Have no idea why he’s receiving any guaranteed money to begin with. He’s 27, with no upside.
He is currently the 11th man and only center on the bench.
That’s terrifying.
He’s the 12th man, and he’s the “only center on the bench” in a weird world in which you think teams regularly play three centers a game. We have two centers and two PFs. The two centers start, the PFs come off the bench, but the way rotations work we only need those four.
The panic about whether or not Luke Kornet will ultimately be our 15th man and 5th or 6th big is beyond crazy. He’s tall, has some basketball skills, but also doesn’t complain about his role, which is an emergency big. Younger players want playing time, older former starters want playing time. Kornet knows who he is and does his job, which is to show up to practice, cheer his team on during the games, and see the floor in the last two minutes of a blowout.
I’d like a better emergency big, and expect that we will find one by the end of training camp, but in the meanwhile he’s there while the other emergency big candidates are sorting through their own options, potentially coming to terms that there are no roles for them on contenders that are much larger than that given to Luke Kornet.
I have Kornet ahead of Hauser and both the 2-way players on the depth chart. He is certainly more likely to play than Hauser when the team is healthy.
I mean this is the roster
Guards - Smart, Brogdon, White, Pritchard, Davison (TW)
Wings - Tatum, Brown, Grant, Hauser, Kabengele (TW)
Bigs - Rob, Al, Gallo, Kornet
There are 3 open roster spots. There is no way Kornet is cut. He is cheap and knows the system. If we are sitting there with 15 players under contract, then I think Kornet gets cut, but right now, not a chance.
The roster just isn't deep. It is why I was advocating so hard for Boston to use the TPE. There are a lot of places the team could use some bench help. A center being the top priority but not the other one.