Celtics Notebook: Terry Rozier doesn’t think his old team warrants the criticism

As someone who grew up alongside Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier is in frequent communication with his former Celtics teammates.

He returned to the Garden on Sunday as Charlotte’s leading scorer — second on the Hornets scoring list is another departed Celtic, Gordon Hayward, out for three weeks with a sprained foot — and in the somewhat surprising position of leading his old team in the Eastern Conference standings.

Rozier understands the passion among Celtics fans, and fans in this city in general, and has a message for everyone: Calm down.

“To be honest I think they’re not that bad,” Rozier said of the Celtics. “I think people in the city kind of overreact sometimes because they’re Boston Celtics. I think they expect more, but I don’t think things are that bad. But I’m just on the outside looking in. I keep my distance, that’s not my team no more. But I’ve still got love for the guys over there. I’m worried about the Charlotte Hornets.”

Rozier started the day scoring at a 20.3 clip, not only on a career high 41 percent 3-point shooting, but on a career high 8.1 attempted threes per game. The combo guard bet on himself in a major way in the summer of 2019, signing a lucrative three-year deal worth an average of roughly $18 million per season.

Rozier won the enhanced role that he desired and now, with Hayward and rookie LaMelo Ball out with injuries, is Charlotte’s main hope.

“Just trying to find that opportunity to fully be myself and get the time I got here,” he said. “Last year was about finding out about things with that opportunity, and this year I can really apply things. It’s about all of the work I’ve put in over the summer. A lot’s slowed down, and I’m just out there working hard. I felt that things would keep getting better for me if I approached the game the right way.”

And right now, there’s an opportunity to keep his old team at bay in the seedings chase.

“I talk to Jaylen and JT all the time, Rob (Williams), Smart, definitely talked to (Daniel) Theis before he left,” said Rozier. “But they’re still my guys, my brothers. I wouldn’t say it was circled on my schedule, but it’s definitely a game for me that’s special. It’s a team in the East that’s battling against us.”

Hayward beyond ordinary

The Celtics may not see Hayward until the playoffs, should these two teams align in a series. But Brad Stevens can speak to how much losing Hayward for any length of time hurts a team. He still feels the pain of losing Hayward to an ankle injury just before last season’s playoffs.

“I’ve said this many times, I don’t know if I’ve said it publicly as much, but I thought when we were ending the seeding games that was as good of a team playing basketball as I’ve coached here,” said the Celtics coach. That gave us a lot of optimism heading into last year’s playoffs in the bubble and he was a big part of that. And then he just makes the right play for people, and he’s a guy that you see the young players, both with us and Charlotte, have a chance to grow and really improve because he can make the right play for people, makes the game easier for people.”

Celtics South

Brad Wanamaker, after starting the season with Golden State, has found his way via trade to Charlotte, where he remains a dependable, solid rotation player.

“Well, Brad was our sixth or seventh man last year. He was terrific,” said Stevens. “So if that wasn’t the plan when they traded for him, then he’s an easy person to plug right in. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s solid, he’s a pro’s pro. When you talk about leadership, and daily example, he’s up there with anybody we’ve had. And so I think he has all those great attributes. I’m happy for Brad, really, really enjoyed him, and I think he wasn’t playing as much after the All-Star Break with Golden State, and I haven’t talked to him today, but I’m sure he was excited to get back with Terry and Gordon and some familiar faces and get a chance to compete with Charlotte.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3sU7kiQ