This Hartenstein thread tells a cautionary tale about a FO chasing wins through short term roster fixes rather than developing talented younger players.
Hartenstein has willed himself into a bonafide top center in the league. This is what happens when coaches believe in a player and their ability to excel. I don’t think the Rockets could have gotten this out of Hartenstein, heck Stephen Silas was suffocating Sengun and his development. And Sengun one year removed from Silas should have wary an allstar selection.
Tilman dumped this guy for luxury tax savings. At the time I was like why are we giving up on this guy so early lol.
I imagine he would have been let lose in a lot of situations. He's not an elite PnR finisher, not a top rim protector, and not a floor stretcher. In the NBA of today that seems like a death sentence makeup. He found himself in the right situation where he's allowed to show out what he is good at. Extremely high effort, great team defender and outstanding connective passer. It's very weird makeup for this day and age but it works extremely well.
I always thought the kid would be good, refusing to play and then cutting him was always a really dumb idea.
