The evolution of Semaj Christon
As far as rookie point guards go, Semaj Christon of the OKC Thunder has struggled. But has he finally found his niche as a player?
Semaj Christon is a slightly divisive player. For people like me, he is a second round pick who was thrust into the spotlight as the backup for Russell Westbrook. For others he is a third string point guard who is just not good enough.
That’s why I am watching the evolution of Christon with intense interest. My guess is that the Thunder drafted Christon as Westbrook insurance; as a second-round pick in the 2014 draft there wasn’t much risk in taking the Xavier product.
But then 2015 first-round pick Cameron Payne injured his foot prior to the season so Christon was the next man up. The third string point guard was now the primary backup.
For the first couple of months of the season, the talk was negative. Christon was not good enough and he would cost the Thunder a chance of playoff action.
I had hope, because here was a second round pick who was trying hard. He was not trying to be Westbrook, he was merely being Semaj Christon.
The Positives
Christon persisted past the negative attention as best he could. He took decent shots when the game presented them to him and he tried to keep the ball moving for a struggling second-unit. But most importantly, he took care of the ball.
Related Story: Analyzing Semaj Christon’s play and numbers
The 24-year old has just 34 turnovers in 746 minutes of action. Conversely, he has 110 assists for the season. This is third highest of all the players on the OKC Thunder roster – only Victor Oladipo and Westbrook have more. His assist to turnover ratio of 3:1 happens to be one of the best in the league.
However it was the game against the Golden State Warriors that provided me with my favorite Semaj Christon moment. There was a jump ball situation and the OKC Thunder were well down in the game.
Two time MVP Stephen Curry wanted to take a certain position on the circle. Christon shuffled across to block Curry from getting the spot. In the ensuing push and shove, did you see Christon back down? No, he stood up to the two time MVP of the league.
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The two teams on the court all came together and the refs called their technicals. Unfortunately Westbrook picked one up meaning he has only one more for the season before he sits a game.
Now here’s what I like about this. Semaj Christon is not afraid to stand up to anyone. He has some mongrel in him. The Warriors games have an unheard-of level of animosity since Medusa slithered away in an attempt to cherry pick a championship.
Christon has started to channel some Anthony Morrow. He is letting the Warriors know that they are playing against a committed team and if you mess with one you mess with all.
As a side note, I noticed that Zaza Pachulia was reluctant to get too involved. It may have been that someone his size was there in the form of Steven Adams. I digress.
The evolution of this young second round pick has started. It is now up to Billy Donovan to mold him into an annoying defender who gets under opponents skins. Couple this with his solid ball handling and we may see Christon on the floor more, especially next season.