Could Isaiah Hartenstein shoot more 3’s with the OKC Thunder? Summer League Preview!

Could Isaiah Hartenstein shoot more 3’s with the OKC Thunder? Summer League Preview!

the Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Isaiah hartenstein and introduced him to the media did he reveal that he’s going to shoot more threes what’s his role look like and your summer league preview you are locked on Thunder your daily Oklahoma City Thunder podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day let’s get it going on the lockdown th podcast on the lock down podcast Network your team every day I am your host meet a member and inside the Thunder beat writer Thunder on SI Ryland Styles follow me on Twitter rinor Styles follow the show on Twitter at L thunderpod on today’s show we’re diving into the Oklahoma City Thunder introducing Isaiah hartenstein into the media and so what did he say he talked a lot about his uh potential to to maximize that as just a 26- year old big man what does his role look like what does he look like next to chat plus your summer league uh preview and your mailbag questions all on today’s show which is brought to you by our good friends over at FanDuel make every moment more as the playoffs wind down and conclude the sports you know never stop sporting quite like they do right now but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day All Summer Long by visiting fanduel.com uh right now to get started so let’s start with the Isaiah hartenstein press conference so the Thunder were able to officially sign hartenstein on Saturday as the moratorium lifts and so obviously every deal that was reported um from Sunday till Saturday uh it was just that a report it is not official no move is official uh in until the the Thunder send out their press release that you see all of us tweet out uh within a few seconds of each other the deal was official on Saturday and then uh shortly after that we went and talked with Isaiah hardenstein uh to discuss you know just him signing with the Thunder and all that goes with that the biggest standout from these two interviews because we also talked to Sam pry the biggest standout was how much that they each harped on development maximizing uh you know you know growing his game and harp on the fact that he’s only 26 years old and that there’s still know areas to improve his game you know kind of kind of conveying a message of like this this is not uh a finished project you know a a finished you know product for hartenstein yet and so there’s a couple quotes in this realm that stand out then we’re going to dive into uh what it could mean so the first quote from hartenstein is quote Yeah that’s definitely something I I think that you’re an NBA player you have to adapt to certain roles and that’s what I had to do in New York I think that the passing only came out probably last year so My First Year I had to adapt to a certain role that’s something that I felt I can really bring talking about his shooting expand my game and as I was talking about before I just get back to shooting and the aspects of that because I uh before I was shooting it so I really want to get back to that so talking about how that can make him a more versatile player uh talking about how he wants to get back to shooting the basketball uh something that he did with the Clippers did not do with the New York Knicks at all uh and that was interesting to hear from hartstein because hardenstein went second from Sam pry and this is what Sam pry said um about hardenstein he said I mean just following his trajectory for his career over time he’s been in the NBA uh his units play well together he’s got a great mentality for the team I think his game also makes a difference in that way because he’s a connecting player people want uh you know to play with players like that and he’s worked extremely hard to get to this point in his career he’s still very young so that’s one of the things that that we’re really excited about is he’s a young player that still developing exploring his game and we’re excited to do that with him so whenever you read The Tea Leaves of these two quotes it it really uh lets your mind wander to the fact that potentially his game will still evolve and change and look differently in Oklahoma City and if there was ever an organization who is all about roster exploration all about uh development and all about kind of letting these players you know figure out what suits them I I think it is Oklahoma City so when you look at Haren Stein’s you know career it’s been an interesting one to get to a $30 million payday like you typically don’t take this route to a $30 million a year payday but he goes from Houston to Denver to Cleveland to the Clippers to New York and he he won the g-league finals MVP in there um and he just kind of has has bounced around a little bit as a kind of a journeyman that eventually found his foot to to a long uh stable NBA career with the Clippers he shot uh 46% from three that is obviously a career high it was only like 30 attempts total though and so it was in his bag 14 for 30 with the Clippers was something that you like to see as just a wrinkle right it wasn’t something that that that propped up his game it wasn’t something that uh the Clippers relied on heavily but it was an additional wrinkle now the next season in New York he did shoot eight for 37 which you know dramatically dips the the average down to just you know 21% and then he almost completely eliminated the shot last year going one for three and and you know you can look up how many of those were just like half court heaves or buzzer beating heaves either from the shot clock or game clock so his three-point shooting to this point in his career six attempts five attempts six attempts zero attempts six attempts 30 attempts 37 attempts and three attempts for the entire total season so the largest output has been 37 that’s also been his worst shooting year but he does have that 14 for 30 wrinkle and the Thunder do have a couple things working for them primarily they have chip England who is the the best shooting coach in the world they also have you know a history of of somehow tapping into big men shooting potential now Chad holgren is is an excellent shooter but he was that way his whole lifespan right his high school career his college career he was really good last year from three especially whenever he was rested and things like that the interesting anecdote would be Jay will who Jay will could not shoot a lick in college like that was not a part of his game very few people envisioned that it that it could be part of his game but with the Thunder he’s now turned into that’s that’s his second most valuable asset his first is still his passing he’s he’s an exceptional passer but the second is a three-point shot and they’ve really tapped into that and really tapped into it uh from you know relatively out of the blue whereas with with hardenstein you have a few indicators of like he did shoot 14 for30 before and mind you that 14 for 30 not a huge like sample obviously it’s only it’s only 30 shot attempts but there was in a season in which uh he played only 68 games and again this is not going to be something that like um you heavily lean on for a seven-footer but you have that indicator you also have uh you you know a look at his free throw percentage which last year hit that 70% Mark for his career he’s at a 69% mark but most importantly you have his toucher around the rim on floaters which is a shot that he really relies on over and over again he’s shooting 61% so like he has really nice touch so he has really nice touch he has some three-point production in his past you know i’llbe it a little bit murky like a little bit of uh maybe fool’s gold and he’s into an environment that will let him shoot and that will not only let him shoot but but kind of uh reward that shot with quality coaching uh and and with the luxury of of development in the sense of like when you hear and whenever you hear it discuss like Tom tibo style he shrinks his rotations um it seems like he’s very much like cut and dry of this is the way we play we’re going to do it every single night and get ready to just load up on minutes right and and get ready to play our style of basketball every single night whereas the Thunder um even on their way to 57 wins last year it was not as though they sacrificed you know developmental opportunities they still mix in match lineups they still mixed in match roles for players so they’re more willing to do that sort of thing even if it might uh not be the absolute best way to utilize a player in that moment and technically speaking sure they could shrink in their rotation every to nine players and and perhaps have a have a better season but again the proofs in the pudding of like the Thunder for as much as people might grief it the Thunder have won 57 games playing this way of of elongated rotations and and and trying to explore uh different avenues for players to find success so it’s interesting I think as always the truth is somewhere in the middle do I think that like hardenstein is going to come in and just start launching threes and he’s gotten paid now he feels secure and now all he wants to do is just take 20 threes a game obviously not I I don’t Envision this being something that you look back on and say Haren Stein’s completely changed his identity I also don’t think that this is just a complete Bluff and they’re not going to let him shoot I think what this is going to look like is closer to how it looked with the with the Clippers it was not a featured part of his game they didn’t force feed him opportunities from three it came within the flow and you’re going to see I think a career high in three-point shot attempts only because he’ll be in the games more I would imagine you’ll see a career high in a lot of things for isaah hartstein because he’s GNA play games His Highest uh you know game total was last year playing all 82 and he only had eight starts in that sequence and he played 19 minutes a game uh you know this past season he he he had 75 games played and he started 49 of them uh averaging 25 points 25 minutes per game minutes per game might hover around 25 27 28 something like that um but I think that he’ll get more touches and he’ll get more opportunity with the ball in his hands and thus that’ll uptick I think a lot of different categories for him including you know three-point shot because remember New York while they played him more also wanted the real back in the Reigns of him shooting and so the number to beat for total three points three-pointers taken in a season is 37 you know with his first season in New York I think the beat that now do I think that it will just be um a you know demolition of that number like do I think that it’ll just be you know 90 threes in a season no I think that there’ll be somewhere kind of just in the Middle where at best it swings a game like a singular game and perhaps if it’s in a big enough moment we’ll look back on that and think that it was like a a massive sticking point of his career season or whatever and at worst doesn’t really harm you like I don’t really think they’ll let it get to a point where like you’re you’re you are playing him in such a way that it takes away from his screening ability and rebounding ability and connective passing ability like I I just don’t think that they’re going to do that personally so I wouldn’t get too high or too low on the whole three-point conundrum I don’t think he’s gonna turn to the next great stretch five I also don’t think that he’s gonna like not take any threes at all I think that he’ll get to a happy medium now coming up we’ll talk more about hein’s introductory press conference plus talk about summer league which starts tonight and take your mailbag questions but first want to say right now but our good friends over at FanDuel check out FanDuel today because we all love sports I love sports so much that I never want them to stop but with the playoffs ending uh you know the games have have slowed down there are fewer games on and the sports are not quite sportsing like we all want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets uh and that is perfect for me whenever you’re in the mood uh for FanDuel because all summer long FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost and a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone all day every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com and go there to get started right now to make the most of your summer FanDuel is the official sports book betting partner of Major League Baseball but perhaps you only love basketball and that’s what you’re really interested in guess what season might be over for the regular season but you can even bet on summer league if you want to the Thunder are currently five and a half Point underdogs against the 76ers to kick off the Salt Lake City Classic but you can also bet on future bets such as winning the NBA Championship where the Thunder have the second best odds to win the championship only lagging behind the Boston in Celtics ranking ahead of the Nuggets ahead of the Sixers ahead of New York ahead of Dallas they’re the second team in the title odds according to FanDuel go check it out today at fel.com lockdown we’re back on the lockdown Thunder podcast on the lockdown podcast Network your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you taking Thunder basketball well you look at the hartenstein uh press conference we’ve talked about him potentially you know expanding his game developing his game he also talked about playing next to Chad and he said that Chad is a high IQ player he said that chat’s very skilled and that they can play really good together defensively uh two of the top Rim protectors on the court at the same time it’s not easy to to score on that obviously he’s really excited about that opportunity um and he’s excited about how he said quote I’ll have to do a little more of the dirty work so Chad can chill a little bit as he was kind of laughing at that um and he’s he again reiterated he’s excited and that chat’s one of the most talented bigs in the NBA and so him him and Shad on the court together will be very deadly and he’s excited about it he just kept repeating how excited he was about playing with Chad homr this is another area where like it’s nauy sexy overthe toop you know just flamboyant take but the the truth is I believe that the Thunder will play these two guys together when necessary but ideally will let them play separate from each other ideally you’d want to spread out that those as as har I mentions those two high-end Rim protectors you’d want to spread that out over the course of 48 minutes a luxury the Thunder did not have last year the Thunder did not have that luxury of whenever chats off the floor you can still protect the rim they had to figure it out in other ways they had to uh do it more of in a team collapse heavy style which of course as you saw leads to some some easy spray out to the corners like they they had the cut Corners to to be able to negate some of that some of that you know Rim threat from the opposition h allows you to play a tad more similarly to the way you can play with ch on floor and try to get out on some of those Corner Shooters more easily as you see the difference in like when Chet’s on there of course they’re still rotating they’re still collapsing but whenever chat’s on the floor it’s kind of easier to spray out as much as they might still hurt you we saw that with PJ Washington saw that with derck Jones Jr but it’s a little bit easier to to manage whenever Chets in the game parkstein gives you that ability to play that way so you want to be able to spread those minutes out over the course of things however with that being said I also believe that the Thunder will play Chad and hartstein a heck of a lot more than the 2% of minutes that chat played with jayw so last year you know Sam pry at the ex interview mentioned how uh you know that they only played Jay and Cat 2% of their minutes together so like that that was it in the totality of the minutes played only 2% had double bigs that is going to change I think and you have the luxury to change what I think that hartenstein gives you is what Sam prey said at his at his introductory press conference is that like this team um has not sacrificed anything about their Identity or anything about what made them a 57 win team last year but they’ve gotten more diverse in how they can how they can counter you how they can beat you or they can play you and so now you’ve gotten the luxury of you can run double bigs effectively you can match up with bigger teams uh and you can just see what you need to do you can react better to these scenarios you can still try play those bigger teams off the floor with your speed and your small ball style and and being more athletic but if that’s not working you now have a curve ball you can go to and if nothing else you you now have a more illustrious rotation to help you cover all these minutes very effectively it it’s why the thunder are the second you know title odds in the NBA right now only behind the Celtics because they can just truly on paper right now when healthy match up with every single team and every single style they say style makes fights in the playoffs and trying to win a championship it’s about the Styles and the matchups the Thunder have a matchup counter for every possibility and so that’s really exciting stuff for Oklahoma setting now the lot’s been made to the same point of playing with chat what’s gonna be the role is he gonna start is he gonna come off the bench Can you can you really pay a guy you know $30 million to come off the bench prey mentioned uh that quote we don’t make promises on minutes we don’t make promises on roles we make promises on environments that’s what he said and and he later went on to say that like cruso and hartenstein they’ve not been harping and like asking and and demanding any sort of roles and that’s that’s why they felt so comfortable bringing these guys in I think that it will be a little less rigid than last season probably right because last season if those five guys were healthy Shay you know giddy dub Dort Chad they’re the Five Guys on the floor first five on the floor if those guys are healthy I I I think that they’ll want to have a lineup that they go to the most often to start games for the sake of comfortability continuity uh and just allowing your players to find a rhythm and understand what it’s expected of them and their role and kind of their timing but I do think that they’ll be more willing to even with all things equal even with with all things healthy I think they’ll be more willing to adjust that on the Fly depending on the matchup at hand that particular night and so that’s where can come in I I I would not imagine that they start both heart and sign chat for the majority of games I think when you look at the split the majority of games I think will be started with like Caruso in place of the goody slot and you run that lineup but I don’t think that they’ll hesitate to go to double bigs to start games if they need to but I I do think that like the price tag is misguiding people of of well he has to start because he’s getting paid $30 million a year I the Thunder I don’t think will operate that way at all and part of the reason why you paid them $3 million a year was to do the things we just mentioned before of like you you want to you know now have your front quotation ironed out whereas if you play them together and and they’re big men they’re not like conditioned to play 48 minutes uh you then have to take them off together and now you’re back to square one so to say so it’s going to be interesting to see how they manage uh to to navigate that with hardstein and with Chad and and with all those all those things the last funny bit of info from the press conference was like uh I forgot how it got brought up I think I think so I know how it got brought up someone asked him you know has anyone from the team reached out to you and he said that Shay reached out to him and then he used that to tell a story of like he saw people freaking out on Twitter like oh Shay and and harste follow each other and he mentioned that that he’s followed Shay since the hoop Summit which is back in 2016 and so like they’ve been following each other forever and so heart and sign got a chuckle out of like people taking that and running with it uh which it ended up being that he did sign Oklahoma City but it was not as though Shay leaked anything by following him they follow each other for a long time uh talking about summer league there’s a lot on the table to discuss it starts tonight in Salt Lake City the Thunder will be playing in two Summer League games two summer league circuits uh which will span Salt Lake City in Vegas and will go for seven games total this is a huge opportunity for development we’re going to get into the roster and to the Salt Lake City schedule into story lines to follow all coming up plus your mailbag questions but first one say right now better friends over at better help check out better help today right now better help is awesome because sometimes you know we all have things we need to talk about whether you know it’s it’s just something that’s festering with you um you know kind of in your life or whatever the case is we understand that like you you need to get things off your chest you need to talk about things really really um helpful for you to allow you to talk these things out and better help can do just that better help uh is the benefit of therapy entirely online soon around on your schedule so I think that like sometimes at least for me like you can maybe say that 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month at better help we’re back on the lockdown Thunder podcast on lockon podcast. or your teams every day thank you so much for making us your first listen every single morning every single day we’re here for you taken Thunder basketball well let’s talk about the summer league roster Adam Flagler AJ Mitchell Dylan Jones Trey Mitchell Jack Goki uh Alex ducas but buddy beheim uh malie Leons from Bradley who had a good workout with the Thunder Clarence Daniels cor MC Ryan Usman Jen keante Johnson uh Kyler Kelly who played for the main Celtics and lost to the gag final with the Thunder uh to the blue now joins the thunder in summer league the inverse of this jamas Ramsey beat the Celtics in the g-league finals and he’s playing with the Celtics summer league team Miller cop Hunter Maldonado Jaden sherford uh and dcoin Walton as well as KJ Williams Jen for is a excellent Sharpshooter so like that’s your roster for summer league sou Lake City will be coached by cam Woods the Vegas stin will be coached by Daniel Dixon and when you look at this roster this is really for the Thunder sios like this is a very fun roster but it’s really for the sickos the rookies of course you’re gonna want to see AJ Mitchell you’re gonna want to see Dylan Jones like both those guys we’ve talked about a lot on this show we talked with Adam Flagler in an exclusive podcast on Friday it was a lot of fun go back and listen to that he talked about you know his journey from last summer league to this summer league because he got hurt right before the draft last year it kept him out from from the majority of the Season he came back halfway through and helped the blue win a championship he also divulged stuff about Sam prey and about the organization that I thought was really interesting go check that out Flagler is a fantastic sharp shooter and playmaker from the blue AJ Mitchell electrifying score in college how does that translate to uh the NBA Dylan Jones the unorthodox nature of his game he has listed as a forward for those of you that that want to cry about cards he is listed as a forward on the roster uh Trey Mitchell really interesting like 69ine small ball Center type that I think is going to be very fun to watch in summer league I don’t think that’ll have uh much Stang power potentially with the blue but he’ll be fun nonetheless Jack Goki this guy this guy could be a summertime fan favorite this guy will either not play at all Ali you Allah uh Ryan spangle or he’ll get in there and launch 10 threes a game he’ll make like eight of them and people will be clamoring for Jack GOI to be a part of the organization it would be really fun if he made his way to the blue I’m not really sure what his aspirations are in that aspect but worth a shot you know when weth seeing Alex ducas from Australia who played at St Mary’s um and shot 40% from three averaged about 10 points per game with St Mary’s uh he is reportedly signed to a two-way contract by sham Sania that two-way deal has not been official whereas flagler’s two-way deal that he signed in February it’s a multi-year deal that’s already been made official by the team um you know they haven’t they haven’t changed that aspect yet that was official back in February a multi-year two two-way deal um uh AJ Mitchell’s two-way deal was made official by the team on Saturday no official word yet from the team on Alex Duke so keep that in mind as you move forward it is reported though by Shams and Shams typically doesn’t get things wrong just make sure that you know that it’s not technically official yet with Dukas as you see him play in Summer League uh buddy Bim buddy beheim of course legendary Syracuse Orange player with the legendary uh nepotism opportunities that’s a big word using right used right now in the NBA sphere uh played 20 games for the Pistons last year fine shooter doesn’t really move the needle potentially an OKC blue Legend who knows uh melvie Leon uh I really like them at Baylor similar similarly to uh Trey Mitchell kind of this 66 6768 depending on where you look um you know forward could slide down to small ball five at least you could in college can you do that at the NBA level who knows we won’t really get that indication either um in summer league because Summer League will have some of the elements of like the G League where it’s like no one’s really looking for these stocky huge centers and so you’re not going to face very many of them and so if you’re you’re if you’re trying to gauge the NBA size leap it’s going to be a little bit difficult uh at Summer League compared to what it would be in a traditional um setting uh Clarence Davis from New Hampshire um I think he’s really fun I think he can jump out of the gym and really spark transition I think that he has full spacing potential uh I think he’s worth an investment for the blue to try to see what they can get out of him especially given his tools of like I think he has a really good defensive potential really good play finishing potential and you have a coaching staff that can really maximize that but the leap from New Hampshire of course to these levels is pretty significant so let’s see what he getss to get to do in these summer league sessions and Beyond cor MC Ryan seven billionth year college player he’s been playing since the pke administration finished with the tar Hills he shot two years ago with another name 40% from three there’s no harm whenever you got to fill out a roster and especially for the Thunder who’s got to fill out like a roster um of not only like 18 guys but 18 guys who you want to play because you’re going to play seven games like you need the depth you play three games back to back to back right out of the gate so you’re going to want some of this depth I feel like and so taking a shot on on these guys who like could shoot might not be doing much of anything else it’s worth the shot because we’ve seen that shooting is the currency of just basketball right now uh moving forward with uh Kyler Kelly we mentioned him before he plays with the main Celtics last year was really good for them um and lost in the G League finals Miller cop played for the blue last year another guy that’s a three-point specialist but not anything else if that shot’s not falling you got to really squint to see his impact on the floor Hunter milado he was a guy that took advantage of this last year he came in last year on summer league undrafted from Wyoming uh made his Mark and became the blues like lead table setter the blue played an interesting style they didn’t have like a traditional point guard uh but malado filled that role and filled it reg nicely uh in gening the team to a g- league championship Jaden shakleford one of the best movement Shooters in the G he’s always fun to watch in summer league so he’s like a summer league standout where like everybody loves him because he can shoot so well and people just kind of Envision uh what it could look like in the NBA you know I I I love to watch Shaka for I love to cover Shaka for in the G League being someone who actually goes and covers the blue like he’s really fun to talk to really really uh nice with his time he does not have the defensive traps to play in the NBA and that’s what’s really held him back all this time and so I don’t know if that’s going to change at this point jaquin Walton really you know solid season defensively from uh from Memphis last year inefficient score how much of that was quality of looks versus like just non-touch from him because he couldn’t score inside or outside The Arc uh we’ll see we’ll see what that looks like at the NBA level but it’s worth a shot because he’s really physically gifted um in that department for for defensively uh KJ Williams the last player on the roster that you don’t know about uh played for the blue last year from LSU he is an excellent blue big excellent G League big because he stays vertical at The Rim he really disrupts shots might not rack up a ton of blocks but he wraps WS racks up a ton of like hey that shot didn’t go in because KJ was there and because KJ was vertical uh there’s not really a stat for that necessarily but just watching him that’s what you can see offensively really good pick and roll partner really good Rim finisher but he’s been trying to expand his game to go from Beyond The Arc he looks really good in warm-ups doing it at the at the ingame level it’s been hit or miss it’s not been steady and so that’s going to be what’s going to be the missing key to get him over the hump if he tries to uh climb the ladder there now the two other names you already know them Usman Jang K Johnson uh K Johnson is an unrestricted free agent they renounced his rights on Saturday to make way for hartenstein people took that as being more than it is all that changed on Saturday was that KY Johnson went from went from a restricted free agent to an unrestricted free agent that’s it that does not rule out anything for the future does not rule out anything for for what’s to come for ke Johnson that’s all it changed was the number before restri before free agent that was it either you or R he’s now a you um I think he’s going to be spectacular in summer league he was awesome last year for the blue uh you know he can he can score inside the arc he can really Splash in threes he improves his playmaking each game as it went along defensively he can switch I I’d say two through four he could switch and he’s really physical on the glass he plays bigger than he is he’s one of those guys like is only 66 but when you watch him if you did not know his listed height you would think that he’s a genuine you know power forward type of guy because of how aggressive he is because of how physical he is on the glass and then Usman Jang Usman Jang entering his third year in the summer league and I think that there’s context being lost in this first and foremost is being in summer league for a third straight season a good thing in general no historically it’s not good to see a guy uh go and and be in summer league for three straight years was this always the outcome for Usman Jang especially on draft night yes yes like the the the the organization has been screaming from the mountain tops how much did they view this as a project you know player as evident by last season where they just parked him with the blue and let him work and let him develop and he’s still 21 years old and he’s the youngest player on this summer league roster now with that being said there there’s some of the context he also needs to like have a have a summer where everything from the g- league translates to summer league and and that will also get lost because here’s the thing his rookie season he struggled in both leagues what you saw from him about you know not having enough aggression not wanting the basketball enough uh you know kind of quote unquote floating around out there in the NBA level his rookie year that’s also what he did in the g- league level his rookie year so he was not he’s never been one of these guys who just goes to the blue and lights it up and plays an uncharacteristic style of basketball like you saw from treay man like you saw at times from poku like he was never one of those guys in year two he made significant progress and the Thunder were very calculated with his development with the blue last season they they they grabbed them and they and they kind of made him uh into this hey we’re not going to just let you play 48 minutes straight We’re Not Gonna Let You just play on the ball for the for the majority of your possessions they still explore that aspect of his game they still got him on the ball but they they had concertive games where they would go in there and only play him in these like five minute Spurs to to get used to what his NBA role will look like should he develop into that slot so like they they’ve really invested in him he’s made a really really positive impact in terms of his aggression level in terms of putting a chest on guys when he drives in terms of mixing it up on the glass he won them a playoff game by Soaring up and getting a rebound and getting fouled like he’s done all the things he’s checked all the boxes at the G League level besides shooting you’ve got to see that translate to Summer League because not no one is really watching the the G League there’s people you know that that are trying to inform you on opinions that aren’t watching the G league so like it’s really tough to to convey that to everybody uh he he’s made a lot of progress but you’ve got to start to see it translate and so summer league it’s not going to make a break what he is but he’s to the point now where like he did it enough in the g- league and we mentioned how the summer league will be a similar style to the G League that what you want to see from mus majang in year three summer league is that he comes in and he graduates right you you saw uh last year J played a half of basketball now be clear just because that Usman Jang might not play only one half of basketball this season does not mean anything because this this guy still needs development more than JB does JB really played that half partly because he just demanded to I I think you know personally that’s speculation I think he just wanted to play really badly because he missed playing basketball and he wanted to play with chat um like it was a it was a different circumstance for him I think all things being equal and like there was no chat appeal there was none of that I think you wouldn’t have seen J play just like you’re not seeing KAS play but I think that you know me speculating again I think that it would be something where like he wanted to play really bad because of Chad uh and he wouldn’t have played otherwise so I don’t think that us is only gonna play a half a basketball like JB did but I do think that he will play to an extent where like it’ll be very obvious he’s he’s too good for this level he’s too good for this summer league level that might take one game it might take two it might take you know the Trey man route where he went like I think he Trey man I think went three Salt Lake City games and then one Vegas game uh but I think there’ll be somewhere in that ballpark where it look really good and then from there like no one’s going to change their opinion nor should you it’s just summer league um but from there you you kind of move forward into the season now where you can get into a sticky situation is like if he does not look really good in summer league and does not look functional then you start to to raise some questions but don’t be shocked if he does look good because he’s been looking really good in the G League uh so you know we can U talk about us Jing of course on tonight’s recap show of this game we went a little bit long talking about hartstein the schedule for Salt Lake City July 8th against the Sixers uh is tonight at on ESPN July 9th against the Jazz at 800m and July 10th against the Grizzlies at 6 PM um to round out Sock City then we’ll regroup for Vegas we went a little long today so your mailbag questions I promise we be on the end of tomorrow’s recap because it’s a summer league recap show uh we’re not going to like act like it’s the the end of the world uh or like the I’ll be all of game so at the end of the show tomorrow we will we will answer all your questions therefore you can still get your questions in either Down Below on YouTube or uh you can go uh and leave them on Twitter at Ryland Styles and until tonight as we recap the first Summer League game be good and be good to one another

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen the signing of Isaiah Hartenstein go official and introduced him to the media. Hartenstein could shoot the ball more from beyond the arc, talked about his pairing with Chet Holmgren and potential of starting. Plus the OKC Thunder released their Summer League roster, what does it look like and what should you know about the top storylines? Ousmane Dieng is playing in his third straight summer league, is that a big deal?

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