Boston Celtics: Semi Ojeleye has a big opportunity

With Marcus Morris no longer a member of the Boston Celtics roster, there are minutes for the taking at the forward position.

With change comes opportunity, players who commanded minutes and touches leave teams all the time. Marcus Morris is a fine example of this, having played an average of 27.9 minutes per game for the Boston Celtics during the 2018-19 season, then leaving during free agency.

The Celtics had earlier prioritized replacing Kyrie Irving and Al Horford following their respective departures, leaving a hole in the rotation at the forward position.

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Having drafted Grant Williams and re-signed Daniel Theis, the Celtics boast a total of four players who are potential candidates to fill the minutes left by Morris’s departure;

• Gordon Hayward
• Daniel Theis
• Semi Ojeleye
• Grant Williams

There is an argument of Jayson Tatum being a candidate at the 4 spot also, but during his short career, he has only spent a total of 16 percent of his minutes at that position.

Brad Stevens instead prefers him at the small forward position; heading into next year this is unlikely to change.

Gordon Hayward has spent 59 percent of his Celtics career playing the power forward and as such looks the safe bet to continue in that position throughout the year, but Hayward already commanded 25.9 per game on average last year as per basketball-reference.

Assuming Hayward does take the starting role at the 4 and sees his minutes increase to around 30 a game, there are still 23.9 minutes left behind due to the departure of Morris.

Daniel Theis will be the second player expected to fill this role either off the bench or as a starter, but from here it gets unclear.

Both Theis and Hayward were regular contributors last year, commanding a spot in the rotation in their own right but Hayward will spend a considerable amount of time at the small forward position or even the 2 spot.

This leaves Grant Williams and Semi Ojeleye fighting for the lions share of minutes left behind by Morris’s departure. Semi finally has his chance.

Having only been involved in 56 games last year with 3 coming as a starter, Semi was a casualty of the team’s depth, the narrative has changed this year providing him a platform to show he is more than just an end-of-the-bench rotation player.

Semi showed flashes of his ability last year, especially when playing within a system heavily predicated on ball movement and pick-and-roll play — finishing the season as the No. 1-ranked roll man in the league with 18 points from 11 possessions, per synergy.

However, due to the limited time Semi spent on the floor, it becomes hard to quantify his stats as they become skewed due to low usage and smaller sample sizes.

Finishing first in the league as a roll man is misleading due to only having played in 11 possessions where he was actually rolling to the basket from a pick.

What is clear though, is Semi’s ability to grow into a legitimate 3-and-D type player, shooting 31.8 percent on his attempts from behind the arc on 1.7 attempts per game.

His burly build, toughness, and hustle on the defensive end during his rookie year earned him the title of “Giannis Stopper” among Celtics fans, only for him to fall short in the 2019 playoffs against Giannis himself.

Semi is heading into the third year of his rookie contract, and so far has failed to impress consistently.

An opportunity to become a regular contributor to a genuine playoff team could be the accelerant his career needs right now, if he plays well over the course of the upcoming season and possibly next there will be a future in the NBA with the Celtics or someone else.

Play poorly though and he could find himself out of the league before ever having a fair crack of the whip.

Fighting with an inexperienced rookie for minutes may seem desirable to Semi, and with his ability to slide down to the 3 spot, minutes seem to be easy to come by this year. But make no mistake, Grant Williams will fight for (and likely earn) game time this year.

Stevens is a big fan of high IQ players, which gives Williams an opportunity, but Semi is a potential defensive juggernaut capable of locking down the worlds best players.

Having Marcus Smart and an improved Semi on the floor at the same time will be a nightmare for the opposition. If both players continue to improve their 3-ball and jump shot in general, then this Celtics team becomes a scary prospect.

The opportunity is there for the taking. Now its Semi’s job to grab it and work tirelessly to keep hold of it.