Isaiah Hartenstein Grows Confidence In Jump Shot From Green Light

The Oklahoma City Thunder want Isaiah Hartenstein to shoot the ball and giving him the green light has given the big man confidence.

Isaiah Hartenstein is pictured during the Thunder media day at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As training camp begin for the Oklahoma City Thunder, all eyes are on newly acquired big man Isaiah Hartenstein. The Thunder lured the seven-footer away from New York in free agency, marking their largest signing in club history and immedately filling the biggest hole on their roster from a year ago.

Plenty of questions revolved around Hartenstein's role ranging from if he will be in the first five or how he can expand his game from beyond the arc.

The 3-point question is not a new one for Hartenstein, it has followed him his entire career since his 14-for-30 stretch in LaLa Land back in 2021-22. In New York though, this was an obsolete part of his game.

Despite his feathery touch around the rim - including tossing in floaters at a 61 percent clip - the Knicks did not encourage the big man to step outside the arc and launch triples.

"If you are an NBA player, you have to adapt to certain roles. That is what I had to do in New York," Hartenstein said back in July "Getting back that shooting aspect [Is something Hartenstein is looking to expand]"

Since the ink dried on Hartenstein's three-year $87 Million Dollar pact, his ability to stretch the floor. This has been a storyline early on in training camp and one he was asked about on Thursday.

"I've been shotoing [3-pointers] just keeping back into a rhythm." Hartenstein said with a smile "Mark [Daigneault] has been giving me the confidence, he wants me to shoot them,"

While it is unlikely the newly signed big man is going to lead the league - or even his position - in triples, it seems obvious that it will be a bigger part of his game this season. That is in part due to the green light given in an offense that has typically seen openings for big men to shoot with drive-and-kick guards generating high quality looks for their teammates.

Hartenstein assured he will not be bring. the ball up the court, "I'm not going to come down do a tween-tween behind the back step back, that's not happening. But when I get 'em in the corner i'm definately going to shoot 'em." the big man said with a laugh.

“It’s something he’s worked on and is confident in. When that’s the case, I usually let the player take the lead," Mark Daigneault said when peppered with questions on his green light for Hartenstein.

The Thunder bench boss told a story about third-year big man Jaylin Williams, who came into the NBA with a stigma around him as a non-shooter after pelting a few backboards with triples and chipping a few rims in the SEC. However, Oklahoma City's approach allowed the Razorback big man to become a solid shooter at the NBA level.

"He didn't shoot a lot of 3's in college, his rookie year in training camp, he was just kinda bombing them up. He was making enough, but it was his confidence in the shot and in himself that we took the cues from," Daigneault said "Had we not done that, we probably would have told him, 'hey let's lay off those' and we wouldn't have a 35-40 percent 3-point shooter."

Williams has shot the ball at a 40 percent and 36 percent clip in his first two NBA seasons after shooting 30 percent and 23 percent in college.

That is the same rise the Thunder hope Hartenstein can have shooting 21 percent and 33 percent from distance in New York, though mostly on heaves totaling 40 attempts in two seasons.

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