Height gap narrows: Rockets recall Isaiah Hartenstein

The Houston Chronicles Jonathan Feigen today tweeted that :

37pts and 18rbs is a pretty good average over two games, even by James Harden’s standards. It also is the sort of dominance that tends to show there’s not a great deal more to be gained from further GLeague exposure, other than perhaps keeping a player sharp.

Haretenstein remaining in the GLeague serves little purpose for him it would appear, but his return to the NBA could vastly help the Rockets who were, frankly, dominated by Jalil Okafor. Okafor is a player previously seen sitting down a lot. The Rockets simply couldn’t stop him close to the basket in the dreadful loss against the depleted Pelicans, and if they ran two players at him, he simply passed for a layup.

PJ Tucker is a tough player, a great defender and a hard worker. He might be 6’5”. You might say the same about Kenneth Faried, at 6’8”. If neither man could stop Jalil Okafor, Rudy Gobert could go for career highs on Saturday. Nikola Jokic could run wild on Friday.

Saturday, coincidentally, is the second game of the dreaded back-to-back Utah/Denver High Altitude Schedule Loss Scheme employed by the NBA to make Utah and Denver look a bit better than they really are, year after year. It’s not their fault, it’s an accident of geography, and perhaps, of scheduling. But it’s a tough row to hoe.

Enter Hartenstein. He’s playing well. He’s seven feet tall. Rookie mistakes are probably preferable to a layup line from opposing centers, but we’ll see if Mike D’Antoni feels the same.