« Reply #26 on: January 17, 2021, 11:20:03 AM »
He's been a perfectly adequate bench player. He's reached the point here he hits threes at a high enough clip that he needs to be guarded, which is almost more important than the rate he hits them since it opens up the driving lanes for Brown/Tatum. The straight line riving is nice, its added value offensively.
Defensively I think he's somewhat overated. He stays in front of guys generally, but he puts ZERO pressure on the ball. He has 0 steals and 0 blocks this year. He is strong which is useful against bigger wings.
So ya, as long as he's like your 8th-10th guy thats fine.
Wow, the 0 steals and blocks is pretty crazy. Seems harder to have none of both than it is to have a couple of random steals or blocks.
Allen Iverson led the NBA in steals for 3 consecutive seasons. No one would suggest that he was an elite defender.
When it comes to defense, imo the #1 thing is to stay in front of your opponent. Steals and blocks are just a bonus. Semi is strong as an ox! I trust him to guard most PFs around the league. He also got the lateral quicks to play D on the perimeter. I like his defense a lot! He can guard multiple positions! Just because he ain't gambling for steals and blocks, it doesn't mean he's overrated.
Ya he's overrated defensively in my opinion. Steals an blocks arent the end all of defense, you can certainly get a lot of them and not be good. But they do show thats he's not really much of a help defender. He also isnt that versatile, he does a good job against a certain type of player (big three/fours) but is only okay at best against guards or navigating screens.
Its not that he's bad defensively, he's not, he's just sort of a situational guy to me.
We don't use him as a help defender. We switch pretty much all ball screens on defense unless the opposing player is a below average shooter, in which case we may go under the screen. Semi is strong and explosive. He can play D close to the basket. He can play D on the perimeter. He's a pretty vesrastile defender in my book.
By the traditional definition of "versatile," ie able to guard many different kinds of offensive players, he is not versatile.
Not saying he's bad, he's just overated. He's fine, wont make many mistakes and wont hurt you out there. Good against specific kinds of players.
Despite his height, he's strong enough to hold bigger centers away from the basket and he's quick enough to stay in front of most big wings. I'm comfortable with him guarding 3 positions, and there are lots of sg's he can switch on to that wouldn't panic me.
He reminds me of a very poor man's Jae Crowder. Which I actually think is great because from a team composition standpoint that's all we ever really needed with the J's.
That's sort of the hope. Crowder's last year in Boston when he was knocking down 3's but could also make those pump-and-go drives. Nothing fancy, just enough offense to keep defenses honest. Although, to be honest, Semi is looking quicker than I remember Jae being.
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Topic: Semi Ojeleye: Basketball Player? (Read 5286 times)