Boston Celtics: The Semi Ojeleye conundrum

Semi Ojeleye has the Boston Celtics in a difficult position with his unique impact

The Boston Celtics rotation has been all over the place in this series against the Milwaukee Bucks, and a lot of that had to do with health. Thon Maker emerging in John Henson‘s absence and the return of Marcus Smart had changed a lot, and the biggest thing has been the use of Semi Ojeleye.

After starting almost the entirety of the regular season, Aron Baynes was put on the bench in favour of Ojeleye, because of his great strength and versatility on defense . The Bucks have incredible length and shooting across the board, and Baynes was too limited. They have more options with Ojeleye, and he has held his own on defense.

When you look at the minutes he is being given, you get an idea of how much Brad Stevens trusts his defense. He’s played 31 and 23 minutes over the last two games, and has attempted a grand total of four shots in those two games. Ojeleye clearly has a real impact on defense, but you cannot ignore how bad the offense has been with a starter that is a complete non factor on offense.

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The most frustrating part is that he does have potential on offense. He is a much better three point shooter than Baynes or Greg Monroe, and has shown an ability to hit his open shots. Right now, however, there is no reason for the defense to respect him, and Boston’s offense is struggling to survive when they have a starter that cannot get on the scoreboard.

The Celtics have always won with defense this season, and Ojeleye is clearly the best option on defense against the Bucks. Brad Stevens cannot justify taking away Ojeleye’s minutes if he is a key to the defensive success, but it is also hard to see this offense really bouncing back when they have a starter that cannot be expected to score a single point.

It is not as if Ojeleye is a direct liability. He is not hurting the players around him, and does not disrupt the rhythm of the players around him. That being said, the Celtics still have a tiny bit of depth and can use that position on someone that can create some offense. You can look to both Smart and Marcus Morris as stronger offensive options to start, but they might not be able to sacrifice that kind of size and strength.

I would not expect Stevens to make a major change for game seven, because they would rather win with defense than offense. Unfortunately, that is likely to limit them on offense, and will put more pressure on players around him. In game six, players folded under that pressure with Jaylen Brown shrinking and both Morris and Rozier forcing way too much.

The Celtics know these young guys have the potential to make up for a non factor on the starting unit, but the more they expect of these young players the more dangerous things get.

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The Celtics know they have the pieces to win this game seven at home, but they still have to make sure things come together effectively. Having Ojeleye in the starting unit makes it harder for everyone to get comfortable, but they need to figure out how to make it work if they want to be at their best for game seven in TD Garden.

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