The Boston Celtics' rollercoaster season brought a whole lot of turnover, including the loss of backup point guard Terry Rozier, who now finds himself as the promised starter of the Charlotte Hornets after being signed and traded to take the reins for Michael Jordan's franchise.
Yet the 6-foot-1 dynamo hopes things would've been handled differently during his last year in Bean Town. Rozier aired his frustrations during some post-elimination interviews with ESPN, making it abundantly clear he still had a sour taste in his mouth after going from the starter of an NBA Finals-bound franchise to a backup averaging 9.0 points and playing 22.7 minutes per game.
“Not liking how me being positioned and me being used as a person, player and I just feel like things could have been done better, could've been handled better on Boston's end and on my end,” Rozier told Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report when asked what went wrong last season. “I feel like things could've been a lot better, and it wasn't.”
Rozier had finally had the experience of leading a franchise and navigating it through the playoffs, and had to face the massive drop of heading back to the bench and waiting his turn. The Louisville standout handled the pressure seamlessly during a searing run that left the Celtics one win shy of The Finals, noting he tried to stay even-keeled through the course of that postseason stretch.
“Didn't try to get too high, then let the stuff get to me,” Rozier said. “Didn't try to get too low, when things weren't going my way. Just try to stay right there in the moment, and it worked out for me. Then a lot of people that wasn't on the Terry Rozier train, talking all that B.S., hop on. That's just how I go.”
Ultimately his return to a bench role likely felt very much like a demotion, even if he was just going back to his original role. Now Rozier has a chance to prove he's a starting-caliber player in his first season with the Hornets.
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