LA Clippers: Harry Giles release gives Isaiah Hartenstein major opportunity

On Saturday, center Harry Giles was released by the LA Clippers.

Giles was brought on by the Clippers to be the third center (once Serge Ibaka comes back), but ended up having to compete with Isaiah Hartenstein for that spot.

Giles has an interesting pedigree, hailing from one of the top current NBA factories in Duke, and being a first round draft pick. He hardly played at Duke, however, so he didn’t produce much.

Unfortunately, Giles hasn’t produced much at the NBA level either. Just last season (his third), he scored just 2.8 points per game to go along with 3.5 rebounds per game and a 43.3% field goal percentage. Giles is regressing.

It was the right move by the LA Clippers to release Harry Giles in favor of Isaiah Hartenstein.

Unlike Harry Giles, the LA Clippers brought in Isaiah Hartenstein because he’s been on the come up.

Hartenstein is coming off of the best year of his career, averaging 5.1 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game.

He particularly looked better with the team he finished with last year, starting in a couple games and putting up 8.3 and 6 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He shot 58.2% with the Cavs, and has actually almost always put up a solid field goal percentage. His career percentage is 56.6%.

Ibaka is likely not going to be good to go for the start of this season, so this spot on the roster is important.

If Hartenstein can pick up where he left off last year with Cleveland when it comes to rebounding the basketball, he’ll be important for our team. We were in the bottom half of the league last year when it came to rebounds per contest, and Hartenstein grabbed six in just 17.9 minutes per game last season with the Cavaliers.

The team will likely throw out a lot of small ball lineups at the beginning here, however Hartenstein will be needed at some point. He’s capable of being a productive player, and Ty Lue chose him over Giles for a reason.