Isaiah Hartenstein steadily increasing in value to Knicks
Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein blocks a shot by Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert during the second half of an NBA game, Monday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
As the Knicks have begun to settle the pieces into place following the major trade that shook the franchise the fit and function for OG Anunoby has been weighed in relation to Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle. Anunoby' impact has been felt down the roster as the guard-heavy roster has seen its minutes crunch alleviated.
And while rumors circulate about what the next move could be, seeking an elite shooting guard as the star target for the Knicks front office or even a backup veteran point guard, perhaps there is no spot more important than the one getting the least attention.
The Knicks started the season with possibly the best center tandem in the NBA — not a Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid No. 1, but two players who anchor the team in different ways. But the future is a less certain one.
Robinson has shown to be injury-prone, possibly lost for the rest of the season and playoffs. And equally troubling, Isaiah Hartenstein is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and as the Knicks take care of other pieces, he might be as important as any move they make. Like Immanuel Quickley before him, Hartenstein might be proving worthy of a big contract from a team in need of a starting center — a thought that he admitted has entered his mind.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Hartenstein said. “I think it’s a normal thing in life. I would be lying if I said I never thought about it. The main thing right now is focusing on this season. I think through that everything will come to what I want to happen. I love New York. I feel like if we can both get to that agreement. I would rather have that continuity and be here. That’s the main thing.”
While Robinson rehabilitates from ankle surgery. Hartenstein has filled in ably, averaging 6.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in seven starts. He averaged 7.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in the 13 games starting Dec. 8 in Boston when Robinson went down.
In Wednesday night's 116-100 win over the Bulls at the Garden, Hartenstein finished with 10 points and had career highs in rebounds (20) and blocks (5).
The Knicks defense has dipped badly since Robinson was sidelined — ranked 3rd in the NBA before the injury and over the 13 games they rank 27th, ahead of only Washington, the Nets and Detroit in defensive rating. Anunoby should help turn that around. He is an elite defensive stopper with the ability to switch onto almost any player. But the numbers accentuate the importance of the position to the Knicks.
So as they consider next moves there is a nagging problem that might be more important than the star-powered rumors. Robinson’s importance to the defense and rebounding — the foundation of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau’s game plan — is unquestioned, but his durability is, a not uncommon trait among the NBA’s big men.
In his place, Hartenstein has eased the absence in different ways. Defensively, he’s not Robinson, but he did impress Monday by blocking three shots at the rim from Rudy Gobert. But his offense has changed the way the Knicks play, providing a different dimension from Robinson with his passing skills and his ability to find cracks in the defense cutting to the rim, even if his finish isn’t as impressive as Robinson slamming in a lob.
“I think just giving the team another opportunity to really see something different,” Hartenstein said. “I think before I came here, I was probably one of the best big passers in the league, and so I think it just gives us another opportunity to play off that.”
While Anunoby appeared to help meld the pieces together in his debut, Thibodeau said that he envisioned a bigger role for Hartenstein now, utilizing him as a piece to help run the offense through with him flashing to the middle and the team playing off that.
“And then it allows Julius to space to the corner. Now we can hit him and now it’s a long close-out,” Thibodeau said. “So just playing, use his instincts, I want him running the floor. Then he can always, after he runs the floor, come flash back up to the elbow and I want us to trigger action. When we trigger action, when he gets the ball at the elbow if there’s a cut and there’s a replace, maybe we get the cut, maybe we get the replace, but it’s hard to script your defense for those actions. Dribble at the corner, overplay, we get the backdoor. And he’s got a good feel for that, so I want to add that to the mix as well. It’s something that we’ve done but I think we probably could do it a little bit more, particularly with the second group.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
