The Green Kornet

[Silas]

Let me start by first saying that Luke is not a starting center in the NBA.  However, I like him and I think he is a decent back up to our back up.  I decided to go back a ways and look at some of the comments this forum had to say about Luke before the regular season started.  Like the following:  Kornet is just awful; he needs to go; he is legitimately useless; G-league player; and so on...

So I realize that we only have a small sample size to look at and that things could change on a dime, however Luke has surprised me and I believe the majority on this forum.  Granted he is only playing 13 min/game, however he is not hurting the Celtics, he is helping them win.  For example: his shooting percentages are 65.5/50/90.  He's also averaging 1.1 blocks/game, second on the team to Tatum's 1.3. He's also giving us 3.7 rebnds in those 13 min and 1.3 off rebs, second on the team to Al's leading 1.5.  For what ever this is worth, his PER is 18.05, third highest on the team.

I could go on, but I won't because I am talking about an end of the bench player who deserves praise.   Luke has stepped up and proven he deserves to play on this great team.

[Sophomore]

He has been a lot better than I expected, for sure. The first game was kind of a disaster, but he shook that off and has consistently improved. Reminder not to overreact, especially to the first couple or few games.

[Big333223]

If Kornet has turned into a decent #2 Center, that's a big win for the Celtics because when Rob comes back Kornet will basically be a #3 center. They just need him to be reliable and tall, nothing too special. He's been that the last few games.

[Vermont Green]

Kornet has been great, above expectation, at least above my expectation.  And that is great for now.  Thinking ahead to the playoffs though, when the rotation is shortened, and player flaws are magnified, I don't think we can count on Kornet to be "rotation worthy".  He may surprise me again, I don't know.  But right now, I feel he would not be in the rotation for the playoffs.

If we have RWill back for the playoffs, that would give us him plus Horford and Grant as playoff tested players to share the big minutes.  Assuming we play some with only one big, that is still 90 ish minutes for these 3.  That is a little thin.  As I said, for the regular season, it is fine to fill in with Kornet, Vonleh, and Griffin.  But as of now, none of these 3 have shown playoff rotation level play.

That is why I agree with those howling for another big but my point is there is no rush.  It is something we need for the end of the season and the playoffs.  No rush, things change.  Maybe Kornet continues to play well enough that you can feel comfortable giving him playoff minutes.  Maybe Griffin rounds into shape and can hold up through a playoff run and give us what we need.  Maybe say Hauser gets hurt and the need or priority shifts.

But back to Kornet, he is really balling right now.  He started a little slow coming off the ankle injury but has now really settled in.

[liam]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

[Vermont Green]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

Oh come on.  You expected Hauser to shoot 48% from 3?  You expected Kornet to be a regular rotation player?  Pritchard, sure, he isn't doing anything that he hasn't shown in the past that he can do.  But I don't believe anyone expected Hauser and Kornet to play this well.  I don't remember anyone calling this out in say Sept.

If you have posts calling this out, kudos to you.  That would have been a really hot take to have come true.

[Roy H.]

Kornet is looking a lot closer to the guy he was when Danny first traded for him.  The hustle and the P&R defense is what made him an early fan favorite.

Kornet has played like a good third string center this season.  Dumpster dive or not, he’s performed.

I’d have no issue dumping Vonleh.  There’s some potential there, but I don’t think it will ever be fully tapped.

[nickagneta]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

Oh come on.  You expected Hauser to shoot 48% from 3?  You expected Kornet to be a regular rotation player?  Pritchard, sure, he isn't doing anything that he hasn't shown in the past that he can do.  But I don't believe anyone expected Hauser and Kornet to play this well.  I don't remember anyone calling this out in say Sept.

If you have posts calling this out, kudos to you.  That would have been a really hot take to have come true.

I, for one, liked Kornet's skills and thought he had potential to show better than what a whole host of posters were saying. I defended both he and Hauser as being good end of the bench players when others were saying they were trash, didn't belong in the league, were G League quality players and that most of the rest of the contenders in the league had way better end of bench quality.

I loved Hauser's shooting stroke and thought his movement and defense was much better than how they were being described by others. I liked Kornet's shooting form, length, shot blocking ability, and screen setting and didn't think he was a bad rebounder. Of course, he was excoriated by others. 

[Celtics2021]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

Oh come on.  You expected Hauser to shoot 48% from 3?  You expected Kornet to be a regular rotation player?  Pritchard, sure, he isn't doing anything that he hasn't shown in the past that he can do.  But I don't believe anyone expected Hauser and Kornet to play this well.  I don't remember anyone calling this out in say Sept.

If you have posts calling this out, kudos to you.  That would have been a really hot take to have come true.

I’ve been calling out Hauser since before we re-signed him.  Just because you were skeptical, doesn’t mean others were.  I was more skeptical on Kornet, but also believed that the minimum free agent market for bigs was limited, so was willing to give him the chance.

[Roy H.]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

Oh come on.  You expected Hauser to shoot 48% from 3?  You expected Kornet to be a regular rotation player?  Pritchard, sure, he isn't doing anything that he hasn't shown in the past that he can do.  But I don't believe anyone expected Hauser and Kornet to play this well.  I don't remember anyone calling this out in say Sept.

If you have posts calling this out, kudos to you.  That would have been a really hot take to have come true.

I’ve been calling out Hauser since before we re-signed him.  Just because you were skeptical, doesn’t mean others were.  I was more skeptical on Kornet, but also believed that the minimum free agent market for bigs was limited, so was willing to give him the chance.

I think many of us thought the Hauser signing was a good one, because it was apparent he had an elite NBA skill and could be locked up on a bargain deal if he worked out, with little risk if he didn't.

I don't think many of us thought he would lead the league in +/- and be hovering around 50% 3PT%, while scoring at the 4th highest rate of our rotation players.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I thought Kornet was a fringe NBA player at best, and I was wrong. I wasn't excited about Hauser, because, well, just look at how many "shooters" the Cs had swung and missed on (Young, Edwards, Nesmith). I'm happy I was wrong about him, too.

[Vermont Green]

Kornet, Hauser, and Pritchard have all been what I've expected this season. They have all added to winning!

Oh come on.  You expected Hauser to shoot 48% from 3?  You expected Kornet to be a regular rotation player?  Pritchard, sure, he isn't doing anything that he hasn't shown in the past that he can do.  But I don't believe anyone expected Hauser and Kornet to play this well.  I don't remember anyone calling this out in say Sept.

If you have posts calling this out, kudos to you.  That would have been a really hot take to have come true.

I, for one, liked Kornet's skills and thought he had potential to show better than what a whole host of posters were saying. I defended both he and Hauser as being good end of the bench players when others were saying they were trash, didn't belong in the league, were G League quality players and that most of the rest of the contenders in the league had way better end of bench quality.

I loved Hauser's shooting stroke and thought his movement and defense was much better than how they were being described by others. I liked Kornet's shooting form, length, shot blocking ability, and screen setting and didn't think he was a bad rebounder. Of course, he was excoriated by others.

I agree that Hauser and Kornet were viewed as fine "end of the bench" players by some (I will take your word for it that you were one of those).  I didn't have any problem with that take.  That was pretty reasonable.  But is how they have played really equivalent to "end of the bench"?  End of the bench to me means you only play during garbage time.  That was the case for Kornet last season and certainly for Hauser. 

The takes on Hauser and Kornet ranged from shouldn't even be on the team G-Leaguer to maybe a fine end of the bench guy as a ceiling.  Hauser has been playing about 17 min per game of regular rotation minutes, not end of the bench minutes.  And shooting 48% from 3.  Kornet a little less playing time but still in the rotation and contributing.  He has played well above an end of the bench guy.  I don't recall seeing anyone saying we will be just fine with Kornet in the rotation as our back up center.  Or that we would be fine with Hauser as our rotation back up SF and that he would be a weapon off the bench.

For me, although I liked what I saw from Hauser in summer league (shooting in particular), I did not think he was ready for any regular minutes in the NBA.  I was wrong.  As to Kornet, I felt he could hold down the fort.  Give us a few minutes of play where it wasn't a disaster.  That he wouldn't make plays but he also wouldn't make mistakes.  He has outplayed that prediction but not by a ton.  He is still a very limited player.  He is actually making a few plays in addition to not making mistakes.

Hope they both keep it up.

[td450]

Our biggest competitor is the Bucks.

Jordan Nwora plays 19.3 mpg
MarJon Beauchamp plays 18.5 mpg
I barely know who those guys are.

George Hill is 36. He plays 22.1 mpg and is averaging 5.5 ppg

The underlying premise that Hauser and Kornet are insufficient is flawed. Almost every team has to try unproven fringe players. Some of them pan out. That is the way the league works, because otherwise, you need to steal payroll from your best players. The fact that both these guys are outperforming expectations is a major reason why we have the league's best record.

[Sophomore]

I was wrong about Kornet, but I did think Hauser was a knockdown shooter whose defense might be good enough to make him playable. In spot minutes last year he was able to stay in front of his defender pretty well. I am definitely not always right, but it didn’t surprise me at all the Cs kept him instead of Ryan because his defense was better. As it happens, he might be better as a defender than I thought - a few clear limitations, especially when dealing with screens, but that’s not too hard to cover up, and he seems to bait teams into abandoning their offense, which makes them easier to defend.

I do still think that unless Kornet improves his ability to defend in space he’s going to have trouble contributing in the playoffs. So ideally he will just keep getting smarter/better about angles and positioning. It could actually happen, which would be amazing.

[SHAQATTACK]

At first , I thought he was concrete statue ,  but by golly ,  he IS ALIVE and breathing.   

Now that I ve seen him move some , maybe he is a basketball player after all.

Maybe somebody put dead batteries in him or forgot to wind him up ……

I don’t know …..but he is playing much better .