After some of the early free agent madness involving the likes of Bobby Portis and P.J. Tucker had settled, the Milwaukee Bucks brought in an interesting veteran.
First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have agreed to a one-year contract with former Boston Celtics forward Semi Ojeleye. As many initially speculated, the deal is reportedly worth a minimum salary contract, which was soon after confirmed by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm.
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Ojeleye has spent all four years of his career with the Celtics after being selected by them in the second round (37th overall) in the 2017 NBA Draft.
He was always a player that Celtics fans had high hopes for and cemented himself as a favorite of Brad Stevens when he was the head coach. Yet, he never quite put it together consistently, although he did post a career-high 24 points this past season against the Toronto Raptors, shooting 6-of-8 from deep and leading the team in scoring.
For his career, however, the 26-year-old averaged 3.5 points and 2.1 rebounds. This isn’t a flashy signing by any means, but Ojeleye is someone who could find his niche on the defensive end with the Bucks. With that being said, let us take a look at everything there is to be known about this signing.
What is the financial value of Semi Ojeleye’s deal for the Milwaukee Bucks?
It would have been a shock if the Bucks signed Ojeleye for more than the minimum, so they’ve already done a good job on that front.
With this move falling under the minimum slot, the Bucks still have yet to touch any of their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is 5.9 million that can be used all at once for one player or split up for multiple. They also managed to re-sign Portis using his Non-Bird rights, meaning that the option is still intact. Excluding that exception, the rest of the roster will need to be filled out by players on minimum contracts, like Ojeleye.
This could be a good bit of bargain-hunting by the Bucks, the same being said with the breaking news that they have signed Rodney Hood, as Ojeleye has played a decent role on Celtics teams that have gone deep into the playoffs. Ojeleye has played in 38 career playoff games, starting three, and averaged 10.5 minutes. He won’t come in and be a world-beater, but getting a potential rotation player, at 26 years old, on a minimum contract is a solid signing.
How does Semi Ojeleye fit with the Milwaukee Bucks?
The natural fit would be as a lower-tier replacement for P.J. Tucker after his reported signing with the Miami Heat.
At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, Ojeleye is right around the same height and weight as the former Buck. Their stats are also strikingly similar. Tucker is a career 35.9 percent 3-point shooter on 2.9 attempts per game, while Ojeleye is 34.9 percent on an average of two attempts.
Taking a deeper dive into their respective numbers this past season, Ojeleye tallied a 71.5 percent 3-point attempt rate while Tucker was at 67.2 percent. Ojeleye also shot a higher percentage from deep this past season (36.7 percent, 2.8 attempts) than Tucker (33.6 percent, 2.3 attempts).
A small benefit that Ojeleye does bring over Tucker as well, is that he’s not only limited to corner triples. According to NBA.com/stats, Ojeleye impressively shot nearly 38 percent on his above the break 3-pointers (82 attempts) while Tucker shot 25 percent (16 attempts).
Tucker also provided a big presence on the offensive glass and although the offensive rebounding rates were similar this past season (3.9 percent for Tucker, 3.6 percent for Ojeleye), Ojeleye has never come close to the offensive rebounding rate that Tucker posted in the playoffs (7.4 percent) However, Ojeleye can’t be a direct one-to-one replacement for Tucker, both on and off the court.
In an ideal world, the Bucks would have been able to have both players on their roster, but Ojeleye should provide good value for his contract and now has a built-in role in the rotation. I’m not going to say Ojeleye will be as good as Tucker, that’s an unfair expectation.
But he has shot the three at a 37.2 percent clip the past two seasons and is a strong defender, quite similar to Tucker. It’ll be a tiered down version of what Tucker provided (Ojeleye isn’t in the same tier as Tucker as a defender, he isn’t the same veteran presence, etc.), but there’s room to be hopeful that Ojeleye can do some of what the heart and soul of the Bucks’ championship did.
What is the grade for the Semi Ojeleye signing for the Milwaukee Bucks?
I feel a bit bad for Ojeleye after signing with the Bucks.
He’ll have the weight of being the P.J. Tucker replacement (barring another potential signing) when he isn’t going to be that caliber of player and his salary reflects that. Yet, because it’s coming directly after the Bucks lost Tucker for what’s being speculated as the owners being cheap about not going further into the luxury tax, Ojeleye is going to feel that pressure from fans to step in and be an immediate fix.
On its own, I like the signing well enough. It costs nothing to get a look at a 26-year-old who could help unlock the switchable defense that we saw help the Bucks tremendously in the playoffs. He can simultaneously space the floor and hit 3-pointers reliably enough in the regular season to help carve out a role for himself easy enough.
I don’t know how much he can be relied upon when the playoffs begin, but Mike Budenholzer and his staff have found ways to put players in their best position to succeed. I’m sure there is a defined role already in place for Ojeleye, and if he, as Giannis Antetokounmpo says, can be a star in his role, this should be a pretty solid signing.
BTBP Final Grade: B