Luke Kornet is very good

When Luke Kornet was acquired at the 2021 NBA trade deadline, it was seen as a minor move for the team on a day they landed Evan Fournier and Moe Wagner.

After spending his first two seasons as a Knick where he averaged 6.9 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game, and a year and a half in Chicago averaging 4.9 points and 2.0 rebounds, the Celtics landed the 7-footer in a 3-team-trade that saw them send Daniel Theis to the Bulls.

When the Celtics traded for Kornet, he was seen as a stretch big and in his first game as a Celtic, he showed that by draining a pair of three-pointers.

In fact, Kornet is the SEC’s all-time leading three-point shooter for someone over 7 feet tall.

During the summer of 2021, the Celtics elected to sign Enes Kanter, soon to become Enes Freedom, over Kornet so Big Luke went to Maine to play for the Maine Celtics. He did sign two 10-day COVID hardship deals that season playing two games for the Cavaliers and one game for the Bucks.

In February, when the Celtics made a trio of trades at the deadline sending out seven players, the team signed Kornet to a 1-year minimum deal to bring him back.

Kornet did not play a big role in the Celtics run to the Finals, appearing in 12 regular season games and 9 playoff games, playing only 2 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Since that point, Luke Kornet has turned himself into an excellent player on both ends of the court.

He is an extremely smart big man. He always knows where to be and the game against the Knicks is where he showed that the most, when he scored 14 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.

Kornet sees that Josh Hart has beaten Al Horford with his spin and sees his eyes looking at the rim, so Luke comes off of Precious Achiuwa and goes to help out Al and blocks Hart’s shot.

Later on in the game, Kornet would get Hart again.

Hart gets the switch on to Kornet and tries to blow by him. He was unable to do that and Kornet stuffed him at the rim because of it.

His defense has taken a real leap, he moves his feet well and when he is at the rim, he is a very good shot blocker since he is 7-feet tall. On the offensive end, he has become a high level scorer around the rim, a good passer out of the short roll and a good offensive rebounder.

He catches the ball off of a pick and roll with Tatum. Sam Merrill, who is guarding Sam Hauser in the corner, steps up and Kornet sees this and makes a good pass to Hauser, who drains the three.

On this one, he sets the screen for Tatum and rolls. When JT misses the three, he gets himself into good position for an offensive rebound and strong put back dunk.

This is a good roll to the rim, always in position to receive a pass from Tatum but when Tatum shoots the ball, Luke quickly switches and gets the easy put back dunk with no one boxing him out.

He does all of the little things that he needs to do to help the Celtics win games. He is constantly in the correct positions on both ends of the court. His rim protection has taken a big leap over the years in Boston, he has become a very good rim protector. He grabs offensive rebounds, is a lob threat and a good passer on the short roll. Sure, he doesn’t take threes anymore but he does not need to. He is now a really good player and one that could be key as the Celtics try to capture Banner 19.