Isaiah Hartenstein wins G-League Player of the Week

He's going to leave the Rockets eventually for nothing and become a solid contributor elsewhere. Beyond dumb how they have handled this dude, especially when they've wasted roster spots on guys like Thabo, Nene, and Gerald Green.

 

The minute we traded CC for Covington many on this board (myself included) were clamoring for a traditional center so we would at least have the ability to change it up depending on the circumstance within any given game - to have a backup plan... Heck, I've been calling for a traditional PF for the last few years to supplement with PJ depending on the bigs were facing and to give a low post threat on nights where the 3 isnt falling for whatever reason...
but yer gonna dispel any talk of having a situational traditional set as that evil biased media pushing a narrative...
and then people that dont embrace this philosophy as the sole set are dismissed as lacking vision or stupid or whatever...
well...

LOL

 

i-Hart unfortunately is to damn good for his own cause.
What could MDA possibly do with a player that hustles on both ends of the floor, shoot the 3 & rebound???????
Wish he was 6’5.......

 

Seriously, what else does he need to do to get playing time?

 

@MrButtocks explained it quite succinctly.

 

He does not shoot 3 well enough AND he cant switch worth a damn.

 

Should fit In nicely with the rest of our sharp shooters..

 

i-Hart should contact Corey Sewer for some advise on this matter...

 

Can it really hurt to play him at least 8 minutes in the first half of some games winding down the stretch to see if he can contribute? The last I saw of him he checked into a play and got out-muscled on ONE play by Whiteside and he's been riding the pine ever since. Worst case scenario, he's not developed enough defensively so he sits the way he's been sitting all year. We may be forced to use a 7 footer for few-minute stretches in the post-season at times so it can't hurt to get him game-ready for the post-season just in case we need him. I'd much prefer Harden to utilize the Pick & Roll more instead of just dribbling around double teams and shooting incredibly difficult, low-percentage stepback threes.

Also, I have it on good authority that Hartenstein browses this forum.

 

If he can get that 3ball game-ready/consistent, that would definitely change his outlook. This took a while for D-Mo as well. Everyone knew he "should" be able to hit 3s, but it took a while to translate to game action. He was solid after that! He'll never be great in our switching D, but neither is Ben Mac, but he provides shooting. If Hart can provide energy, size, dunks, and rebounding, he just has to become passible on switching defense... But he's gotta be able to space on offense. He's more capable than most centers to make that happen.

 

Do not mind a traditional big, but that big should be able to do ONE of things required in our system.

At minimum.

Isnt it interesting that only the Rockets require a plan B when they lose but when other teams lose multiple games or lose against non playoff teams, no mention of plan B at all.

A narrative is story telling that is not applied consistently. I'm sure even Bukowski would tell you that the media is requiring an unfair set of norms for the Rockets that is not applicable to any other teams.

Where was the call for plan B when Bucks lost 4 straight playoff games to Raptors? Where was the clamor to scrap their system, fire Budenholzer and trade Giannis?

 

Who cares about Utah or any other team? We are talking about the Rockets. Are you saying that just because the media hate us and harping on our style, everything they say must be wrong? What kind of logic is that?

What about a Plan C with a real center? What about a Plan B on defense? Actually I am not that worried about our offense. It's doing fine although it can be improved. There will be some off nights. But every team does. What worries me is our defense. Can we sustain playing great defense in the playoffs? We are #15 at DRtg. That's not good enough to contend.

 

I think he needs to be able to hit the 3 consistently to have a chance. We shipped out Capela because he can't shoot from distance. We aren't going to play a big guy like that.

If I were iHart, I'd work on my 3 like my life depended on it.

 

Losing 4 straight games to the eventual Champion is a far cry from losing to the Knicks, Hornets and Wizards - and then struggling against the Timberpuppies...

All the times we lost in playoffs to GSW we didnt hear the rhetoric either... although I was calling for a plan B for when the 3s werent falling...

A few teams have run a small ball derivative as part of their rotation... we're just the only fools to employ it exclusively...

 

I never said anything about the media. I’ve advocated for a plan B weeks ago and several fans on this site agree. I don’t believe you can just play straight up small ball and if you do you’d still need bigs in case things go south especially in the playoffs. Maybe that’s why Boston hasn’t played well either. As mentioned on this site The warriors successfully incorporated their death lineup but still used traditional big lineups and only used small ball situationally when the matchups favored it. They demonstrated that small ball can work as an addition to a traditional lineup to throw teams off. This was the point and has been the point. I don’t care what the media says or what other teams are doing. The rockets would be wise to play hart few minutes a game.

 

I see winning player of the week like getting a star on your paper as a kid. Why the heck is that "Award" needed? Maybe it keeps fans more interested.

 

What you advocate is what pundits also advocate. They are so invested in their opinions that any hiccup at all results in told you so's, same as CF.

This system is new so there will be growing pains, I would rather experience the growing pains and develop counters now than in playoffs.

You may end up being right, cannot play small ball 100%, but MDA and Morey need to see this experiment through.

Their combined knowledge and experience trumps all the pundits and fans IMO.

 

Its intriguing though. A new report said that it was moreys idea then MDA agreed to it. MDA prob saw his lame duck situation and the teams mediocrity and went for it. Very interesting to me. We don’t know to what extent they thought this through but the bottom line is they are fully committed to not playing a true center.

 

I'm not arguing that our team is perfect or even a contender, just that saying Plan B is a lazy take. It's as lazy as when people say "there's only one ball" when Harden gets a ball dominant teammate. People were still saying that when we got Westbrook even though they said the same thing about CP3 when we traded for him and he turned out to be a great fit. It's as lazy as "live by the three, die by the three", although people haven't been saying that as much since Curry came around.

When people talk about Plan B they're talking specifically about our offense, a plan B for when the three pointers aren't falling. Yeah, no kidding. Where do they think Westbrook is doing his damage? He's been the leading scorer in the paint for the past few months, barely takes any threes, and people still will say "Plan B!". We're second in PPG, second in offensive rating. Any offense will under perform when role players aren't hitting their shots. I wish Harden would look to get to the rim more instead of trying the step back three so much, but that is a aesthetic preference on my part and not supported by the numbers.

As for defense, I don't think any of the centers on our roster will help us there. Capela was an above average big man defensively on the switch and even he struggled. 15th in defensive rating isn't good enough, I agree. But believe it or not it's better than what we were at before.

 

Simple MDA plan and simple.