Brad Stevens was able to get the band back together last summer for another mission from God, and his biggest victory might have been getting Luke Kornet back on a minimum deal.
He’s made about $14 million over his career, but never more than $3 million per year, so offers this past summer were tempting. But Kornet made a quality-of-life decision to stay with Boston, and it’s paying off for him in a big way.
Kornet has been huge this season, literally and figuratively, for the Celtics. He’s every bit of 7-foot-1, and playing big has given Boston a massive boost this year. It has shown up significantly on the offensive glass, where he has the second-highest offensive rebounding rate (45%) among players who have played at least 900 minutes (Phoenix’s Josh Okogie is first at 48%). On the season, 154 of his 325 rebounds have been offensive. The 154 is by far the most he’s ever grabbed and he’s averaging more than two per game (2.4) for the first time in his NBA career.
Kornet grabbed four more offensive rebounds against the Kings. Over his last three games, 10 of his 21 rebounds have been offensive.
He grabs 12.8% of the available offensive rebounds for the Celtics, making him the best offensive rebounder by a fair margin. The Celtics as a team have a 28.5% offensive rebound percentage, 18th in the NBA. But the bench has a 32.7% offensive rebound percentage, tied for seventh in the league. Kornet, along with Neemias Queta (who grabs a lot of his own misses) and Payton Pritchard (who defies logic) help with that task, but Kornet has been the engine.
The beauty of Kornet’s offensive rebounding has been the variety of how he keeps possessions alive.
Kornet has mastered how to swim in Jayson Tatum’s (or any pick-and-roll ball-handler) wake to get good position for either a pass or a rebound. In reality, there is nothing different about catching the lob and catching the ball off the rim other than an increased level of concentration. Either way, you’re catching the ball in the air and guiding it, sometimes forcefully, through the rim.
So when Kornet rolls and Tatum gets doubled, he’s almost always in great position for a putback. That is also something that gives Tatum confidence to shoot.
A lot of times, the ball handler’s view is blocked by the double team in that situation. Rather than force a pass that can be picked off, Tatum can take the shot knowing he has a rebounder if he misses. On the positive side, he might hit a tough bucket. On the negative side, there's a good rebounder there waiting.
Kornet is also taking full advantage of the spacing provided by shooters. Tatum being doubled, plus Payton Pritchard being guarded on the wing, equals a lot of space for Kornet.
Side note: Kornet is very good at reacting to the play and reading where to go. There are times when he'll stop on the short roll and make a pass out of a similar play.
Kornet understands his job is to spring his guy free, be there as an outlet, and then move the ball if nothing is there. By doing that job well, the offensive rebounds will come to him naturally.
When they do, he has the soft hands to tip them in.
This is so important for a big. Guys who can't tip shots like this aren't really as helpful as offensive rebounders. Going up to grab an offensive rebound with both hands in a spot like this won't work. He's using his left hand to hold off the defender, and he's not exactly prime Blake Griffin out there, so he's not dunking everything. The touch to be able to put those back helps him pile up points. He's averaging 1.9 second-chance points per game but he's up to 2.4 since the All-Star break.
Kornet has scored 120 second-chance points this season, fourth on the Celtics. The top three are Pritchard (142), Tatum (134), and Jaylen Brown (123). But the difference with those other three is that (a) they're getting some of them 3-points at a time, and (b) they're doing it off of passes or tip-outs. Kornet's are his own put-backs.
Speaking of tip-outs ...
This is a critical tool for the Celtics to keep possessions alive. The tip-out has become very prevalent in the NBA over the past few years, and the Celtics are among the best at giving themselves a chance at an extra possession. This is a play that would otherwise simply go to the opponent because Kornet was mostly boxed out.
But mostly boxed out means slightly not-boxed out, which means Kornet can use his reach to at least get the ball back out to the perimeter. This is another way to take advantage of Boston's shooting because rebounders know they have teammates around the perimeter. Those shooters are aware that tipping the ball out is part of the team's strategy, so they have to be ready to fight for the ball.
Another team strategy is crashing to the middle from the corners. That's something that Jrue Holiday does on most of his offensive rebounds.
Kornet will occasionally find himself in position to do the same.
The Celtics have hammered this strategy home with the players because of the expected trajectory of long shots. Those rebounds tend to go long, so by crashing to the middle, they have a greater chance of grabbing an extra possession.
Kornet's crashing has given Boston's bench a nice boost over the last couple of games. He's scored 13 points in each by getting himself into good position for either a pass of for the putback. Getting points off your own misses is a recipe for winning, and Kornet has been a big part of Boston's 11-1 March because of it.