The Boston Celtics were a game away from the NBA Finals last season and the player that kept them from playing for a title is now playing in the Western Conference. Looking at the broad strokes, things are set up nicely for the Celtics to have a great 2018-19.
Terry Rozier certainly thinks so, too. Despite the many moving parts on both the Celtics roster and elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, the 24-year-old point guard expects big things out of Boston in his fourth year with the team. Rozier came up big for the Celtics last season when Kyrie Irving was injured, qnd Irving coming back healthy and with no lingering issues from his knee would likely mean a reduced role for Rozier.
But Rozier says this Celtics team is special, and he’s excited about what Boston can do this year. Rozier spoke to ESPN’s Chris Forsberg at a basketball camp in Boston on Saturday and was bullish on Boston’s chances at something “special” this year.
While he didn’t predict a trip to the Finals like Jaylen Brown, the sentiment remained there when he predicted that the Celtics could do something “truly special” this season.
“We can be special. Truly special,” Rozier said Saturday during a break from his youth basketball camp in suburban Boston. “I think you know that. I think everybody knows that. Obviously, we [are] good on paper, we just gotta get it together and make sure everybody comes in and has that same mindset. But I feel like it’s going to be a special group.”
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“We look good on paper. The same team back from last year adding two main guys, two main pieces, with a lot of the guys we added from this draft and re-signed,” Rozier said. “It’s special. It’s special. Like I said, I don’t want to talk too much about [what the team can accomplish], but it’s going to be special.”
Rozier blossomed in his third season with the Celtics, averaging 11.3 points per game and finding an expanded role on the team when Irving’s knee injury crept up on him in the final months of the regular season. In the postseason, “Scary Terry” had huge games against the Bucks and Cavaliers and nearly helped the Celtics earn the right to get swept by the Golden State Warriors.
But despite the dominance of the Warriors out West, things are very different in the East without LeBron. The Raptors might be the best team now that they have Kawhi Leonard, the Wizards are always a weird anomaly that could show up in the postseason, and Giannis Antetokounmpo could take another massive leap forward for the Bucks. But Boston has the most stable roster in the conference and is getting both Irving and Gordon Hayward back from injuries.
Optimism is certainly high in Boston, even if it doesn’t mean as many minutes for a guy like Rozier this fall.
“If you want to win a championship, that’s what it’s going to take — sacrifice,” Rozier said. “We’re all going to have one goal, and it’s going to lead us to the promised land.”
