Boston Celtics: 2 surprise players that could be added to playoff rotation

Boston Celtics player No. 2) Luke Kornet

With the indefinite period of time in which Robert Williams will be absent from the rotation, Ime Udoka is going to have to get creative when it comes to filling out the frontcourt rotation and, particularly, distributing the now available 29.6 minutes amongst his players.

Though the likes of Al Horford and Grant Williams are without a doubt the two players who will be seeing an uptick in their respective roles with Time Lord now sidelined, due to the fact that the former is at the senior age of 35 (as far as NBA players go, that is) and is already logging 29 minutes of on his own while the latter is too small to play substantial minutes at the five, the C’s could be looking to experiment a bit with their bigs.

Now yes, Daniel Theis is someone who almost certainly will be stepping in as a primary cog off the pine to once again serve as a high-usage tweener big for Boston, but this three-man rotation can still be considered rather shallow if they truly intend to embark on a long playoff run.

Because of this, the coaching staff may wish to consider adding another big man into the mix to provide spot minutes off the bench in fifth-year pro, Luke Kornet.

No, we’re not going to try and sit here and state that the 26-year-old is a “star in the making” or anything of that nature. That said, throughout his career, the center has proven that he’s capable of being a solid contributor in the frontcourt, providing impressive size and the ability to space out the floor.

The last time we saw the 7-2 Kornet logging 15 or more minutes a game (not saying he’d receive such a time slot, but just for a frame of reference when it comes to him seeing a decent amount of playing time) was from 2017 through 2020 where he would find himself posting 6.6 points, 2.8 boards, and just shy of a block per game on 34 percent shooting from deep during this span.

Do we expect the former Vanderbilt stud to take on anything remotely close to the minutes the other bigs mentioned here today would/ will? No.

That said, even having him come in for eight to ten minutes a night could be beneficial enough to allow the mainstays up front to get some rest on the bench that they otherwise would not be able to receive due to the depleted frontcourt rotation.