Semaj Christon shares Russell Westbrook's experience and his return to Italy / News - Basketnews.com

Semaj Christon returned to Italy this summer to join Derthona Basket, one of the most exciting projects in the country. In a conversation with BasketNews, he opened up about his ambitions with the Italian side, his relationship with Russell Westbrook, and the changes that European basketball need.

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix Credit ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix

Last season, Derthona Basket was one of the biggest surprises in the Italian league. In their first season ever in the top division, they reached the final of the Italian cup and the semifinals of the Serie A, losing only to Virtus Bologna.

Semaj Christon

Position:PGAge:29Height:191 cmWeight:86 kgBirth place:Cincinati, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Despite the big accomplishments, the Italian club decided to skip the opportunity to play in EuroCup to focus only on the Italian league.

Derthona Basket is working on a new multi-function arena that should be opened by the end of 2023. Therefore, the club decided to wait until the new arena is ready before playing in European competitions (the team is currently playing in Casale Monferrato, a city around 57km away from Tortona).

However, the decision not to play in Europe didn't stop Derthona from building another exciting team for this season. Beniamino Gavio, the majority owner of the club, has spent a lot of resources since his official entry into the club and wants to continue his work of transforming Derthona Basket into one of the most vital realities of Italian basketball.

The club retained some of its most important players from the past season, including their two top American players: J.P. Macura and Mike Daum. In addition to confirming much of last season's group, Derthona made some excellent deals on the market during the offseason, adding such talented and experienced players as Semaj Christon and Leon Radosevic.

Coach Marco Ramondino has a really solid, deep group at his disposal for a team that will be able to focus almost exclusively on one competition. The Serie A season is off to the best possible start for Derthona. Coach Ramondino's team won the first two games, beating Trento (a EuroCup team) at home and Reggio Emilia (a Basketball Champions League team) away.

Semaj Christon was a big part of these positive results of Derthona. The American guard is averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game in the first few games.

The American player spent the past season with Ratiopharm Ulm and was among the best players in the EuroCup, where he was named as part of the All-EuroCup second team. During his season in Germany, Christon averaged 17.5 points, 7.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 34% from deep.

During the offseason, Christon became a marquee addition to the roster of Derthona after signing a two-year deal with the Italian side. In a conversation with BasketNews, Christon explained the reasons behind his move to Derthona and went through some of the best moments of his career.

This is not the first season in Italy for Christon. The American guard had started his professional career outside of the USA in Pesaro during the 2015-16 season. That season, Christon averaged 14.3 points and 3.7 assists per game.

Christon explained to BasketNews what changed from his first time in Italy: 'I'm just getting older, bigger, faster, and stronger."

"Now that I'm almost 30, I understand the overseas game much better than before. In my first year in Pesaro, everything looked quicker and faster. Now, because of the experience, it's slower. I feel more in control."

Some might have been surprised by Christon's decision to join Derthona, a team that doesn't play in Europe, after his season in Ulm and his great performances in EuroCup. Still, for the player, it was actually an easy decision.

"I'm not sure how many other teams were interested in me after my season in Germany, but Derthona showed great interest early in the process," Christon explained to BasketNews. "They really wanted me to help them win, I knew some of the players on the roster already, so it was an easy decision for me."

"In the conversation that I had with the coach, I basically told him that I like to win," Christon added. "Their mindset was pretty clear: come here, run the show, help the guys out. This was already a good team, so joining them was a no-brainer."

After his experience in Pesaro, Christon joined the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2016-17 season. That year, Kevin Durant had left the team to join the Golden State Warriors as a free agent, and Russell Westbrook had become the sole leader of the Thunder.

The 2016-17 season was a historical one for Westbrook. The point guard won the MVP award and recorded 42 triple-doubles, the most any player ever had during a single regular season.

As a teammate of Westbrook, Christon was a direct witness of that season, and he shared with BasketNews some of his memories about that experience.

"Playing with Russell was such a great experience for me, I really learned a lot just by watching him play," Christon said. "You know, just how to be a leader for your teammates and how to be dominant in every single aspect of the game. It was really a huge experience for me."

"I was part of a historic season, which is something that doesn't happen every single day," Christon continued. "I actually made the 3-pointer that gave Russell his forty-second triple-double of the season, so I was part of that history."

Since joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Russell Westbrook's tenure in LA has been pretty disappointing, and the point guard has often been at the center of trade rumors. But despite these difficulties, Christon is sure that Westbrook will bounce back and will prove his value to everyone.

"Russell will always be Russell. He'll show people this season what kind of player he is. I have no doubts about it," the player of Derthona told BasketNews.

As an American athlete playing overseas, Christon has now been a part of multiple domestic leagues. His journey has brought him to Italy, China, Israel, France, Spain, Turkey, and Germany.

The lessons learned over these years have helped Christon get better and become a much more mature player.

"Oh yeah, I believe that my experience playing overseas has helped me a lot," the player told BasketNews. "It gave me a better knowledge of the game and just understanding the game better. There are differences between the game that we play in the US and the game played overseas. Here there's less space available, and the game is more physical, it's a lot different from the NBA."

It's not a secret that many American players based in Europe have often complained about the length of the regular season here in the old continent. Many of them consider it way too long, with too many games and not enough breaks during the offseason.

When asked about this topic, Christon agreed that something should change in the European schedule to make it more sustainable for the players.

"I agree, the season here is way too long. It shouldn't take 8-9 months to finish a 35-50 games regular season when in the NBA they have an 82-games regular season, and they're still able to finish before [us]," Christon told BasketNews.

"In this way, players overseas miss out on everything. I understand it's our job, and we got paid for it, but the season should be shorter. It can't be almost a year long, that's way too much."

While shortening the regular season it's out of Christon's control, there's something that the American player can do really well, and that's helping Derthona Basket to be among the best teams in Italy again. A goal that's absolutely within the team's reach.

"This team already did a great job last season, and we can definitely do the same this year, maybe even better," Christon told BasketNews. "We just need to take one game at a time, and we'll be able to do great things."

Like what we are doing? Support us by becoming BN+ member.