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After a first-round elimination at the hands of the Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets‘ focus has now become about improving their roster. Brooklyn did not register a win in the first round. But they did not get dominated by the Celtics, as they had their opportunities to win each game. The difference between the Nets and Celtics in that series was that Boston registered timely stops, and the Nets simply could not. Brooklyn’s interior defense was a glaring weakness, as it had been all year.
Interior defense has to be a point of emphasis for Nets general manager Sean Marks this offseason. Especially with Nic Claxton, Andre Drummond, and LaMarcus Aldridge, all set to hit the free-agent market at the end of the season. David Aldridge of “The Athletic” suggests that the Nets pursue Los Angeles Clippers’ 7-footer, Isaiah Hartenstein, during the free agency period.
“It’s easy to overreact to one series. Very few teams have the kind of length the Celtics used to great effect to make Kevin Durant miserable. But the Nets have to get bigger. Someone like the Clippers’ Isaiah Hartenstein would indeed be a great target with the taxpayer MLE,” Aldridge writes for “The Athletic” via NetsDaily.
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Aldridge: Hartenstein Solves Nets ‘Continuity’ Issue
Hartenstein, a seven-footer, would immediately solve the size discrepancy that Brooklyn often suffers when they match up with other teams. He would also add to the quality of their interior defense. Per Land of Basketball, Hartenstein averaged 1.1 blocks per game for the Clippers last season, which ranks top-15 in the NBA. Aldridge believes that the Clippers’ seven-footer could be the answer to Brooklyn’s issue of not having a consistent starting center over the past two seasons.
“The Nets were one of the worst defensive teams in the league the last three months of the regular season, and it didn’t change against the Celtics, who had an offensive rating of 121.9 in the four-game sweep,” Aldridge writes.
“Brooklyn’s inability to find a quality big other than Nic Claxton it could trust with meaningful minutes made Boston a uniquely bad matchup, but that would have been a problem against just about any Eastern Conference team in a postseason series. As it was, Boston played Daniel Theis and Robert Williams together and bludgeoned Brooklyn on the glass without paying any price at either end of the floor. And the Nets’ lack of continuity, an issue all season, was especially acute against the Celtics, who’ve been pulling in the same direction since December.”
Nets Have Been Linked to Hartenstein in the Past
This is not the first time the Nets have been linked to Hartenstein. Last August, Brian Lewis of the “New York Post” reported that the Nets were interested in the shot-blocking center, who they have been gushing over dating back to his days in the G-League.
“The Nets have had a long flirtation with Hartenstein. They liked the 7-footer in the 2017 draft, and he dominated against their affiliate, Long Island, in the 2019 G-League Finals, when he was named MVP while playing for Rio Grande,” Lewis wrote for the “New York Post”, in August 2021.
“A source told The Post the Nets were even interested in signing Hartenstein before the 2020 NBA bubble, but he was ineligible for the playoffs due to the date he’d been waived.”
After suffering another elimination before even reaching the conference finals, the pressure will be on for the Nets to deliver a title next season. This upcoming free agency period could be the most important in Nets’ franchise history.
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