Former Boston Celtics reserve guard Terry Rozier likes what he sees in this year’s iteration of the team he left to join the Charlotte Hornets in free agency.
Plagued by too many mouths — including Rozier’s — clamoring to be fed among many other issues, the 2018-19 Celtics saga is one most would like to forget. But despite the frustrations that ultimately sent the Ohioan south to North Carolina, Scary Terry has no hard feelings.
He’s since come into his own with regular minutes as a starter for the Hornets, logging a career-high 17.7 points and 4.3 assists per contest over 33.4 minutes a game.
While he still struggles against his former team — going just 11 of 41 versus the Celtics since leaving them, and 4-of-13 on New Year’s Eve — he’s happy to see the 23-8 start to the franchise he left, recovering from the rough season that ultimately forced his exit.
Terry Rozier talks to the Herald on the difference between this season's Celtics and last year's disappointment. Interesting stuff.
Plus Jaylen Brown update and Enes Kanter's big block party against the Hornets.
Celts notebook:https://t.co/DgRA0zDfZM
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) January 1, 2020
“Last year obviously we had bumps in the road that we couldn’t overcome,” offered Rozier (via the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett).
“This year I think they’ve got a lot of guys that’s just leading the way and putting everything aside and just having fun for the most part, and I think it’s working for them,” he added.
Alluding to the feel this Celtics team has behind point guard Kemba Walker’s easy-going leadership coupled with wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum’s emergence, Rozier’s praise stands in stark contrast to the dark cloud the seemed to hang over the team the season prior.
While the team arguably had a talent downgrade in the offseason, seeing not only point guard Kyrie Irving and big man Al Horford decamp, but forward Marcus Morris moving on to the New York Knicks and Rozier dealt away, the Louisville product downplayed the losses’ effects.
“[T]alent, it can’t always get you to where you want to go,” suggested the Youngstown native.
“You’ve got to have the guys that want to be good, want to play hard, want to learn — stuff like that. Obviously you can have all the talent in the world; if you don’t put it together and everybody don’t buy in, it’s not going to work out.”
“And I think that’s what we got caught up in last year,” Rozier continued, placing at least some of the blame squarely on his own shoulders.
“But this year I’m happy for them. It’s like they pulled it back together,” he concluded.
And whether using the record itself as a measuring stick, individual achievements by the players, or the overall lighter mood as a measuring stick, it’s hard to argue against his assessment.