Semi Ojeleye Catch All Thread

[Redz]

semi sux

Why go halfway? I'd say he completely sux.

[Tr1boy]

I think Semi will be better next season

it seems like he "catches" on late as evidenced from his initial struggles in college ball

but once he is comfortable he will Jae Crowder it

His defense is already capable and hopefully offense will come around sooner than later.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I'm a believer and am thrilled that we have him on a long contract.

[footey]

For a 2nd round pick rookie, fair to say semi has outperformed expectations.

[ChillyWilly]

For a 2nd round pick rookie, fair to say semi has outperformed expectations.

The fact a 2nd round pick gets any rotation mins on a top 5 team that already has 5 other rookies on the roster should be mind blowing!

I like his defense, he moves his feet really well. Come playoff time having a body to throw at someone torching you will be nice.

He clearly struggles on the offensive end but what 2nd round rookie doesn't?

[moiso]

I think Semi will be better next season

it seems like he "catches" on late as evidenced from his initial struggles in college ball

but once he is comfortable he will Jae Crowder it

His defense is already capable and hopefully offense will come around sooner than later.

”Come around”  makes it sound like he’s in a slump or something.  The man has no offensive skills to speak of.  He needs to totally learn how to play offensive basketball.

[Eddie20]

For a 2nd round pick rookie, fair to say semi has outperformed expectations.

The fact a 2nd round pick gets any rotation mins on a top 5 team that already has 5 other rookies on the roster should be mind blowing!

Really? You don't think it goes hand in hand?

[nickagneta]

For a 2nd round pick rookie, fair to say semi has outperformed expectations.

The fact a 2nd round pick gets any rotation mins on a top 5 team that already has 5 other rookies on the roster should be mind blowing!

Really? You don't think it goes hand in hand?

Yeah given for most of the year we had a 14 man roster with Tatum, Yabusele, Theis, Ojeleye and Nader all being rookies, it seems pretty logical given injuries that a lot of rookies were going to see a lot of playing time.

[hwangjini_1]

I think Semi will be better next season

it seems like he "catches" on late as evidenced from his initial struggles in college ball

but once he is comfortable he will Jae Crowder it

His defense is already capable and hopefully offense will come around sooner than later.

”Come around”  makes it sound like he’s in a slump or something.  The man has no offensive skills to speak of.  He needs to totally learn how to play offensive basketball.

In 58 college games he averaged 12.5 ppg, fg% = 48%, 3pt% = 41.5%, ft% = 78.5%. Not an all star for sure. But not the grim image you paint above.

Really too soon to know his offensive ceiling. But even after the the gun-jumping on Bradley and others, some CBers still do not seem to have learned patience.

[nickagneta]

I think Semi will be better next season

it seems like he "catches" on late as evidenced from his initial struggles in college ball

but once he is comfortable he will Jae Crowder it

His defense is already capable and hopefully offense will come around sooner than later.

”Come around”  makes it sound like he’s in a slump or something.  The man has no offensive skills to speak of.  He needs to totally learn how to play offensive basketball.

In 58 college games he averaged 12.5 ppg, fg% = 48%, 3pt% = 41.5%, ft% = 78.5%. Not an all star for sure. But not the grim image you paint above.

Really too soon to know his offensive ceiling. But even after the the gun-jumping on Bradley and others, some CBers still do not seem to have learned patience.

Those stats have absolutely no translation into prospective pro stats. Few to no college stats translate to pro stats. Always best to judge a player on skillset, intelligence, talent and work ethic.

[Eddie20]

I think Semi will be better next season

it seems like he "catches" on late as evidenced from his initial struggles in college ball

but once he is comfortable he will Jae Crowder it

His defense is already capable and hopefully offense will come around sooner than later.

”Come around”  makes it sound like he’s in a slump or something.  The man has no offensive skills to speak of.  He needs to totally learn how to play offensive basketball.

In 58 college games he averaged 12.5 ppg, fg% = 48%, 3pt% = 41.5%, ft% = 78.5%. Not an all star for sure. But not the grim image you paint above.

Really too soon to know his offensive ceiling. But even after the the gun-jumping on Bradley and others, some CBers still do not seem to have learned patience.

In 56 NBA games he's averaged 2.3 ppg, fg% = 30%, 3pt% = 28%, ft% = 63%. Pretty grim.

Besides, the bulk of the numbers you posted were playing in a weak conference. He struggled mightily at Duke and was receiving so little PT that he had to transfer.

The Bradley comparison is a really poor example. He was, what, 19 when we drafted him?
No-J-eleye is 23. The difference is colossal in terms of player development. You also said "Bradley and others", who are the others? I can't think of a C's player as old as Semi, struggle as badly as him, and do such a 180 that "Cbers" were all forced to give a collective mea culpa. I mean I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Again, I wish he was good because it would mean the Celtics would be a better team. I just can't blindly put lipstick on a pig.

[SCeltic34]

He's shown no improvement over the season.   Actually he regressed shooting-wise in February where he played in 9 games at 18.7 MPG, managing just 19% from 3 and 24% FG% overall. 

I expected nothing from him this season given that he's a 2nd round pick, so I'm not that disappointed overall.  It did look like he had the potential to be a 3 & D type of bench player very early in the season but obviously that hasn't been the case this year.  The amount of minutes that Stevens has given him is a bit puzzling at times.  While his individual defense is good, he does everything else at a below-NBA level.  What bothers me the most is his lack of motor and physicality.  He's built like a tractor but he doesn't use his strength and physique to his advantage - it has come in handy when he's defending individually against a bigger player in the post, but those plays are few and far in between in today's NBA.

I'm not going to judge him as a rookie, but I don't see much offensive upside at all.  He has a weak handle, poor offensive instincts, has shown no ability to get to the rim or finish at the rim, and has shown no passing abilities.  All I'm hoping for is that he develops into a decent spot-up 3-point shooter.

[Snakehead]

Long term I love the pick but right now I hope he doesn't crack the rotation.

The thing with him is he basically has shown nothing but the ability to shoot... and not to make 3's.  If he keeps working with his shot and it starts falling, he can be a rotation player.  The problem I would say for anything past that is his unwillingness to impact the game anywhere else.  I still don't get why he isn't more of a rebounder for example.  The guy is really big and should be able to get some offensive rebounds and more defensive ones.

He seems to only focus on shooting threes so if that started falling he can be a good guy to bring off the bench.  I think he has had really great moments on defense and should keep being able to bring that.  The problem is he might as well not be playing on offense right now. 

For where he was taken and everything, I have zero complaints.  There's still potential.  With the squeeze for minutes between Monroe, Theis, and Baynes I don't want to see him playing anymore unless it's a blow out.

[Eddie20]

He's shown no improvement over the season.   Actually he regressed shooting-wise in February where he played in 9 games at 18.7 MPG, managing just 19% from 3 and 24% FG% overall. 

I expected nothing from him this season given that he's a 2nd round pick, so I'm not that disappointed overall.  It did look like he had the potential to be a 3 & D type of bench player very early in the season but obviously that hasn't been the case this year.  The amount of minutes that Stevens has given him is a bit puzzling at times.  While his individual defense is good, he does everything else at a below-NBA level.  What bothers me the most is his lack of motor and physicality.  He's built like a tractor but he doesn't use his strength and physique to his advantage - it has come in handy when he's defending individually against a bigger player in the post, but those plays are few and far in between in today's NBA.

I'm not going to judge him as a rookie, but I don't see much offensive upside at all.  He has a weak handle, poor offensive instincts, has shown no ability to get to the rim or finish at the rim, and has shown no passing abilities.  All I'm hoping for is that he develops into a decent spot-up 3-point shooter.

I agree with your entire post.

(Big) IF his shooting at least becomes mediocre, ideally you would want him as small ball 4 where he can stretch the floor. However, his lack of rebounding will cause you to get killed on the glass. Then, if you play him at the 3, his lack of ball-handling, slow release, and low release point will be an issue as he would be defended by quicker players that will be quicker in rotation and an aggressive close out will force Semi to have to put the ball on the floor.

As an aside, I love the big 2nd unit lineup Stevens has gone with the last couple of games (Theis-Morris-Monroe frontcourt). I don't really care for Morris' ball-handling and he seems to love going 1-on-1 on the perimeter a lot. However, this seems to occur much more often when he's covered by 4's. Against 3's, Morris actually takes advantage of his size and strength and starts backing his man down to get much cleaner/higher percentage looks. Regardless, I hate Iso-Mo's, but I have less of an issue with it when he's taking better shots.

[Jiri Welsch]

Semi should model his game after Brandon Bass, plus the three.