When you think of the Celtics and underrated, who springs to mind first?
Perhaps Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, the duo the world has constantly tried to tear apart despite their consistent upward trajectory. Perhaps Payton Pritchard, the leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, or Derrick White, the Michael Jordan of glue guys.
Well, science finally has an answer.
Owen Phillips has crunched some digits at The F5, the numbers-driven newsletter written by the R enthusiast and former Knicks analyst. He compared each player’s advanced metrics (think EPM, DARKO, etc.) vs. the number of times people have looked up the player on Basketball-Reference.com.
Coincidentally, I recently listed Luke Kornet as one of my favorite leaguewide role players to watch this season. I’m glad, because apparently, he needs all the attention he can get.
I understand the issue. Setting inch-perfect screens, making the proper read on the short roll, and contesting layups without fouling aren’t usually highlight material. Kornet doesn’t have loads of YouTube highlights or Instagram reels (I assume; I’m not really a new-age media guy, as you can tell by the fact that I just said new-age media). Kornet has yet to crack 20 points on the season and has only hit double-digits seven times. He’s even had times, including recently, where he hasn’t been a significant part of the rotation. Traditional big men will always be somewhat matchup-dependent.
But that doesn’t mean Kornet isn’t good. Phillips goes into greater detail on Kornet as a player, and it’s all the things we’ve celebrated at CelticsBlog. Kornet’s a great finisher with buttery hands; Kornet is sneakily an elite rim protector; Kornet is a top-10 rebounder of missed three-pointers (okay, I didn’t have that exact stat off-hand, but I like it).
Frankly, this is a failure for us as Celtics fans. We need to be pumping our guys up, and if that includes setting up bots to auto-reload Jordan Walsh or Neemias Queta’s Basketball-Reference pages, this is your call to action.
Phillips’ story is a fun one; go read it. It does have one glaring omission, however. There’s not a single statement about Kornet’s world-devouring aura. I’m not sure there’s a player in the league with a higher goof-per-minute rating:
(Phillips does at least acknowledge the Kornet Kontest, which feels like the least he could do.)
I have a feeling we’ll see more of Kornet in the playoffs than we might have expected at the year’s start, but unfortunately, it might be our last view of him in white and green. Kornet is an unrestricted free agent at year’s end, and while the public may not appreciate how good he’s been for Boston, the opposition knows. The league is surprisingly thirsty for solid big men, and the Celtics might not be able to afford him.
Let’s enjoy what might be our last year with the league’s most underrated player before he stops being underpaid.
