#37 Semi Ojeleye

HomeRunBaker

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Celtics get Ojeleye
Ummmm, I fell off my couch. I thought he went in the 20's! Too much time on laptop.

Sat bench two years at Duke, first year at SMU wins conference POY. Can shoot, can jump, plays with energy. Love this pick!
 

Sprowl

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Ummmm, I fell off my couch. I thought he went in the 20's! Too much time on laptop.

Sat bench two years at Duke, first year at SMU wins conference POY. Can shoot, can jump, plays with energy. Love this pick!

Consolation prize for the man who lost his Pasečņiks.
 

Big John

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Ummmm, I fell off my couch. I thought he went in the 20's! Too much time on laptop.

Sat bench two years at Duke, first year at SMU wins conference POY. Can shoot, can jump, plays with energy. Love this pick!
NBA body, academic all American.
 

RoDaddy

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Yeah how many 3's can you fit on one team? That said, impressive looking player this late in the draft, especially if the comments that he's a solid defender and strong offensive rebounder are true
 

RedOctober3829

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deep inside Guido territory
Ojeleye shot 42.4 percent from 3 and 78.5 percent from the line, and he has simple one-motion mechanics with a nice, high release. His release isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing, but it works. Basketball doesn’t always need to be pretty. “I have the strength to hold off forwards from getting good positioning, and I can rebound,” Ojeleye told me at the NBA combine. “I can stretch the floor a little bit, so I think with more time, more work, more reps, I can fill that 3-and-D role.”

I asked Ojeleye to describe why 3-and-D players are important in the NBA. “It’s extremely valuable,” he responded with confidence. “Guys like that can guard multiple lineups, especially you see in the playoffs you need guys who can fill in on the fly. It gets late in the game, it’s extremely valuable to play multiple positions and do different things.”


https://theringer.com/2017-nba-draft-3-and-d-prospects-41d14ea486b5
 

Mooch

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Ojeleye is a high energy scorer with good range but defense is going to be a problem in the NBA. Not quick enough to stay with 3s and not big enough to stop 4s from pushing him around and/or shooting over the top of him. Not sure he has a place in today's NBA.
 

Sprowl

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Ojeleye is a high energy scorer with good range but defense is going to be a problem in the NBA. Not quick enough to stay with 3s and not big enough to stop 4s from pushing him around and/or shooting over the top of him. Not sure he has a place in today's NBA.
Maine is gonna love him.
 

ZMart100

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If the NBA doesn't work out, Ojeleye has the body to give it a go in Foxboro.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Ojeleye is a high energy scorer with good range but defense is going to be a problem in the NBA. Not quick enough to stay with 3s and not big enough to stop 4s from pushing him around and/or shooting over the top of him. Not sure he has a place in today's NBA.
4's don't push anyone around in todays game they are behind the 3-point line. He'll be fine to grow into a 2nd unit energy guy as a 3 or a 4.
 

Big John

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Academic all American. Father a doctor, mother a registered nurse. I think that sort of thing matters to the Celtics. At least its a tie breaker if they think the talent is relatively equal.

Jason Tatum is also one of those kids (like Jaylen Brown) who finished out the school year instead of dropping out when he declared for the draft.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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He's old (for this draft), couldn't hang in a great conference and found success as an older player in a bad conference. If he plays more than 100 games in the NBA, I'll be surprised. (with the caveat that I know it's rare for 2nd rounders to get that much run as it is).

Not much to get excited about.
 

Big John

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He's old (for this draft), couldn't hang in a great conference and found success as an older player in a bad conference. If he plays more than 100 games in the NBA, I'll be surprised. (with the caveat that I know it's rare for 2nd rounders to get that much run as it is).

Not much to get excited about.
Well, I would have preferred Wesley Iwundu as an Adrian Griffin jack of all trades, but he was taken at 33. And Josh Hart went at 30. Ojeleye is a kid you can root for, even though he will play most of his games in Portland.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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moving my own post over.

He's old (for this draft), couldn't hang in a great conference and found success as an older player in a bad conference. If he plays more than 100 games in the NBA, I'll be surprised. (with the caveat that I know it's rare for 2nd rounders to get that much run as it is)
It looks like he can shoot (some of those shots on his highlight video were MBA 3P land) so if he can play defense, he's going to be pretty valuable.

The Cs should charge people to watch the slam dunk contests between him and JB after practice.

edit: it seems that he was #1 in pick 'n' pop percentage too.
 

Blacken

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I'm relatively high on Ojeleye. I think he's a guy who has the toolset to play in the NBA for a decent stretch of time (on the Celtics or not? who knows). He can shoot. His defense is sub-mediocre (I haven't seen enough to say if it's bad or not) but the D part is often optional in 3-and-D if you're playing on a second unit.
 

Imbricus

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I just buzzed through a bunch of "grade the draft" websites. It was interesting. A few quick observations: (1) Everyone seems to think Semi was a good choice for the Celts, but Bell was a great choice, and he went next, and Golden State (which has a good track record of drafting) snagged him. Argh. (2) Nobody was really blown away by Tatum at three; it was seen mostly as a B/B+ kind of move. (3) One thing everyone seemed unanimous about: the Bulls blew it: in the Butler trade, and with their #7 pick.

My own impressions: I wish Celts had used a couple of second-round picks to try to pick up some young, hit-or-miss type talent, and especially a big guy. With three second rounders, they had some room to gamble.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I can't believe they passed on a guy who can deliver what you need (Bell- shot blocking and rebounding) and get another SF

And agree with Mooch and PCDF
Jordan Bell was medically red flagged by many teams due to his foot.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Academic all American. Father a doctor, mother a registered nurse. I think that sort of thing matters to the Celtics. At least its a tie breaker if they think the talent is relatively equal.
Maybe the Sixers should have drafted him.
#londonsox
 

DannyDarwinism

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Semi Ojeleye might wanna start looking for a Boston realtor.
Oh hey, from a month ago. Having Ainge pegged as a Ojeleye guy wasn't exactly a stretch, but I did prefer Bell there, though I didn't know of any foot issues. Semi's a fine pick there too.

Don't have much of an opinion on Bird or Allen, other than that they're old and unlikely to ever play for the Celtics.
 

EL Jeffe

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I don't get the Ojeleye pick at all. He's a legit 2nd round prospect in that all you're really looking for is a guy, who if you squint hard enough, you can see him filling an NBA role. Ojeleye definitely has a chance to develop into an undersized 4 who can knock down a 3, play with energy, and score a few buckets. My problem is that Boston already has two young, cheap options who project to fill that role at a higher level than Ojeleye in Yabu and Theis (assuming he does, in fact, sign).

Bell, on the other hand, projects to fill a role no one else in Boston can do; a traditionally-sized 4 who's hyper-athletic, defends switches/pick-and-rolls, blocks shots and rebounds. Sure, the foot is a red flag, but 2nd rounders are more or less dartboard picks anyhow. Why not take a shot at a guy who does something you genuinely need versus selecting a guy who's 3rd in line for a niche position?
 

DJnVa

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Said Semi "wasn't ready for the intensity of Duke basketball..." doesn't sound like an Ainge player in that sense.
But he recognized that, which is, I think, something in his favor.

EDIT: This thread with almost as money comments as the one for Tatum. Thanks SoSH.
 

oumbi

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Ojeleye is a high energy scorer with good range but defense is going to be a problem in the NBA. Not quick enough to stay with 3s and not big enough to stop 4s from pushing him around and/or shooting over the top of him. Not sure he has a place in today's NBA.
Yes, as starter he might very well have such limitations over the course of a season. But with CBS as coach, I would expect he to be matched up well with opponents so his strengths show more and his limitations show less.

Also, the scenario you paint may very well be less relevant when Ojeleye is playing against bench players from other teams. Quite a few of them are not of standard NBA height or speed, hence their role off the bench.

Ojeleye seems to be athletic and intelligent. Good. Perhaps he can play a role similar to Powe. Not a starter in the NBA, but a valuable rotation guy. I am hopeful on this pick.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Did not know that his full name is Jesusemilore Talodabijesu Ojeleye. Posted in case someone needs to win a beer at a bar without wifi.

Wish we could see that on a jersey.
 

chilidawg

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LondonSox

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Great pick for you guys. Was one of my favourite five guys in the second round.
Bell another that's a heist for warriors.
The other three were bolden brown and Evans. Sixers took all three. Yay. But appear to have traded two of them boo. But return unknown as appear to be waiting for July.
 

Merkle's Boner

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He will have had a very good career if he's as valuable as Van Exel.
Obviously. But pretty amazing that he's the best guy ever from that draft position. The point being that anything we get from him would be unexpected, from a historical standpoint.
 

Big John

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At least one guy I've never heard of who bills himself as a shooting coach thinks Ojeleye could be the next Draymond Green. As for me, I'd settle for Draymond Green defensively, never mind the offense.
 

Eddie Jurak

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At least one guy I've never heard of who bills himself as a shooting coach thinks Ojeleye could be the next Draymond Green. As for me, I'd settle for Draymond Green defensively, never mind the offense.
Next Draymond Green is kind of a ridiculously high expectation to put on anyone. I'd settle happily for "next Jae Crowder".
 

tbrown_01923

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He looks more explosive than crowder, but yeah - i think we would call that a win.
 
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DannyDarwinism

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So now we're tempering expectations for our second round pick from "Draymond Green" to a better version of Jae Crowder. I love the post draft honeymoon phase.