Isaiah Hartenstein signs with Thunder: Why big man makes sense for OKC, and why the Knicks will miss him

Five weeks ago, during his marathon end-of-season press conference, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti explained why they didn’t trade for a big man during the season. Many observers thought they should have, since the Thunder were not strong on the glass, but by only playing bigs Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams together for “2.5% of our possessions,” Presti said, “we got a top-five defense, so I wouldn’t want to lose the outcome of a top-five defense in pursuit of trying to find the next Wayne Embry.”

This was no disrespect to Embry, the Hall of Famer nicknamed “The Wall” who set bone-crushing screens and could box out anybody. He is one of Presti’s mentors. The point was that, despite finishing the regular season ranked No. 27 in defensive rebounding percentage, Oklahoma City was still an elite defensive team. It didn’t have the sheer size of, say, the Minnesota Timberwolves or Orlando Magic, but it had tons of length, speed and switchability. No team forced more turnovers, and no team held opponents to a lower field goal percentage at the rim. Beyond that, the benefit of playing Holmgren at the 5 was obvious: The Thunder, an average offensive team in 2022-23, were the third-most efficient team in the NBA.

Presti said that they had to “be careful,” especially in-season, not to assume that they could “just keep all the good parts” of the formula that worked so well “and bring the floor up on something else.” He also, however, said that they’re not “trying to prove anybody wrong,” suggesting that, if they saw an opportunity to add a big man who would make them better, they’d do it.

“We’re looking for the players that help us maintain our strengths and would raise the floor on our limitations,” Presti said.

Evidently, Presti and his front office believe Isaiah Hartenstein is such a player. On Monday, Oklahoma City signed the 7-footer who broke out with the New York Knicks last season to a three-year, $67 million contract, as first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. (The contract is front-loaded, and Year 3…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/isaiah-hartenstein-signs-with-thunder-why-big-man-makes-sense-for-okc-and-why-the-knicks-will-miss-him/

Author : James Herbert

Publish date : 2024-07-01 20:10:09

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