Chicago Bulls: Jim Boylen likens Kornet to Robert Horry, looks dumb again
Was there a worse comparison made by Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen for one of his players that he made all season that was worse than Kornet-Horry?
The connection between the Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen and Center Luke Kornet is getting out of hand again. Boylen buys too much into what Kornet brings to the table and apparently has since day one. Kornet is Boylen’s guy in the frontcourt, and the weird usage of the modern analytics in the NBA today by the head coach has to be a basis behind his fascination.
Kornet is getting more playing time of late thanks to injuries to big men Daniel Gafford and Wendell Carter Jr. Gafford is dealing with a laceration and dislocated thumb. He should be out for another couple weeks if the original prognosis is still a valid timeline. And Carter Jr. is set to miss another three or four weeks in all likelihood thanks to an ankle sprain.
Even Cristiano Felicio is getting more playing time of late for the Bulls thanks to this rash of injuries to their top big men. Felicio was pretty much forced out of the rotation prior to Gafford and WCJ going out. He’s not really an NBA-caliber big man, even though he’s paid like one.
The footage that saw the reporting of Boylen likening Kornet to the former seven-time NBA Champion and 6-foot-9 big man Robert Horry came from Stephen Noh on Twitter. The video in the Tweet was from NBC Sports Chicago during their broadcast of the Bulls-Minnesota Timberwolves game on Jan. 22.
The Bulls long-time game commentator on NBC Sports Chicago, and the team’s former big man, Stacey King didn’t seem to agree with that take that Boylen had on Kornet.
Can you blame him?
Unless Kornet lands in a situation very soon that is with a consistent championship contending team, that would likely have to turn into a dynasty, he’s probably not going to finish his NBA career with near as many rings as Horry. And when Horry was able to turn it on in the playoffs, he was a much better player consistently than Kornet has ever been.
The only valid comparison between Horry and Kornet is that they’re both big men that shot around 34 or 35 percent from three-point land in their careers and averaged around one block per game. Those two have never played for the same team and Horry is just a much more talented big man than Kornet.