Thunder’s Isaiah Hartenstein praises offseason coaching for Chet Holmgren connection

Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein revealed he sat with head coach Mark Daigneault to talk about ways of improving his offense before the starting center joined Chet Holmgren for offseason workouts in California. And while Hartenstein campaigns for Holmgren’s first All-Star candidacy, he’s off to the best start of his NBA career.

Hartenstin is averaging 12.2 points at a 67.1% clip, which is the third-highest shooting percentage in the association, 10.7 rebounds, the eighth-highest in the NBA, and 1.3 steals per game this season. After Wednesday’s 113-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hartenstein addressed what’s led to his newfound focus and high-level production.

“Just being so focused in the process, it’s been amazing. Me and Mark sat down before the season. Just tried to kind of figure out how I can get better, and I think I really bought into what he said,” Hartenstein said. “It’s been helping a lot. Just getting more easier looks. Not just trying to shoot floaters all the time. I think it’s helped my percentage a lot.”

Hartenstein has been much more assertive offensively, which he says is a byproduct of his offseason workouts with Holmgren and NBA shooting coach Drew Hanlen.

“Me and Chet have been playing great together. I think us being in LA, with Drew Hanlen, helped a lot,” Hartenstein added. “For me, it’s been great. I think, as a team, in general, we’ve been having a lot of fun. We’ve been so process-focused, knowing that you can’t look too far ahead. You have to be in the present moment. You can’t skip steps, and I think that’s what made us have such a good start.

“We’re not really looking too far in the Finals or playing in that right now. We know we have to go through certain stages throughout the season to get to where we want to get to.”

Isaiah Hartenstein says offseason workouts led to impressive start

Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein is having the best start of his career, as his dad, Florian Hartenstein, told ClutchPoints his son has a lot figured out. For Isaiah, spending time with his teammate, Chet Holmgren, helped in many ways, on and off the court.

Hartenstein revealed just how significant the time spent with Holmgren and NBA shooting coach Drew Hanlen was for him over the summer.

“They were big. Just sitting down, talking, how we can get each other easier looks, playing pick up in the offseason. Then, Chet’s just being a better player — he’s been great this year,” Hartenstein said. “He makes my life easy. He makes great reads. He’s been on balance — defensively — he’s been great. I think he’s playing an All-Star season and we just want to keep getting better and better.”

Hartenstein and the Thunder will host the Suns on Friday.

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