Hartenstein prepared to stretch floor
It wasn’t a decision. It was more like a no-brainer.
During Isaiah Hartenstein’s foray into free agency, the Knicks quickly emerged as his preferred destination, once he spoke to coach Tom Thibodeau and the front office.
“I think it was a spot where I felt wanted,” the 7-footer said on Tuesday in his first public comments since joining the Knicks during the summer. “That was a big thing coming into it. Finding a place where, first of all, I can bring something. I felt like I can bring something that they didn’t have, to help them win.”
Hartenstein, signed to a twoyear, $16 million contract, provides a different dimension to the roster, a play-making big man capable of stretching the opposing defenses with his 3-point shot. In Thibodeau’s two years as the Knicks’ coach, they relied on more traditional big men Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel.
Like Robinson, Hartenstein is a strong paint defender — he blocked 3.1 shots per 100 possessions last season, which ranked as the ninth-highest figure in the NBA — but he presents a vastly different skillset on offense. Hartenstein is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 8.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists, while shooting 46.7 percent from 3-point range in 17.9 minutes per game for the Clippers.
“What a lot of people don’t get, it’s not like I’m learning how to shoot. Before coming into the NBA, it was more of [playing the] four, shooting,” he said. “In Houston, I played my role. It wasn’t to shoot, it was pick-and-roll. When I was in the G-League, I hit eight 3s in one game, so it’s not like I’m learning how to shoot the ball. I think that’s one thing that me and Thibs talked about, helping spread the floor.”
It took a while for Hartenstein to carve out a niche for himself in the NBA. A secondround pick of the Rockets in 2017, who spent most of his childhood in Germany, he played parts of three seasons in the G-League and was the G-League Finals MVP in 2019. The Knicks will be his fifth different franchise.
“It helped me,” Hartenstein said of his previous stops, “be ready for this.”