Rozier ‘happy’ in current role

PHOENIX — Terry Rozier woke up to find his name at the crest of the social media storm yesterday morning. The Athletic’s Shams Charania had reported that at least seven teams were monitoring the Celtics guard and his trade possibilities. The Ringer founder Bill Simmons tweeted that Rozier was unhappy with his playing time. And his boss, Danny Ainge, said Rozier hadn’t “vented” to him about playing time during his weekly appearance on 98.5’s Toucher and Rich Show. “Well, what Danny said makes sense because he knows me,” Rozier, who shot down the perception that he’s unhappy, said yesterday. “If you don’t know me, then you probably think I’d say something like that. I woke up to the news just like you woke up to the news. I don’t know where it came from, but like I said, I’m happy to be in this position where I’m at, to be playing on a team that’s mentioned to have a chance to be in the championship, so I’m not really worried what’s being said. But Danny knows. And that’s why he said what he said.” On another level, though, he appears to like the buzz. Asked about Charania’s seven teams report, Rozier smiled and said, “That’s how it should be. There should be more. I’m blessed to be putting on this uniform, representing this organization every day, so I have no complaints. At all.” Rozier does admit, however, to inconsistency since returning to a backup role since Kyrie Irving’s return. Brad Stevens has told him to stop pressing. “I talked to coach like two days ago after practice, he came up to me and said it’s just not good to press your play,” he said. “I can’t press myself to play. I have to make the best out of everything, and that’s my mindset. “I feel like I was doing that a little bit,” said Rozier. “I wasn’t saying so much minutes, but just when you try to watch a lot of film, you try to find out where you can be aggressive, where you can be effective on this good team, and it’s tough, but like I said, all that doesn’t match if my mind is tangled up with things, if I’m pressing it would be tough to play, so I mean it makes sense, so like I said, free mind, everything is good.” Rozier freely admits, though, that his role change — he shined in his starting role throughout the playoffs — has required an adjustment. “I go from starting in the playoffs to coming off the bench, I’m pretty sure it’s not easy for nobody,” he said. “I’m not complaining, and if you know me, I’ve never been one to complain — I would never go to the media or bring out the unhappy thing, I would never do that. Like I said, people who know me know I wouldn’t do that. I’ve never been a selfish type of person, selfish player. You can tell the way I play I’m all about team, we, everything. Everything will be alright. It’s not as bad as people make it seem.” Stevens isn’t alarmed. “I think that’s probably pretty typical though. I mean it’s probably the most predictable thing in the world, that a guy that’s gonna play a little bit less is, when he gets onto the court, gonna try to find spots quickly,” the coach said. “And that’s one of the great things about Terry. He’s competitive, he’s tough, he wants to impact the game, and sometimes when you’re playing less you figure the best way to do that is be ultraaggressive right out of the gate instead of letting the game and the easy play come to you. “That’s something that’s hard to adjust to and I think anybody would be struggling to adjust to,” he said. “So I’m not surprised at all that that’s part of it and also one of the reasons why I’m not gonna stop playing him the way he’s playing. He’ll get through this and he’ll be great, because of who he is.”