Noah Westerhaus (200-PF-1998) is a 27 year old 200cm forward that has played the last 3 seasons with the ETB Miners Essen. He began his basketball career with the Artland Dragons and was a teammate with 2025 NBA champion Isaiah Hartenstein. Noah also has sampled experience playing with BSG Bremerhaven, Wolfenbuettel, Neustadt, Langenhagen, Koblenz and Limburg. He spoke to germanhoops.com about his memories being Isaiah Hartenstein´s teammate.

Thanks Noah for talking to germanhoops.com. Where are you at the moment and how is basketball life?

I´m living in Essen playing Pro B.

You completed your third season with Essen. Has Essen become like a second home to you and will you remain?

Definitely. I met a lot of people here and want to stay for a while.

Your ex teammate Isaiah Hartenstein became NBA champion with OKC. Did you stay up the whole night to watch history?

Yes I watched a couple of game during the season and of course the last one.

How proud are you of Isaiah Hartenstein. What does this success mean for the Artland Dragons?

It does shows how good their youth teams were and are. Every one of his clubs is probably proud of him as am I. He really deserves it.

Do you still have contact with him to this day? Did you congratulate him?

Unfortunately no, but yes I texted him.

What memories do you have of the 2014 JBBL final against Breitengussbach which you won 68-60?

It was an unbelievable experience in front of our home crowd. Winning the chip is front of family and friends is something special.

What was the key to that success? The team had 2 giants with Hartenstein and Herkenhoff and great aggressive guards.

The key was the whole team and our defense. We had 2 good coaches, great defenders and big guy sunder the basket and Isaiah who did everything.

Isaiah Hartenstein had a 22/14 game. How do you remember his game then?

We was our biggest weapon and nobody was able to stop him.

How do you remember practices in 2014? He was already a giant. How tall were you then and did you battle in the paint in practice?

At that time we were both growing so quickly. One week he was taller and the next week I was taller. Practices were always very competitive and if they weren´t competitive enough, then his dad Flo joined and it became competitive.

If someone had told you that he would be NBA champion 11 years later what would you have thought?

I would of called him crazy, but not because he wasn´t talented enough, but because it´s such a long way from where he started. But he made it. That’s unbelievable.

In JBBL the guys are very young, but what kind of a relationship did you have with him? Were you close?

Yes we were more than teammates. 3 of us were living with his family including me.

He often says in interviews that so many doubted him in his young days. But how can that be? It seems like he dominated youth basketball and then went his way.

Yes he did and he proved everyone wrong and that is something that he deserves because of all of his hard work.

Have you followed Isaiah Hartenstein´s career in the last decade? How have you observed his development? Can you explain why he had to pay his dues so long?

Yes I have. I watched his highlights and he always got better.

He switched a lot of teams but for some reason he was never used the right way. Now he made his break through with OKC. Do you feel like he is still on his way of becoming an even better player?

Sometimes it has to do with how a coach wants to use him. I feel like he fits into the OKC team well.

He made the next step with OKC. Do you feel like he can get even better?

I think that he will take another step and get better and more consistent.

He played in the Artland Dragons organization but now seems to support ratiopharm Ulm. Does he still have some kind of ties to Artland?

I have no idea.

If you played 1-1 in 2025, how many baskets could you make in 10 tries?

I´ll give myself a solid 1. There will be a lucky one going in.

Thanks Noah for the chat.