TBU Podcast | Ep. 33 – Isaiah Hartenstein Officially Joins the Squad | OKC Thunder

TBU Podcast | Ep. 33 – Isaiah Hartenstein Officially Joins the Squad | OKC Thunder

welcome into the Thunder basketball Universe we are coming to you right now from paycom Center on the event level one of our lovely rooms down here and you might notice a new face joining us today that’s because today we are welcoming in the newest face of this Thunder roster Isaiah hardenstein Isaiah welcome to Oklahoma City thank you thank you excited I got to know just what this last week 10 days has been like for you and your family choosing to come to Oklahoma City and now being here today it’s been exciting I mean it’s been exciting I think um just coming into organization like this I’ve kind of always watched from afar kind of always appreciate the culture that they always had so um exciting I mean exciting to play with these young guys excited to kind of keep expanding my game and I think um with this team I’ll be able to kind of do that more so I’m excited about that yeah I mean just talking about your game I think the things that obviously Stand Out are are the physicality the presence in the interior around the rim but then also just passing the playmaking on the other side of the ball as you think about that aspect of your game you know on both ends how does that fit with this group um I mean that was one of the biggest things coming in kind of looking at the team um to me I think I’m one of the best passing bigs in the NBA so um having guys that cut having guys that are high IQ players um was something really exciting to me um talking talking to Mark kind of how he gives guys more freedom gives guys confidence um was exciting I mean I think I can do a lot lot more um kind of really expand my game in that aspect um so that’s something I’m really excited about to come here kind of show more more what kind of got you had mentioned the culture that you witnessed kind of from the outside looking in now being here for a little bit what are your kind of initial Impressions does it meet your expectations oh above that I mean it was amazing I mean I feel like just how um family oriented everything is um I mean you come here you’re welcome with open arms um I mean I have my family um my family out here um and they’ve treated them like they’ve been family for like years so it’s it’s been really exciting I mean it’s really exciting for my family and um I’m just super excited I was reading about maybe you know the relationship that you and your dad have you know he was a former player yeah tell me a little bit about how you guys are still kind of bonded and connected and what this is like for him as well to kind of experience you um getting this this new opportunity um it’s been great I mean he’s been there kind of especially a little closer when he stopped playing I mean um he started to being my coach a fulltime when I stopped playing um and then now being in the situations um where I keep improving and keep um making my stamp in the NBA and then getting an opportunity like this to come play for OKC it’s always special I mean he’s been my whole family been there my whole whenever I needed them and so a lot of props to them too so I heard that he uh he drives you to the games is that still be a thing here in OKC I mean it’s not an hour drive like in New York but true no but yeah I mean he does a lot I mean he he’s my my chef he drives me and then in the summer he can still move a little bit so he’s kind of my punching bag in the summer might only last for like five more years but um till then I’m going use it as much like that’s amazing just kind of staying on that that theme of your backstory a little bit a lot of people might not know you’re born in Eugene Oregon but grew up in in Germany play professionally before you came to the United States just how much has that part of your story helped you here in the NBA uh helped a lot I mean I think um just growing up and playing in different situations um I mean I played my first professional game when I was 15 in Germany um moved to Lithuania by myself when I was 17 um got drafted by the Rockets moved around a little bit but I think at the end of the day um going through all those things I think just made me stronger as a person mentally and physically so I wouldn’t change anything I mean at the time you’re always like why is it happening to me but um at the end of the day it it worked out it just made me a better player and a better human being I remember seeing you at G League games you covering the OKC BL when you all play against them I used to kill you wow you know and you probably you know went up against Mark D coach a number of times and you think about him you know having earned his way to to a head coaching job and winning coach of the year you think about a guy like L Dort and Aaron Wiggins who is on a two-way deal I mean there are guys throughout this thunder organization who have maybe shared a similar journey to you does does that mean something to you to know that you’re kind of going to war with guys who have have earned those stripes the way that you have yeah it means a lot I mean even um Caruso is kind of kind of the same same path so a lot of guys what you guys say like dogs going to have to learn to bark a little bit I’m be barking that much more like a screamer so I might try to squeeze it in every now and then um but um yeah it’s having guys that’s that was the main thing looking in I mean I feel like there’s like a lot of guys that took the game serious I know they have fun off the court like you should but when the game starts you can always see how professional they are how dedicated they are to their craft so that’s something really exciting so another kind of interesting parallel for you coming from New York playing for a coach like Tom Tibido who we know is a very defensive minded coach you’re coming to an to a team who’s one of the better defensive teams in the NBA how exciting is that for you do do you feel like you’ll you’ll integrate to that pretty well that’s really exciting I mean I feel like that was one of the main main reasons why I wanted to come here I I saw that I could help the team I saw they were already at a good good stance already um I didn’t really want to go to a team where where I couldn’t win or couldn’t compete so um just having another opportunity to win and then also expand what I already do on defense but then also I can expand more on my offensive game because how um open-minded Markus so that’s something really excited I think we have a lot of great Defenders on the team um put a lot of different lineups um I mean I’m going to be excited for me and CHF to be on a court together I think that’s going to that’s going to be hard for a lot of teams especially defensively so yeah it’s exciting yeah a lot of creativity and willingness to try things here which um Can often yield results that are unexpected you know it’s a very exciting thing for players to embark on you were just talking about the seriousness and obviously you’re coming from a very serious program this is extremely Serious Program and you’re a serious player it seems like just watching you you know you’ll you’ll leave a game and you’ve got scratches all over your arms you’ve got punched in the head a couple times whatever but during the game it seems like you don’t notice any of that is that something that you’ve earned over the course of your career or is that like when you were 12 you were the exact same way um so I mean I think it got from my dad so my dad when he was playing he was more just a super physical guy so I think he had a year where he he like dislocated Five Guys shoulder just off a screen just off a screen so I mean he he always was very rough with me in practice and then we played together for one year so that wasn’t fun at practice either so um you play together with Dad professionally what was that like the the lighter version of bronnie but um it was great I mean I feel like just having him around um all the time kind of I mean I always always had a luxury to watch um I was always around the locker rooms but now really to see how the process was was fun and then just I mean not a lot of people can say they played with their dad profession amazing so that was fun but yeah you had mentioned um wanting to continue to expand your game going into your seventh year now what’s been the focus for you kind of this offseason things that you’re working on trying to add to your game um I mean the main thing is always availability I mean I feel like that’s one of my always been kind of my strengths these last couple years I mean you can have perfect game but if you only play 20 games it doesn’t mean much so I mean that’s always the main thing my approach to every summer is to make sure my body is always fully healthy and then um just getting back to shooting I mean I feel like um if you’re an NBA player you always have to adapt to certain roles so I mean that was going into New York that was not what they kind of needed at that point um even probably till last year my past in wasn’t really shown as much as it was with the Clippers so um think you just have to adapt and I think that’s if you’re professional you do that and so that’s what I did um so it’s shooting probably continuing to work on my past and continuing to work in kind of on the the handoff keep stuff just just kind of how they play more um free say so it’s that was also a thing I’m excited about just to kind of get back to back to those things yeah that five style and the orchestration from the top of the key I mean that the the relationship that you’ve shown that you can develop with guards over the course of your time and to see a roster with you know not just Shay and jdub but I mean Alex Caruso and a young guy and case Wallace how excited are you to be able to kind of start fostering and developing and you know helping some of these young guys along too in their in their careers in terms of putting them in good positions to succeed super exciting I mean um kind of looking back at what we talked about at the time you don’t get why you’re in so many different situations but um looking back I learned so much from everybody I mean you had James James Harden I play with who was also here CP Russ um PG yage so I yeah I just try to be a sponge wherever I’m at and I kind of know how to get Guys open know how to try to make guys life easier that’s kind of the reason why I have such a big impact on winning because it doesn’t really matter if I’m scoring 50 or I’m scoring zero to me winning is the biggest thing just making guys life easier last thing for you before we let you go I mean you’re new to Oklahoma City what’s been your impression of the the city so far have you gotten any recommendations places you want to try to go check out before you I went to the hotel good good start no I mean I went to the hotel the the facility um I mean here at the arena now so it’s it’s been nice I mean it’s very very very modern um yeah I didn’t know it was that modern on the side but the visitor side isn’t isn’t that as nice as as over here so um no but the the way they have everything structured especially from a basketball aspect is um I mean I’ve been on a c a lot of teams now top of the not and that’s one thing I didn’t really know before coming into how the facilities kind of are that was cool you’ve played in this Arena as a visitor obviously how excited are you to have that loud City paycom Center crowd on your side no I’m super excited I mean that was also a big factor too just coming into a situation knowing how the city is behind the team and you see kind of um the when you guys when you land and how the fans are like behind the fence so I think even just looking at little stuff like that I mean to us players it means a lot I mean having those those fans support you like that and so kind of seeing that from afar was always always kind of cool seeing so yeah yeah get ready for a topnotch welome first time you that CR building it’s going to be something it’ll be super loud welcome to Oklahoma City thanks so much for taking some time to talk to us today appreciate all right that wraps up today’s episode thank you so much for watching and listening be sure to like rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcast thank you so much to our producer Matt bishop and until next time Thunder up and catch you later

Newly acquired center Isaiah Hartenstein sits down with the TBU crew to talk about expanding his game, impressions on the organization, the basketball relationship with his father, his path to OKC, the excitement level of playing in front of Thunder fans inside Paycom Center and more.

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