Change does Ojeleye good
Rook dazzled post-Duke
SALT LAKE CITY — The experience of playing for Duke can be one of discomfort for all but the elite players who headline Mike Krzyzewski’s roster each season.
Jayson Tatum, the No. 3 pick and one of the headliners on the Celtics summer league team that opens its season against Philadelphia at the University of Utah tonight, was one of those express lane stars.
But Semi Ojeleye, taken by the Celtics with the 37th pick two weeks ago, was one of the discomforted in Durham. He was Parade Magazine’s National Player of the Year his senior year at Ottawa High in Kansas, a high honors student whose family emigrated from Nigeria, and Duke seemed like the natural choice athletically and academically.
He played sparingly for two years, appearing in only six games during Duke’s 2015 national championship season, and felt remarkably unfulfilled as a Blue Devil.
“Duke always has a lot of stars coming in, but the basic thing for me was to have that connection with coach, and I lost that with Coach K at a certain point, and I wanted to start over,” said Ojeleye. “I think I lost my confidence at a point there, and I wasn’t in the plans moving forward. I wanted a bigger role and felt like I had to go somewhere else to get there.”
Larry Brown is one of the greatest teachers the game has known, and forever the basketball nomad, he was now building a program at Southern Methodist University.
Ojeleye chose Brown’s program, though due to a combination of NCAA sanctions in 2016 and a contract dispute between Brown and the school that led to the coach’s resignation, Ojeleye never had more than a fleeting experience with the coach.
But the move was also right, despite the program’s volatility. Ojeleye’s unusual combination of strength and shooting efficiency led to double honors as the American Athletic Conference player of the year and the AAC tournament MVP.
He emerged as precisely the kind of swing forward the NBA now demands — a player agile enough to guard multiple positions, strong enough to rebound and defend power forwards, and accomplished enough offensively to space the floor.
Team president Danny Ainge said he was surprised Ojeleye was available with the 37th pick, all of these abilities considered.
But first Ojeleye had to regain his confidence.
“Going to a place like Duke is a great opportunity, and I just felt like I needed a fresh start,” he said. “Really getting myself together as a person and getting back onto the court.
“Just always staying disciplined, staying sharp when you get to the reps, because when you’re a young guy you’re not going to get all the reps. Keep your head down and expect perfection, because you need that to win. Just confidence in the work, staying in the gym, staying with the coaches, learning what to get better at.”
Though the history of nonlottery picks under Ainge points to Ojeleye turning in his share of time with the D-League’s Maine Red Claws this season, he is entering the realm of another renowned teacher, C’s coach Brad Stevens.
And Ojeleye admits that his timing couldn’t be better as a socalled combo forward. In the recent past a player like him would have been labeled a “tweener.”
Now, though, he fits a very exacting job requirement.
“Excites me that I’m coming at the right time,” he said. “You want to adapt to the way the game is being played. Multiple skills helps.
“(The 3-pointer is) something I developed over time — something still in the making. For sure (things have changed). Guys like Draymond (Green), Jay (Crowder), DeMarre Carroll have changed the way the game is played at this level. It’s to my advantage with the way I play.”
Celtics notes
As expected, the Celtics waived forward/center Tyler Zeller.
The final year of Zeller’s contract, worth $8 million, would have been guaranteed if they hadn’t. Zeller spent three years with the C’s. Last season, he averaged 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 10.3 minutes.
‘The basic thing for me was to have that connection with coach, and I lost that with Coach K at a certain point. . . . I just felt like I needed a fresh start.’ — SEMI OJELEYE, on transferring from Duke to SMU after two years