Boston Celtics: 2 Cs who should be considered for starting roles

Boston Celtics player No. 1) Luke Kornet

Perhaps viewed as an afterthought acquisition from this year’s NBA trade deadline, Luke Kornet has quickly become an intriguing part of this newly altered Boston Celtics rotation.

Brought in by the 3-team trade that sent Daniel Theis to the Chicago Bulls, the 7-2 big man finds himself logging 14 minutes per game through his first five outings with the franchise.

With these minutes, Kornet is posting 4.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, one assist, and just shy of a block on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent shooting from the field.

Right out of the gate, the 25-year-old saw himself dropping a combined18 points on 64 percent shooting from the field and 57 percent shooting from deep during his first two outings in green and white.

Though his numbers have of course dropped from this point on, his effectiveness whilst on the court still seems to present itself, even if his shots aren’t falling.

Brad Stevens clearly appreciates his efforts on both sides of the ball and has also shown an affinity to play bigger lineups this season, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that we believe the idea of inserting the floor-spacing Kornet into the starting lineup at the four could be considered at some point moving forward.

For his career, the Vanderbilt product has played in a total of 120 games, with 33 of them seeing him in a team’s starting rotation. In this role, his specific numbers improve quite drastically, as he finds himself averaging 10.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 blocks on 43 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from deep.

Just for fun, when delving a bit deeper one would see that, for his career, April has always been his best month overall, posting 9.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.8 blocks on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 41 percent shooting from deep.

Add this to the fact that Jayson Tatum is currently the team’s starting power forward — a position he can excel at but is best suited at small forward — and you see an intriguing case for why the Boston Celtics could try inserting Kornet into the frontcourt alongside Robert Williams and, with this, look to run a bigger version of their four out, one in lineup.