When the Boston Celtics exhausting season came to hard stop after they were tidily removed from the playoffs by the Milwaukee Bucks, there figured to be a breaking of the flood dams that had been in place all season. With countless reports of unrest within the Celtics locker room, myriad chemistry issues and multiple players upset with their reduced roles, it was only a matter of time before someone on the Celtics roster brought some of those issues to light. It looks like Terry Rozier is that spokesperson.
Rozier had already expressed his dismay with his diminished roll with the return of Kyrie Irving during the season, and in an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” Tuesday morning, always a good place to publicly air grievances against your employer, Rozier got candid.
Here's the full clip from @FirstTake with Rozier saying he "might have to go" if the Celtics ran back the same team: pic.twitter.com/4TErEqhBvV
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) May 14, 2019
“I might have to go,” Rozier said in response to a Stephen A. Smith inquiry on if he’d stay were the Celtics to run things back with the exact same roster. “I put up with a lot this year.”
Rozier also touched on the difficulty the rest of the Celtics had adjusting their games to the skillsets of Irving and Gordon Hayward. There’s been rumors that the Celtics coaching staff favored Hayward, even as he continually struggled, and Rozier’s comments don’t do much to dispell them.
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1128321423041130497
Terry Rozier sets the record straight on playing with Kyrie. (via @GetUpESPN) pic.twitter.com/RWiQJhJzKs
— Andscape (@andscape) May 14, 2019
Rozier is a restricted free agent this summer, and it’s difficult to imagine the two sides reconciling after Rozier’s current media tour. One thing is clear, though: the problems that plagued the Celtics locker room all season were very, very real.
