"He's the best guard in the league": OKC's Isaiah Hartenstein on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, "Details" as key for June and more (Exclusive)
It only took a handful of games for Isaiah Hartenstein to transform the Oklahoma City Thunder immediately with his brute strength, passing and rebounding. It also only took a handful of games for Hartenstein to make this assessment about Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“He’s the best guard in the league,” Hartenstein told Sportskeeda.
The Thunder (15-4) enter Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets (14-6) with the Western Conference’s best record mostly because of Gilgeous-Alexander attracting strong MVP buzz.
Gilgeous-Alexander ranks third in the NBA in scoring (29.9) and fifth in free-throw attempts (8.1). Oklahoma City has also become an early NBA-contending favorite because of Hartenstein, whom has made an immediate impact after missing the first 14 games with a fractured left hand.
Beyond averaging 14.3 points, 14.0 rebounds. 3.8 assists and 1.8 blocks, Hartenstein has impressed Thunder coach Mark Daigneault for his point-of-attack defense, rim protection, screens and physicality.
“You add all of that up together and you create that checklist. And it’s like, ‘How many fives in the NBA are checking those boxes?’” Daigneault said. “There are some, but not many.”
Hartenstein spoke to Sportskeeda on several topics, including his return from injury, his pick-and-roll chemistry with Gilgeous-Alexander and how center Chet Holmgren has held up with his recent pelvic fracture injury.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been condensed and edited.
You’ve jumped right back into the fire since returning from your injury. What has been the key to that?
Hartenstein: “It’s been good. I did a good job with keeping myself in shape. I did a lot of running when I had this injury. It’s been solid. I feel like my that will all come eventually. But it’s been good. I love playing with the guys. They play the right way. Coach Mark has also been great, too.”
What did the running work entail and any other things to stay ready?
Hartenstein: “We did a lot of up and down [conditioning drills] and trying to simulate as good as possible what a game would be. Now that I’m coming back, that’s all been a good thing. I didn’t feel like I was out of condition.”
What’s your comfort level with using your left hand?
Hartenstein: “It’s good, but it’s not where it’s normally at. There’s a lot of touch stuff that doesn’t feel right yet. But that’ll come with a couple of more games. But it’s getting there.”
You’ve had a lot of fallbacks, including your pick-and-roll game with Shai. Beyond his talent as a scorer and passer and your talent as a screener, what are the other things explaining why are you all are such an effective duo together?
Hartenstein: “Shai is an elite guard. To me, he’s the best guard in the league. So I’m trying to find ways to get him open. After that, he’s been making the right read. He doesn’t really force things. If he gets doubled, he passes it right away. He knows how to play angles. He’s been good and really easy to play with.”
In the same respect, what do you do try to make it easy for Shai to play with you?
Hartenstein: “It’s the same things with angles -- figuring out what angle with when to screen and when to slip. What way do you want to send them? I’m kind of figuring out what my defender is doing and what his defender is doing. So it’s kind of like a game of chess. We’re playing with that.”
It seems like you do a good job with being firm in your position and using your physicality, but without fouling. How do you do that?
Hartenstein: “Just being there early and being set. Shai does a good job of not putting me in a bad situation. Some guards go a lot earlier. So that puts you in a weird situation where it has you set offensive fouls. But Shai does a good job with waiting for me and letting me set them and then reading off of that.”
You haven’t played a lot with Chet [except for preseason]. But what have you seen during your time with him that gives you a good feel on what you two can do on the court together?
Hartenstein: “Offensively, he’s really good with handling the ball. He can play that 4 position. So having that versatility with two big guys, especially defensively, is the biggest thing. You have two great rim protectors. He knows how to play the game. He’s smart. I think things can be really good when he comes back. We have different games. I’m probably more physical and will probably try to get other guys more open. He’s probably playing more on the outside. It’s similar, but different in the same way.”
How has Chet’s spirits been overall since he’s been out?
Hartenstein: “We talk a lot. I think he’s in good spirits. You never want to be injured. But I think he kind of knows the process of it. But he’s been taking it well. He’s still being involved as much as he can. He’ll text us after games. He’ll text us during games. Just talking to him in general, you see where he’s at mentally. He’s in a good spot.”
To what extend did you have to guard against FOMO when you were out, especially with being with a new team?
Hartenstein: “I played preseason so I kind of knew where I was at. So I was just taking it day by day. I’m at that point in my career where I’ve been through a lot of stuff. So you just take it day by day. Everything will work out.”
You’ve been through different stops (Houston, Denver, Cleveland, Clippers and the Knicks). What were the notable turning points then that helped shape you with dealing with that?
Hartenstein: “There’s a lot of them. Every stop had a point that helped me a lot. But where it turned around was probably the Clippers. T-Lue [Tyronn Lue] did a great job with putting me in position to be myself and help the team out. He does a good job with putting players in comfortable positions where they can succeed. They found out early how good I was with passing the ball and getting guys open and playing that way. So he did a good job with putting me in a position to succeed.”
You also mentioned you really like how Mark’s coached the group. What impresses you about him so far?
Hartenstein: “He’s been great. I think he’s a really open-minded coach. He tries a lot of different stuff. He’s smart. He knows the game really well. I think he just gives the guys a lot of confidence just knowing that if we play unselfish, we have the freedom. In general, he’s a really smart coach. It’s been good playing for him.”
I was asking you earlier about your art of setting screens. How about your art of the pass? You’ve made timely passes and some behind-the-back. Where did developing that skill come from?
Hartenstein: “It started early. When I was younger, my dad used to coach me. I would score all the time. So he would give me one quarter where I could only pass. At the time, I didn’t get it. But looking back, that helped a lot. Playing with [Nikola] Jokic helped a lot [in 2020-21]. During that little time, I was learning from him how he manipulates defenses with his eyes and when to pass. Being with him during that short time helped.”
How does Jokic manipulate defenses with his eyes?
Hartenstein: “He’s looking off defenders to make sure to get the guy open that you want to get open. It’s a lot of little details that add up in the long run.”
What is your favorite pass you’ve made?
Hartenstein: “This year, probably my favorite one was to J-Dub [Jalen Williams] when I was falling and threw the ball behind my back and he dunked it.”
How did you pull that off?
Hartenstein: “I saw someone on my right side and I was falling. So I was hoping that he’s cutting at this point. So I just threw it. He cut at the perfect time. So it worked out real well.”
How about the art of the block. What’s it take to be a good rim protector, but also cover other ground?
Hartenstein: “Anticipation and knowing what will happen before it happens. I’ve been in the league for a certain amount of time. You know when a guy is attacking. So you can time it. You have to find the balance with not going too early and not going too late.”
What’s your favorite block?
Hartenstein: “Last year during the playoffs [when the New York Knicks played the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round]. [Tyrese] Maxey went downhill for the game, and I blocked that one in the Garden. That was the anticipation part.”
Some fans had fun on social media after you drew blood on your eye while absorbing a hit from [Domantas] Sabonis. What do you remember at the time?
Hartenstein: “I was just trying to keep on playing. That was the funny thing. For me, it was just blood. I didn’t know it was that bad. But our trainers were like, ‘You have to get out.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ I liked the pics. I posted it.”
What’s key to being able to be both a physical player and absorb physicality given you’re a big man?
Hartenstein: “It’s just pain tolerance and being able to play through things. But I also think it’s a mixture of recovering. After every game, we go through a lot. So it’s about knowing after a game that you have to be big on recovery and big on what you eat.”
Big picture down the line. Beyond this group’s talent, depth and health, what else is it going to take to make it all the way through June?
Hartenstein: “Details. Making sure that we’re taking it day-by-day, but also know what we want to play for. We have to start building those little details out now. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. It’s about building out details and making sure we’re doing the little things. Mark does a great job with making sure we’re focusing on that. It’s little things like rotations, communication and how we execute things. There’s little things like boxing out and how physical we are with our screens and switches. We have to make sure every little thing is on point because in the playoffs or whenever a big game happens, when you need those little points, it’ll matter a lot.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.