Clippers’ final roster spot: Harry Giles vs. Isaiah Hartenstein

At some point before the Clippers’ season starts Oct. 21 in San Francisco, the music will stop and likely either Harry Giles III or Isaiah Hartenstein will be left without a seat on the bench.

The Clippers have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and a pair of two-way contract players, which leaves them with just one last standard roster spot to fill, likely by one of the big men in training camp.

Coach Tyronn Lue and the rest of the Clippers’ decision-makers are in the unenviable position of having to determine when to stop the song.

Is Giles their jam? The talented 6-foot-11 center whose promising career has been pockmarked by injuries has made his case, Lue said, as someone who is “able to pass the basketball, able to shoot the basketball, able to defend.”

Or maybe Hartenstein would be a bigger hit, a better fit?

The 7-foot left-hander who served as Nikola Jokic’s understudy for half of last season has helped his case with the Clippers by developing quick chemistry with teammates that had members of the Clippers’ coaching staff talking even before the team took off for a week in San Diego: “They said that Luke Kennard and Isaiah had a really good two-man game, for like about a week, and they really play well together.”

Hartenstein and Giles are both 23. They’ve both made friends during camp. They’ve both logged more than 1,000 NBA minutes on multiple teams in three NBA seasons before arriving in L.A. And they’d both help the Clippers beef up their interior.

But they both can’t get the job.

“It’s a little different, especially competing. Not everybody can do that,” Giles said. “At the start, it was probably a little weird but … as we went on, you compete, you practice and you see one another go hard, it’s still a respect thing.

“You still have to apply it to a regular team,” he continued. “You’re still teammates, but you are always competing, just using the approach of being on the same floor and having to compete for minutes with anybody, whether the contract is guaranteed or not.”

Monday’s first preseason game against Denver – a 103-102 Clippers victory – presented the pair another opportunity to compete, both against the Nuggets and for the big prize, that final folding chair along the sideline.

Giles played 16 minutes and scooped up a game-high 12 rebounds, many of them of the right-place, right-time variety or, other times, because he was able to use his 7-3 wingspan to keep rebounds out of the reach of smaller Nuggets, who had little recourse of Giles’ businesslike tap-ins that followed.

In 14 minutes, Hartenstein showed off some of the passing prowess that’s been visible in the team’s highlight clips packages during training camp, starting with a deft give-and-go to Terance Mann. Later, Hartenstein set a screen, rolled to the rim, brought defenders with him and then shoveled a no-look pass to an open and driving Moses Wright. And then, Hartenstein zipped a pass over defenders in the lane to a cutting Kennard for a layup.

Giles shot 3 for 7 from the field for eight points. Hartenstein went 3 for 5 for six.

As for the real test, as defenders?

Lue said his center candidates did a “decent job.”

Hartenstein agreed: “I thought I was OK.” Giles’ assessment:  “A solid job.”

They’ll all break down video and try to implement what they learn back into the Clippers’ next preseason game – the next audition – against Sacramento on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

“I gotta look at the tape,” Lue said. “We had them switched a couple times, we had them on the four a couple of times as well, because of the shooting they had on the floor with Jeff Green and JaMychal (Green), and then they had (Aaron) Gordon, so it was a tough game to play in. Tough game for our bigs actually, to try judge those two guys defensively.

“So we’ll look at the tape, and we’ll continue to get better, and go from there.”

SURVEY SAYS

The Clippers are predicted to finish sixth in the Western Conference this season, according to those polled in the 20th annual NBA.com GM Survey, which rated Lue and injured All-Star Kawhi Leonard highly.

For Lue, in addition to tying for second along with Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelstra as the best motivator (behind top vote-getter Monty Williams of Phoenix), Lue was named the coach most likely to make the right in-game adjustment, finishing with 37% of the vote – 10% more than runner-up Rick Carlisle, now with the Indiana Pacers.

The five-time All-Star from Moreno Valley was listed as the third-best small forward, third-best defensive player, third-best perimeter defender, fourth-most versatile player and, finally, the fourth-most versatile defender.

Who did the voting? The team’s 30 general managers, who were surveyed on 48 questions but weren’t allowed to vote for their own teams or personnel.