At least he can resist the teacher a little, so should the Thunder appropriately improve the starting center for a long time?

In a previous NBA Western Conference semi-finals, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder at home with a three-pointer of Aaron Gordon, achieving a good start in the series. After this game, the Nuggets also widened the total score of the series to 1-0, and they also regained the home advantage in this round of the series.

Although the Thunder lost the game, the team's substitute center Isaiah Hartenstein actually performed well. Haltenstein played 28 minutes and 58 seconds in the whole game, made 6 of 12 shots, scored 12 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, including 4 frontcourt rebounds, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls, with a plus-minus value of +2. Haltenstein also seized a few opportunities on the offensive end and got some points, and his performance in the front and back rebounds was pretty good. Although Haltenstein could not effectively limit Nikola Jokic, his defensive effect was relatively much stronger than Haltenstein. Haltenstein also tried his best, but the performance of other players on the team was indeed a little worse, and his efforts were unable to help the team turn the situation around.

In the NBA regular season this season, Haltenstein played a total of 57 games due to injuries in 82 games, averaging 27.9 minutes per game, averaging 11.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.1 blocks, and 1.7 turnovers and 3 fouls. His shooting percentage was 58.7% and his free throw percentage was 67.5%. In the playoffs, Haltenstein averaged 24.6 minutes in the first five games, with averaging 9.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1 steal, 0.4 blocks, and 1.8 turnovers and 2.8 fouls. His shooting percentage was 59.5% and his free throw percentage was 66.7%.

Haltenstein's overall performance after joining the team was still good. He had stable output during the regular season. He had good scoring ability on the offensive end, he also had certain passing ability and support ability, and he also had certain basket protection ability and rebound protection ability on the defensive end. In the playoffs, Haltenstein actually maintained this level of performance. But after all, he is not the core figure of the team, and it is difficult for him to take on more tasks. In the next series, I wonder what performance Haltenstein will perform, whether he can make greater contributions, or should the Thunder increase Haltenstein's playing time after seeing Chet's poor defensive effect?