Once you consider the Celtics and underrated, who springs to thoughts first?
Maybe Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, the duo the world has consistently tried to tear aside regardless of their constant upward trajectory. Maybe Payton Pritchard, the main candidate for Sixth Man of the 12 months, or Derrick White, the Michael Jordan of glue guys.
Effectively, science lastly has a solution.
Owen Phillips has crunched some digits at The F5, the numbers-driven publication written by the R fanatic and former Knicks analyst. He in contrast every participant’s superior metrics (suppose EPM, DARKO, and many others.) vs. the variety of occasions folks have appeared up the participant on Basketball-Reference.com.
Coincidentally, I lately listed Luke Kornet as one in every of my favourite leaguewide position gamers to observe this season. I’m glad, as a result of apparently, he wants all the eye he can get.
I perceive the problem. Setting inch-perfect screens, making the correct learn on the quick roll, and contesting layups with out fouling aren’t normally spotlight materials. Kornet doesn’t have a great deal of YouTube highlights or Instagram reels (I assume; I’m probably not a new-age media man, as you may inform by the truth that I simply mentioned new-age media). Kornet has but to crack 20 factors on the season and has solely hit double-digits seven occasions. He’s even had occasions, together with lately, the place he hasn’t been a major a part of the rotation. Conventional massive males will at all times be considerably matchup-dependent.
However that doesn’t imply Kornet isn’t good. Phillips goes into higher element on Kornet as a participant, and it’s all of the issues we’ve celebrated at CelticsBlog. Kornet’s an awesome finisher with buttery fingers; Kornet is sneakily an elite rim protector; Kornet is a top-10 rebounder of missed three-pointers (okay, I didn’t have that precise stat off-hand, however I prefer it).
Frankly, this can be a failure for us as Celtics followers. We have to be pumping our guys up, and if that features establishing bots to auto-reload Jordan Walsh or Neemias Queta’s Basketball-Reference pages, that is your name to motion.
Phillips’ story is a enjoyable one; go learn it. It does have one obvious omission, nonetheless. There’s not a single assertion about Kornet’s world-devouring aura. I’m undecided there’s a participant within the league with the next goof-per-minute score:
(Phillips does at the least acknowledge the Kornet Kontest, which feels just like the least he may do.)
I’ve a sense we’ll see extra of Kornet within the playoffs than we’d have anticipated on the yr’s begin, however sadly, it could be our final view of him in white and inexperienced. Kornet is an unrestricted free agent at yr’s finish, and whereas the general public might not admire how good he’s been for Boston, the opposition is aware of. The league is surprisingly thirsty for strong massive males, and the Celtics won’t have the ability to afford him.
Let’s take pleasure in what could be our final yr with the league’s most underrated participant earlier than he stops being underpaid.
