This isn’t the first thread where multiple posters are comparing them. There’s some justice in that, partly for the reasons that I mentioned.
Only shallow and superficial knowledge of the two would lead to this kind of comparison. They are both black, muscular and the same height, get my point?
It’s not likely that Brad Stevens is asking Grant and Semi to guard the same players (as they did Wednesday) because they’re both black!
But their similar size has a
lot to do with it, as does the fact that they can both switch up or down. Size matters! You mention height, but they’re also the same weight, and both lack length, which I mentioned above - and those things affect which opponents they’re asked to guard. And there’s nothing ‘shallow and superficial’ about pointing out those things.
Nor is pointing out that they’ve both struggled to shoot a good percentage from 3. Fans might overemphasize shooting %s, but does anyone doubt that reliably hitting 3’s helps a player to get on the court, or that length (which both Grant and Semi lack) is an asset for a defender?
Speaking of getting on the court, another similarity is that they’ve played almost the same amount of minutes.
You mention Semi’s jumping ability vs. Grant’s. Good point! Not ‘shallow and superficial’! I’d add that Ojeleye is faster and changes ends quicker (one reason he’s been a much better finisher than Williams). Williams moves the ball better, but on the downside he’s thrown a ton of bad passes. By contrast Ojeleye is conservative with the ball, maybe to a fault.
From the beginning of his pro career, Semi has been outstanding at staying in front of his man. After year one, Brad wanted him to get more in his man’s airspace, which he’s definitely improved; on the other hand Grant is already pretty good at that as a rookie.
We could go on about differences and similarities, whether shallow or deep, whether superficial or profound; but the reason I posted in this thread is to point out something different - that Stevens has frequently played them
together, and for long stretches. Now that is something
really interesting! - because those two are both complementary players; they have the two lowest usage rates on the team.
As much to the point, they’ve both also been really poor defensive rebounders (11% and 10.9%, another striking similarity in their games), so it stands out that they’d be put on the floor together as the two bigs, or whatever we want to call them. Really interesting that the coaching staff would pair them!
