The presence of Thon Maker has forced Brad Stevens to go with Semi Ojeleye over Greg Monroe
The Boston Celtics knew that their rotation would have to be transitioning in the playoffs with all the injuries they suffered. Brad Stevens has always used a fluid rotation, and never wants to force any roles on people.
With that, you constantly see drastic differences in minutes played, and sometimes completely adapted approaches to the rotation. The Celtics were already dealing with some chaos in the rotation to start things out, then John Henson got hurt, and the series changed with the emergence of Thon Maker.
Maker has been playing superb, killing the Celtics with his shot blocking length, and knowing down all kinds of three point shots. Maker altered the game for the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Celtics were force to adjust.
After using Greg Monroe for 10, 17 and 23 minutes in the first three games, his role absolutely disappeared, ending with five minutes on the court in their game four loss. Monroe simply could not keep up with the versatility of Maker, who was able to disrupt all his offense on the inside, while Monroe was not capable of defending him from beyond the arc.
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As a response, we are seeing Brad Stevens use the much more versatile Semi Ojeleye, and there are different ways they can benefit. Ojeleye is a much less trusted player than Monroe, and we still really do not know what to expect of him.
What we do know, however, is that Ojeleye is versatile enough to keep Maker’s shot blocking on the outside a lot more than Monroe, and he has the strength to battle with anyone on the inside.
Ojeleye is just much more comfortable in the kind of role that is needed to account for the way Maker has been playing and Stevens will continue to go that route until he thinks there is a better option. When you consider the depth of this team, the only player that has any chance of changing anything is going to be the return of Marcus Smart, which could transform how Stevens wants to use their versatility.
Ojeleye, however, has been a serviceable defender, and has proven that he can stay on the court. He may not be a positive all the time, but Stevens would not be using him if he were as much of a liability as Monroe was once Maker started playing real minutes.
After playing just one garbage time minute in gamer three, when Monroe played over 20 minutes, Ojeleye came out with a solid 17 minute effort and Monroe was stuck to the bench.
Ojeleye is far from a staple of this team, and is still at the very bottom of the rotation. That being said, Stevens is clearly more satisfied with the impact he is having with Maker on the floor, and it is hard to see the more limited Monroe getting back on the court.
Dont’t get me wrong, this does not mean Monroe is completely obsolete. Stevens always finds ways to use his talent, and that could be the case again if the Celtics have an opportunity to use him beyond the Milwaukee series.
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That being said, Maker is not going anywhere, and the Bucks are going to stay just as long and versatile, and that makes it too hard to expect Monroe to get any more significant minutes for the remainder of this series. Ojeleye, on the other hand, will continue to see the court as long as he can be a positive presence on defense.