It's an exciting time for the Miami Heat as they filled a huge need before the NBA trade deadline acquiring point guard Terry Rozier from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round pick. Before Wednesday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about Rozier and how he can impact the team as they are in the midst of the second half of the season.
“We're really excited about it. Probably two months ago, you don't really think about this or that a move like this could be possible,” Spoelstra said. “You know, he just has a lot of those competitive qualities that we respect and not only resonate with us but help impact winning in a big way. He's a competitive guy, and winning matters to him. He respects our uniform. He really wanted to be here and not everybody wants to play for us, so that matters. We want to have like minded competitors that view competition in a very similar way.”
Spoelstra has noticed Rozier's game for a long time
The Heat have seen a great deal of Rozier throughout his career back to when he was with the Boson Celtics going into his recent years with the Hornets. Spoelstra mentioned to the media that he categorized Rozier as “one of the most dangerous X factors” when scouting against him.
“I always thought that he was one of the most dangerous X factors when he was in Boston. In my preps against Boston, we knew who their big players were but we always felt that if Terry could have an impact on the game, we'd have a really hard time winning,” Spoelstra said. “He had some big playoff moments that matters for us. And in the meantime, in Charlotte, he's really developed his game. He's a lot better, particularly on the offensive end than when he left Boston.”
With the Hornets so far this season, the 29-year old star has been averaging career-highs of 23.2 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 45.9 percent from the field. However, he enters a Heat team that has three other players scoring over 20 points per game in Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo.
Spoelstra doesn't care about the averages, only about Rozier's drive
Rozier himself mentioned before the game how there will be some rough patches and it won't be “perfect right away.” When asked if there will be some bumps in the road before they perfect the chemistry with the rest of the team, Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that he doesn't care about the averages, only about winning which he stressed that Rozier feels the same way.
“I don't want to breathe that into existence! We're not where we want to be right now, I know that. Our offense has to get to our level. It takes a little bit of sacrifice from everybody. Everybody wants our offense to function at a much more explosive level. Everybody has to feel like they can be who they are and they also helping other guys,” Spoelstra said. “Where all the averages will be, I don't care. It's about winning. He's also aware that he's not going to come in here with the same type of usage and everything that he had in Charlotte. That's one of the things I talked to him about, and he was already like, ‘Hey, I already get this ,I understand and I want to contribute and help winning'.' That's music to our ears and let's just see how this all plays out.”
Heat need as much help on offense as possible in the midst of a slump
Besides filling the Heat's need for a productive point guard who helps on the offensive side of the ball, they desperately need as much help on offense in general. Miami hasn't scored 100 total points in four of the last six games as even Spoelstra says the team needs an “offensive punch,” which Rozier can bring as he wants to be a “part of winning again.”
“We can use some offensive punch right now and I think he has the personality and the game that will fit in. I don't think he's going to try to you know, step in here and overpower anybody,” Spoelstra said. “I think he just wants to compliment and more than anything and talking to him, he just wants to be part of winning again. He wants to be a part of the playoffs. He wants to be a part of environments during the playoffs and hopefully do some real special things during those playoffs.”
Rozier made his Heat debut Wednesday night facing the Grizzlies coming off the bench which was to be expected in his first game after being traded the day before. After Memphis, Miami will face Rozier's former team in the Celtics on Thursday in the tail-end of the back to back.
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