Luke Kornet has been great for the Celtics this season in his role as their third string versatile center.

He’s averaging a career-high 14.6 minutes per game, scoring 4.8 points (68.9 FG%), grabbing 3.8 rebounds, and blocking one shot per game this season.

An underrated part of Kornet’s game is how well he is on the defensive end. He maneuvers around the court well, communicates with his teammates, and protects the rim as best he can when he’s on the floor.

After Boston’s game against Phoenix on Saturday night, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised Kornet by calling him one of the best players on the team at running their defensive system.

Joe Mazzulla with high praise for Luke Kornet: #Celtics
“He’s one of the best at our defensive system. He has an ability to communicate matchups, change matchups, and change his coverage… it’s an under appreciated skill that Luke has and that’s why we trust him defensively.”… pic.twitter.com/fjPGIyMYqm

— The Celtics Files (@CelticsFiles) March 10, 2024

Kornet doesn’t get enough credit for how great he is on the defensive end. In Boston’s recent game against Cleveland, there was a defensive sequence that Kornet made two blocks, one of them on Evan Mobley.

In another game against Chicago, Kornet was defending Andre Drummond like paint on a car, holding his own and not giving up an inch against Drummond.

It’s worth mentioning that when the Celtics acquired Xavier Tillman at the trade deadlines there was speculation that he would take away from Kornet, but that hasn’t been the case at all.

Kornet is great for this Celtics team and there’s glimpses of why within every game.

If you remember about two-years ago, I made a Tweet saying that Kornet was valuable to the Celtics and Brad Stevens liked it.

Yeah, it’s still true.

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