis 4-3. They also took the "playing hard energy" wins by the same 4-3 margin. The team with the better Physicality score was 5-2, while the team with the most "Playing Hard Wins" was 7-0. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all players with 226 Physicality Wins, followed by Pascal Siakam (164), Myles Turner (140), Chet Holmgren (134) and Jalen Williams (132). Siakam led in Net Wins with +33. Hartenstein led in Net Wins per 36 min. Siakam was the top "playing hard energy plays" leader with 63 PH Wins, followed by Caruso (55), Holmgren (52), Haliburton (47), and Nembhard (43). Siakam dominated Jalen Williams Head-to-Head (+19 wins), while Shai was +20 net wins against the five IND starters (only losing H2H to Siakam).
Brandon Rahbar: Sam Presti: "When Chet got injured. He [JWill] and Hart are the ones who helped him off the floor. In all my years doing this, I've never seen a player in that much pain. That was really tough. Hart and JWill stayed with him the entire time in the back. It was the greatest act of team support I've ever seen."
Brandon Rahbar: Presti on Caruso and Hartenstein: "Their personalities were so well suited for this particular team at this particular team. I don't know if that'll ever happen that we find two elite role players that are happy being role players that are tailor made for our program."
Brandon Rahbar: Sam Presti on Isaiah Hartenstein: "I haven't seen a player become more ingrained in this community faster than Isaiah. It needs to be said out loud. He's done more community work than I think I've ever seen a player do."
Bobby Marks: The Jaylin Williams extension starts at $8.45M, declines to $7.74M and stays flat in year 3. 3rd year is a team option Really good value for OKC and Williams There is a pattern in OKC for contracts to decline or remain flat: Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, Isaiah Hartenstein and now Williams.
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Clemente Almanza: FINAL: Pacers 108, Thunder 91 SGA - 21 points, 4 rebounds JDub - 16 points, 3 rebounds Hartenstein - 10 points, 4 rebounds Haliburton - 14 points, 5 assists Siakam - 16 points, 13 rebounds Nembhard - 17 points, 4 assists Toppin - 20 points, 6 rebounds Series is tied 3-3
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