I'd love to have Erden back... he might be a good back up center someday. Of course, I wouldn't send JO + a second round to Cleveland to get Semih and Hollins, but if there's an inexpensive way to get him... IMO he's a better fit than Stiemsma, by a mile.
By better fit, do you mean that Erden's a worse rebounder so fits in better with the current Celtics team identity?
either that, or maybe because he doesn't stand 12 feet from the basket waiting for someone to pass him the ball... or maybe just there'll be more room in Semih's bandwagon than in Steamer's.
He was a rookie, living far from his country for the first time, and he had communication problems because of language. And he played with a bad shoulder and I think he's younger than Stiemsma. Of course, the rest of the team sucked last year right after Shaq went down, and Semih may have looked better just by comparing him to Baby.
Still, in my opinion, he played better than Stiemsma
