Did Danny blow it when he let Terry Rozier go?

[IDreamCeltics]

Coming off the 2017-2018 season Terry Rozier had averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.3 steals and one turnover as a playoff starter for an ECF team that had made it within 2 quarters of the NBA finals...

Fast-forward to 2021 and the Celtic's second "all-star" caliber point guard since letting Rozier get away - Kemba Walker -is averaging 17.2/3.8/4/1 on 38.4 Fg% and 37.9 Fg3% and making 32.7 million/season.

Rozier is making 18.9 mill/season and averaging 20/4/3 on 49.6 Fg% and 46 Fg3%.

Was this the second time Ainge choked and broke up a championship caliber nucleus too early?

Did Danny make a historical blunder by not simply sticking with the guard (Rozier) who had him closer to an NBA finals than any team since the Garnett era Celtics?

You decide...

[jambr380]

At the time, it was clearly the right move. Kemba was coming off of an All-NBA season and Terry had clearly worn out his welcome. Of course, with Kyrie gone, it could have been just fine, but changes needed to be made to that team and trading out the disgruntled Terry for Kemba was a no-brainer. It also solidified to us and the rest of the NBA that Boston doesn't suck and that players still do want to come here.

In hindsight, I would say I would rather have Terry at half the price of Kemba. I don't think Terry is better and he doesn't draw the attention of defenses like Kemba does, but they are close enough that it would make sense to have the substantially cheaper player. I loved Terry when he was here, but I will say Kemba's personality is million times more uplifting to the rest of his teammates so I don't want to undersell that part either.

Funny enough, Philly would have been much better off signing Terry instead of Al. Who would have thought 'overpaid' Terry would be the guy everybody else wished they had signed?

[RodyTur10]

With the Kyrie-Terry situation I wanted Rozier traded after that playoff-run and capitalize on his value (instead of losing him for nothing...... ), so Rozier wouldn't have been on the Celtics roster under my command either (alrhough we would have something to show for him).

I don't think many fans were thinking of a scenario where Irving would leave in free agency and Rozier was brought back as starting point guard. Not sure how much you can fault Ainge for that. Nonetheless it has been a mistake in hindsight letting him go. And signing a comparable point guard on a max contract makes it look a lot worse.

Terry Rozier has arguably been the best player on the Hornets this season and that has them leading the southeast division with a 14-15 record (wasn't there a time that winning your division would automatically give you a top 4 seed?).

[Celtics2021]

The mistake was not moving either Rozier or Kyrie in the 2018 offseason.  Terry had come off that fantastic playoff run, and his performance in the regular season taking over when Kyrie was hurt showed he was ready to be an NBA starter on a playoff-caliber team.  Sending him back to the bench was the wrong thing, and in a contract year coming off of his rookie deal he was predictably upset, and it showed in his play.

The problem was that Danny loved Rozier — heading into that offseason Rozier might have been Ainge’s favorite Celtic on a personal level — and it was easy for Ainge to justify keeping Rozier as Kyrie insurance.  At the same time, after one injury-shortened season there was no way Ainge could end the Kyrie experiment so quickly, as when Kyrie had been healthy the team had played well and chemistry hadn’t been an issue.  But Ainge should have known that Rozier’s personality would not accept going back to the bench and resolved that problem with a trade.

[nickagneta]

After the 2018-19 season ended and Rozier ran to ESPN to air his grievances, throw people under the bus and declare he wouldn't be returning, it's pretty hard to look at that and say: "Danny should have kept the non- content that didn't want to be here and was going public dissing on the coach, management and his team mates."

Also, let's look at what both players stats are come the end of season. My guess is Kemba's and Rozier shooting percentages will look quite different and the premise of keeping Rozier over Kemba will be preposterous.

[RodyTur10]

After the 2018-19 season ended and Rozier ran to ESPN to air his grievances, throw people under the bus and declare he wouldn't be returning, it's pretty hard to look at that and say: "Danny should have kept the non- content that didn't want to be here and was going public dissing on the coach, management and his team mates."

Also, let's look at what both players stats are come the end of season. My guess is Kemba's and Rozier shooting percentages will look quite different and the premise of keeping Rozier over Kemba will be preposterous.

You really are a Kemba Walker fan. I can see why you'd still rather have Walker over Rozier (not taking into account contracts), but they're really close. Rozier this season is basically putting on the same numbers as Walker did last year, while Rozier's '18 playoff run was as least as good as Walker's in '20.

Walker is not an All Star anymore. Though neither do I think Rozier will make one as the talent in the East got better.

[NKY fan]

I voted undecided...although Rozier is probably the best player Danny drafted in the teens.
Suns were offering a FRP in 2018 offseason but Danny refused that offer. At the time Phoenix were desperate for a starter level point guard. I wonder if Rozier was unhappy about that as he would get himself a starter job and a pathway to a big contract.

[Jiri Welsch]

I agree with Nick. Keeping Rozier wasn't feasible based on how his last season in Boston ended.

Also, Kemba is finally getting back to his normal self. I think Rozier's numbers will regress as the season goes on and Kemba's will continue to improve throughout the season.

[NKY fan]

I agree with Nick. Keeping Rozier wasn't feasible based on how his last season in Boston ended.

Also, Kemba is finally getting back to his normal self. I think Rozier's numbers will regress as the season goes on and Kemba's will continue to improve throughout the season.

I don't think Rozier's numbers will regress. He plays much more off ball and less selfish and is still putting these numbers. Seems like a good fit there with Ball and Hayward. Also if they trade Graham Rozier will increase his numbers.

[jambr380]

Terry after the 2019 season: "I might have to go. I put up with a lot this year. I said what I said after the season. I think we all know that I'm not trying to step into that again."

Kemba on his troubles at the start of the season: "Those two guys are special talents and we need them to be great every night. I’m really the one that has to figure it out."

I loved Terry while he was here and am happy he is succeeding, but we needed that star power acquisition and positive influence after the disaster that was 2018-19.

[td450]

No, he blew it a year before that.

He thought he could just keep everyone and the minutes would take care of themselves. He was unwilling to choose who he wanted to keep, and who he wanted to let go, so eventually it happened based on chance and frustrations. We ended up a weaker team because of it. Even if he didn't want Rozier instead of Smart, he should have recognized the issue and resolved it when it was best for the team.

In my opinion, Ainge made the same general error with Hayward. He didn't resolve his role in a way that was acceptable. He wanted Kemba too, and didn't consider the consequences.

[BoulderMike]

Kemba makes $34.3 M and has two years after this year.  If we ever wanted to trade him, we probably would need to include a first round pick.
Rozier makes $18.9 M and has one year left.

Clearly, this has been proven to be a mistake.

That being said, the risk in signing Kemba was worth it.  It just didn’t work out.

[ChillyWilly]

I'm the unofficial president of his fan club. I was firmly in the Terry over Smart club even though it was exclusively small

I think towards the end of his time here there became too many mouths to feed and he needed to eat too. You cant pay everyone so he was odd man out.

[Birdman]

Hated see Rozier leave but getting kemba was too good to pass up..

[SHAQATTACK]

If he could have been more like AB ,  low key ,  i d have liked him better .  Too much of a hot dog .   Smart , makes up for screwy offense shots with game winning defensive plays , rebounds and other blue collar jobs or assignments nobody else wants to do. And Smarts court I Q is off the chart comparted to Rozier ...who is mini  version of Westbrooke