Now a Hornet, a thriving Terry Rozier makes his Boston return

Earning his hefty new paycheck with Charlotte, Terry Rozier makes his first return to Boston’s TD Garden as a Hornet tonight.

Tonight, Terry Rozier returns to Boston with the Charlotte Hornets.

Whether we see ‘Scary’ Terry as his new team takes on the Boston Celtics, or something more akin to the chaotic whirlwind often taking the floor for the Celtics during the disappointing 2018-19 Boston campaign he had no small role in shaping, one thing is certain:

Rozier is thriving in his new role.

Signed-and-traded to the Hornets as part of the deal bringing All-NBA point guard Kemba Walker to Boston this summer, many sucked their teeth on hearing just how much (three years, $57 million) the young guard would make, scoffing at the idea he’d be worth such a lofty figure.

So far, he’s been proving doubters wrong, racking up a career season in terms of numbers and helping drive Charlotte to a much better record than most anticipated at 13-9.

Logging career highs in points (17.4), rebounds (4.6) and assists (4.2) per game with career-best accuracy from deep (39.3%), two (42.8%) and the stripe (85.7 %), Rozier is finally looking something like the player team president Danny Ainge saw when he drafted the Louisville product 16th overall in 2015.

Considered a reach at the time, the Ohioan’s meteoric rise to national attention spelled the end of his time in Boston, the then-23-year-old having shown the world he can shine on the biggest of stages.

Stepping up in Boston’s remarkable 2018 playoff run with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and carrying the team to the brink of the NBA finals despite All-Star starters Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward being out, Rozier decided to bet on himself.

Then, after crashing and burning when asked to take a smaller role the following season, it seemed the Youngstown native might have been a flash in the pan, unable to adapt to what his team needs with a desire to put his own interests first.

Many questioned the logic of Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak in inking Rozier’s new deal — would the team continue to suffer perennial mediocrity because of exactly this sort of contract?

While the jury is still out on the future the franchise will take, early returns for Charlotte on Rozier’s contract are good.

“We just felt we knew what he can do,” Kupchak said (via CBS Sports’ James Herbert).

“We also knew that he was somewhat stifled playing behind first Isaiah Thomas and then Kyrie. So we were hopeful that once he gets to be in a position where he can start and not look over his shoulder, he would flourish.”

And flourish he has. Scary Terry has always been a rhythm player — potentially devastating when he has consistency. And also when he doesn’t, though for the wrong team.

So perhaps it should come as less of a surprise that a career-high in minutes is bringing career bests with it for the former Celtic, who made it clear he wanted “an organization that believed in me and want me to play my game and showcase what I can do in this league.”

It’s not that Boston didn’t believe in Terry, mind you — they did take a gamble on him at No. 16 overall — they just had, as has been written about too many times already, too many mouths to feed.

It was a losing situation for everyone involved, and probably wasn’t’ going to work out better than it did.

Boston managed to find a replacement for their mercurial point guard, while finding Rozier the opportunity they couldn’t have given him otherwise, an opportunity he took to with gusto.

Will he receive a welcome like Al Horford — warm, peppered with a few half-hearted boos — or like the last point guard he sat behind in the depth chart, Irving?

The latter was the subject of much rancor and debate on his homecoming, so much so his former teammates requested the media leave it alone.

While Boston’s most beloved ranch-dressing-and-spaghetti-sandwich eater may have let his personal goals derail the team’s success, he also wasn’t expected to be a leader in the same way, and his public relations blunders were of an entirely different and lesser magnitude.

Rozier can probably expect fans to treat him with a little of both reactions as was shown to Horford and the Australian floor general, or at least his team.

It would have made his supporters happy to see the ex-Cardinal come into his own as a Celtic, but it wasn’t meant to be. He’s not quite there just yet with Charlotte, either, but he’s a lot closer than many thought he might get anywhere after last season because Rozier chose to believe in himself.

“I still got a long ways to go,” Rozier offered.

“But I feel like I still haven’t shown everything that I can do. I feel like there’s still another level that I’m going to take it to. And I feel like it’s coming.”

Scary Terry indeed.