Ever since it was announced that Robert Williams III was going to need surgery and be out an extended period of time, the burning question on Celtics fans minds was “how do we get quality minutes out of the backup big position (preferably without wearing down Al Horford in the process)?”
Early in the season it looked like Noah Vonleh might have been a preferred option. Though that may have had something to do with Luke Kornet getting an ankle sprain in training camp and working his way back to full strength.
Vonleh rebounded reasonably well (a big need for this team) but he fouled an awful lot, including on multiple moving screens. He’s also not much of a positive on offense unless he’s cleaning up an offensive board into a dunk.
Luke has since replaced Noah in the rotation and the early results have been pretty positive. Keith Smith highlighted some of his plays against the Washington Wizards, including an upfake, sidestep three pointer.
Joe Mazzulla doesn’t have a ton of options, as we’ve detailed several times over. You can go to more smallball lineups, but those don’t always fair well on the defensive end and tend to wear out players trying to defend up a position. Of course Brad Stevens could look for short term options on the open market or via trade. However, the options either aren’t very appealing or would cost quite a lot to acquire.
So what do you think? Is Luke Kornett a good enough option to fill in the gaps while waiting for Robert Williams to return? Or do the Celtics need to keep looking for that answer?
