Although he did show plenty of promise with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Isaiah Hartenstein did not receive much meaningful playing time in his first 2.5 seasons with the Houston Rockets and then Denver Nuggets. He got a bunch of that with Houston’s G League Affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and was actually the MVP of the 2019 G League Finals, but he did not get PT often with Houston.
Hartenstein then did have more of a role with Denver in spelling Nikola Jokic at times, albeit that was still only in 9.1 minutes per outing. He had 3.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in those appearances before this now-past season’s trade deadline in what was 30 appearances.
For context, Hartenstein was previously waived by the Rockets in the offseason of 2020, and then would eventually sign with Denver via two-year, minimum deal.
The second season of that is set to have a $1.8 million player option for next season, and before Hartenstein was dealt to the Cavaliers, along with two future second-round picks near the deadline in exchange for JaVale McGee, it appeared he could very well pick that up.
Hartenstein, as we noted, was a pleasant surprise for Cleveland post-deadline though, and looks to have been quite the trade acquisition that they should try to keep around.
In what would end up being 16 games for him with the Cavs in 2020-21, the 23-year-old averaged 8.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 blocks in 17.9 minutes per contest. And before Hartenstein would miss 10 games in the closing batch of the season because of a concussion, and then the team seemingly wanting to keep him preserved, he was playing really well.
Point being, given what he showed in his outings in a backup 5 role behind Jarrett Allen typically, the Cavaliers would be wise to re-sign Hartenstein. It’d seem unlikely that he ends up picking up that player option, and could potentially be re-signed for say, a two-year deal for $4-6 million per year?
In the case that Hartenstein is back next season, of which I believe he will be, what should we expect from him?
We’ll hit on two realistic expectations for Hartenstein next season here for the Cavs.
We’ll get into that next, with the first realistic expectation for him.
Realistic expectation #1 for Hartenstein with the Cavs in 2021-22: He’s a constant presence on the interior on both ends
As we alluded to, Hartenstein impressed in his PT for the Cavaliers following the 2021 deadline, and frankly, exceeded my expectations, and I’d imagine those of most Cavs fans.
As a result, in the event that he is back next season/perhaps looking onward, of which I believe he will be, the first realistic expectation for him is that he’s a constant presence on the interior offensively, and defensively, he’s impactful.
Hartenstein again didn’t play much in the NBA in meaningful minutes before coming to the Cavs, but he did show plenty of potential in the G League. With the Cavaliers, his finishing touch with both hands made a difference, whether that was as a roller, at times as a low-post player and on occasion, even as a driver against opposing bigs.
I’d expect that should end up being the case again next season in minutes backing up Allen, who seems highly likely to be back and locked up long-term. Hartenstein did show capabilities as a lob threat too, and that was also nice to see from the 7-footer.
From there, on the defensive end, I would again expect Hartenstein to alter his share of shots in his PT for Cleveland, in the event he’s back.
Hartenstein did have a healthy 2.4 blocks per-36 minutes with the Cavs, and for his career, has had a block rate of 5.4 percent. That sort of thing should aid players such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, perhaps Kevin Love, Cedi Osman/Taurean Prince and/or others.
Now, of course, Hartenstein has had fouling issues, as evidenced by a career 6.9 fouls per-36 minutes, and 5.6 per-36 with Cleveland. He does need to show growth in that regard in coming years/next season hopefully, but for a backup 5 primarily and for a young one at that, it’s not something that I’m greatly concerned about in that sense.
He can progress in that area with film study/experience game-to-game too, I’d think.
Realistic expectation #2 for Hartenstein with the Cavs in 2021-22: His passing is impactful and we see more flashes of perimeter shooting
The second realistic expectation for Hartenstein for Cleveland in 2021-22 is that we’ll see him continue to be an impactful passer in a secondary playmaking sense. He had 5.0 assists per-36 minutes in those 16 games with the Cavaliers, and even with that being a small sample size, what he showcased in that way then shouldn’t be discounted.
The passing abilities were on display for Hartenstein in the G League with the Vipers, but with the Cavs, those from him in NBA competition and with him being on a new team, I thought those were especially meaningful.
There are times when he does force things a bit to get dishes to cutters, sure, albeit his vision and timing led to plenty of good feeds to other Cavs, and he did demonstrate nice feel when doubled leading to passes to Dean Wade, Sexton and others.
I’d imagine the impactful passing from him will again be seen next season, and he should be more comfortable as he gets more time with other Cavaliers at that.
Moreover, to reiterate, while we could potentially see Hartenstein sign elsewhere this upcoming offseason, I would imagine that with how the Cavs gave him plenty of meaningful PT game-to-game, he’d likely be back. That should be how things go from the Cavaliers’ perspective, too.
And hopefully that ends up playing out, from a depth/1-2 punch standpoint with Allen.