For the Boston Celtics players, the NBA off season is all about improvement. Here we take a look at three ways that second-year forward Semi Ojeleye can improve heading into the season.
[Editor’s Note: This article is the first installment in a series of posts we will run here at Hardwood Houdini in the next two weeks as the Boston Celtics get ready for the NBA season. For NBA players, the off season is all about improving for next season. The work, the hours these players put into their game during the summer will determine not only their individual success in the upcoming season, but also the success of their teams.
As The Greatest, Muhammad Ali said, “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
In this series, we will detail three improvements that we hope each Boston Celtics player made in the off season to lift his game to the next level and hopefully bring the Celtics to the next level: Banner 18.]
Semi Ojeleye
Last season, Jayson Tatum (rightfully) got most of the attention for having an historic rookie season, but the Boston Celtics had another promising rookie who made major contributions throughout the regular season and playoffs: Semi Ojeleye.
The Boston Celtics selected Semi Ojeleye with the 37th pick in the second round of the NBA Draft. It’s rare for a second-round pick to have an impact on the court in his rookie season, especially on a team as talented and successful as the Boston Celtics.
However, when Gordon Hayward broke his ankle in the first game of the season last year, Ojeleye took advantage of the opportunity to earn a spot in coach Brad Stevens’ rotation with his relentless defensive energy.
Ojeleye appeared in 73 regular season games for the Celtics, averaging nearly 16 minutes per game for a 55-win team. The first-year forward clearly earned Stevens’ trust, holding onto his spot in the rotation during the playoffs and even starting three games.
With his rare combination of physical size, strength, and lateral mobility, Ojeleye developed a reputation as a strong individual defender who even drew such assignments as Giannis Antentokounmpo in the postseason.
While Ojeleye’s defensive abilities were well beyond that of a typical rookie, his offense lagged far behind.
1) Confidence
The most important area Ojeyele can improve on for next season is his confidence and decisiveness when he’s out on the court. Ojeleye was probably not expected to contribute much last season until Hayward was hurt and he was thrust into a reserve role.
On a team full of top-flight NBA talent, Ojeleye naturally took a backseat to his teammates on offense, mostly spotting up in the corners for the three-pointer and trying to provide spacing for the stars. When he did have the ball in his hands, the second-round pick often looked a kid called on in class who hadn’t done the homework.
Despite making 41.5 percent of his college three-pointers, Ojeleye often hesitated on open shots in his rookie season, almost always looking to pass to his more accomplished teammates before looking for his own offense. The way Ojeleye played, it was hard to remember that just a year before he led SMU to a 30-win season and an AAC Championship while scoring more than 20 points per 36 minutes on 49 percent shooting.
At SMU, Ojeleye displayed a diverse offensive game, shooting from distance, scoring in one-on-one situations, and getting to the line more than six times per game. He was the focal point of the offense and could handle and shoot very well for man of his 6-foot-7, 235-pound frame.
Obviously, it’s a major step up in competition from the AAC to the NBA, but still, Ojeleye far too often played with a passivity and indecisiveness that hid his true talent. In his second season, after some big playoff learning moments, expect Ojeleye to play with a renewed swagger and confidence.
2) Three-point shooting
Hopefully, a boost to Ojeleye’s confidence and another off season to adjust to the NBA’s further three-point line will help him improve his extremely poor outside shooting. Of the Boston Celtics’ regular rotation players, only Marcus Smart shot worse from deep–and he’s been one of the worst high-volume outside shooters in league history.
On offense, Ojeleye’s role probably won’t change much from last season; he’ll be expected to space the floor and spot up in the corners for three-point shots and hard slashes to the basket.
Last season, Ojeleye shot just 32 percent on three-pointers, despite nearly 70 percent of his shots being open or wide open, according to NBA’s tracking data. Of the 1.3 wide open three-point shots per game Ojeleye took, he made just 33 percent.
Almost all of Ojeleye’s three-point attempts last season were catch-and-shoot–the easiest deep shot to take–and still he shot an abysmal 31.5 percent on those shots. If Ojeleye can approach league average on his three-point shooting and make defenses pay for leaving him open, Stevens will be able to keep him on the floor more to take advantage of his great defense.
As we noted before, Ojeleye shot more than 41 percent from deep during his collegiate years, and has a good shooting form, so expect his outside shooting to improve dramatically in his second season.
3) Driving Closeouts & Finishing at the rim
In order to make a leap in Stevens’ crowded rotation, Ojeleye will not only have to improve his outside shooting but he will also have to diversify his offensive game.
As a rookie, almost 70 percent of Ojeleye’s field goal attempts came from beyond the three-point arc, and practically all of them were after zero or one dribble. If Ojeleye wasn’t open immediately, chances were he was going to pass the ball to a teammate right away, without doing anything to attack or compromise the defense.
If Ojeleye improves his three-point shooting as we expect this season, he will have the chance to use the threat of the open three-point shot to drive by his defenders and score in the paint–particularly if he is playing the power forward position. However, Ojeleye shot only 47.6 percent on shots inside of five feet, a very low number, especially for a player of his frame and athletic ability.
In college, Ojeleye almost always had a physical advantage against his defender, so his finishing at the rim required only brute power and less technique. In the NBA, of course, his athleticism doesn’t stand out as much and he’ll have to develop different strategies to finish effectively.
Take this typical play for Ojeleye as an example:
Here, Ojeleye has a distinct quickness advantage against his defender, Myles Turner, and he blows by him to the baseline. However, once Ojeleye gets into the paint, he allows Turner to recover by jump-stopping in the lane and double clutching his missed layup attempt. If Ojeleye had instead picked up the ball as soon he got a step on Turner, he could have easily finished with a layup off the glass.
If Ojeleye can improve his outside shooting, and learn how to finish against NBA size at the rim, he will make big strides in his second season in the league.