Can Stevens stop playing Semi so much? The guy brings nothing to the table. This month he's shooting 23% from the field and 25% from 3's in a mind boggling 23 MPG.
Offensively, the guy is such a liability that whoever's defending him basically operates as a free safety by playing off of him and being in close position to help on any action in the paint. To make matters worse, Semi has no instincts of playing off the ball, so rather than making a sharp cut backdoor, he'll just stand in the corner anxiously waiting to hoist another brick.
I'm not buying this whole elite defense crap either. Sure he has good lateral movement, but that's only 1 part of defense. The parts that really concerns me is his defense off the ball and his overall defensive IQ. He also seems to constantly get hung up on screens, more than you would think looking at his build. He's also an undisciplined help defender that doesn't seem to make correct reads. Today, for example, even though Van Gundy was harping on it being Monroe's fault on the play where James got to the rim for an and 1, I don't think he was correct. Semi's job was probably to go under the screen and NOT switch, as leaving Monroe 1 on 1 vs James is a bad situation. After that play Stevens immediately yanked Semi out of the game, which would lead me to believe that it was a bad read by Semi.
4 minute mark on the Monroe/ Semi play:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTpGrsKEExUAnother undisciplined read by Semi, where he overcommits to helping out on Nance to the rim, even though Baynes was in pretty good position to defend. This left Clarkson wide open for a corner 3 as Semi was in no position to rotate.
6:30 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTpGrsKEExUDespite all the Semi-hype posts, this guy is absolutely killing us out there!