Get out your popcorn memes.
https://weei.radio.com/blogs/nick-friar/rozier-talks-brad-stevens-and-kyrie-irvings-relationship
On Sports Illustrated’s podcast, “The Crossover,” fellow ex-Celtics guard Terry Rozier explained what it was like between his head coach and Boston’s 2018-19 starting point guard.
“I feel like it was more of … it kind of wasn’t coach-player. … It was kind of like coach-younger coach,” Rozier said. “When he came over (to Boston) he won a championship, him being who he is, Kyrie had a lot of stuff that he felt that could change, that he wanted to change about the Celtics. (These are) all on-court things. He felt like he knew a lot of his basketball.
Terry walks that part pretty carefully. Would be interested to see it live to see if his body language gives up more.
Also lays plain what many suspected about Rozier being the one who was probably most affected by losing touches to Hayward:
“He’s Gordon Hayward. So, it’s like, you just can’t go away from him. You can’t treat him like he’s a regular player anyway. You got to make sure he gets his touches,” Rozier said. “But I kind of felt like that was more of a focus point for us. And I felt like that was too much of a focus point for us, of trying to get (Hayward) going instead of making sure everybody was on the same page.
“Like I said, I don’t have all the answers, but I didn’t, kind of, agree with that.”
I'm sure some will read this and bash Terry for saying it or for having those feelings. And others will bash Brad for giving Hayward "special treatment". Me? I just think it was an unfortunate situation that had TR stuck here in the wrong role because Ainge needed to hedge against Kyrie possibly walking. Ideally, TR could have been dealt the summer before and that would have been best for him and the team. But with both GH & Kyrie coming back from injury and Kyrie not tied down beyond that season (and not to mention the uncertainty around whether an Anthony Davis trade could happen) Danny couldn't pull the trigger.
Interesting considering Terry had the third most touches on the team on a per game basis last season.
And in terms of total touches only Kyrie had more touches than Terry did.
As for Kyrie, it's clear he really wanted his own team built around his style of play. A more iso style. Or one which is more LeBronesque where he holds the ball, draws the defense and kicks out for an assist. Can't really blame him given that's his skillset. Just the wrong fit for the Celtics. Hopefully he will find that in Brooklyn with KD (as long as he can stay healthy).
You have to separate the games that he played different roles in. I've done this breakdown before -- I'm sure I posted it here somewhere late last season.
Basically, when Kyrie, Smart, Gordon & Terry all played in the same game, the scenario always meant Terry was going to come off the bench and play wing next to either Smart (early in the year) or Gordon (after he went to the bench). Terry would defer a lot of playmaking to Smart or Gordon.
In the games Kyrie or Smart (or both) missed, this shifted his role -- often to starting PG in which case his touch & pass rates would go way up, typically very close to Kyrie's touch & pass rates.
The numbers you posted mix those two scenarios together.
You can also see this by looking at Terry's numbers in 5-man lineups that do/don't include any of those other three. His assist rates leap upward when he was the clear primary ball-handler. Over his last 3 years he was overall a much, much better player (shooting & passing) when he was the clear primary ball handler. He basically sucked as a wing. But he was actually pretty decent as a pure PG.
Topic: T-Roz discusses relationship between Kyrie Irving and Brad Stevens. (Read 4445 times)