Luke “The Korndog” Kornet continues to make certain other Turkish centers on the Knicks obsolete by being an elite three-point threat. Sure, his rebounding is absolutely pathetic compared to Kanter, and his presence inside is practically non-existent, but he’s probably at least on par with Kanter on the defensive end so it’s just a matter of the Knicks deciding what kind of offense out of their five-man. Do they want nonstop offensive rebounds and layups and hook shots or do they want a guy who just stands at the three-point line all the time and jacks them when they’re open?
Remember, Kristaps Porzingis still exists and will come back at some point. What better way to get the young Knicks core (Knox, Mudiay(?), Ntilikina(?), Trier, Hezonja(???)) used to playing with Porzingis than to play them with a dollar-store Porzingis substitute in the Korndog? All Kanter does is take away shots from those young guys, shots that he’s earned because he’s way more efficient offensively than all of them combined. The only way to make sure he doesn’t get to take the shots he’s earned is to make sure he doesn’t get the minutes he’s earned, and that means benching him in favor of the low-volume, Porzingis-y Kornet.
And if it turns out that Porzingis actually did die at some point and he’s never coming back, well, Kornet can be the full-time Porzingis too if you want him to be. Just gotta change his name to Lucas Kornetsis.