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Your Morning Dump… Where Terry Rozier is fast as hell

Chuck - Red's Army July 4, 2015 Celtics News, Rajon Rondo, Terry Rozier, The Morning Dump 27 Comments

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

During a brief scrimmage reporters could see Friday afternoon, the 21-year-old drove down the right side of the court in transition, beat his defender toward the middle of the court, and lofted a left-handed scoop shot through the rim. In moments like that, he shows off the “burst” Stevens has raved about since draft night.

“I don’t want to overdo it. We’ve played 18 total minutes of scrimmaging,” the coach said Friday. “His speed is the highest level. Once we start going up and down in the fullcourt, he did a lot of things that kind of took you aback.”

Before taking another breath, Stevens pumped the breaks on the praise.

“At the same time, he’s got a lot to learn and a lot to work on,” he said. “But I know he’ll do that. I’ve got no question about that.”

Mass Live

Guess I should start paying attention to Terry Rozier because he might be here a while. Apparently, he can defend and fly. That speed might not help much when defenders are sagging off him because of a subpar jump shot. I kid, I kid.

Rozier talks about the little things he needs to learn, like how to play screens. But he’s putting in the extra work now and getting glowing reviews.

Related: Celtics.com – Rozier impressing early | Herald – Young excels with second helping | CSNNE – Rozier out to silence doubters | ESPN – A primer to summer league

On Page 2, Tobias Harris is getting paid.

Magic, Tobias Harris agree to 4-year $64-million deal http://t.co/wl5UdfCVMG

— Carol Maven (@OrlandoMaven) July 4, 2015

#Celtics seriously considered offer sheet for Tobias Harris, but Ainge was wary of scraping up assets only to have #Magic match. — gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) July 4, 2015

$16 million per for Tobias Harris. The deal doesn’t include any player or team options.

I’m not convinced the Celtics were convinced about Harris. He may have been the girl you approach in the bar at last call. There’s nothing better out there but you don’t want to go home alone.

On Page 3, Rajon Rondo is a King.

Rajon Rondo has agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Rondo’s options were limited after his tumultuous half-season stay with the Mavericks ended when the team declared a back injury would sideline him for the remainder of its first-round playoff series. He has a chance to build back his value with the Kings and re-enter the free-agent market next summer.

Rondo agreed to the contract on Friday afternoon after meeting with Kings president of basketball operations Vlade Divac in Sacramento. The Kings have been interested in Rondo since last season when they attempted to acquire him before he was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks from the Boston Celtics.

Rondo asked the Kings for a shooter, sources said. That led Sacramento to reach agreement on a three-year, $18 million contract with free-agent guard Marco Belinelli, who spent the past two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and is a career 39.2 percent 3-point shooter.

Yahoo Sports

Rajon Rondo, DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl.

What could possibly go wrong?

And finally…

A photo posted by Boston Celtics (@celtics) on Jul 4, 2015 at 6:21am PDT

Astarot

Happy 4th of July for all of you at RedsArmy, Boston, and USA. All the best from Poland! (I’m pretty sure you gonna see some fireworks after all :-))
Rod Shaftwell

It was looking like the Mavs picks the Celtics have were gonna be pretty good… then they signed Deandre Jordan.

Who knows what else they have in the works over there.
- zippittyay
  
  they STILL don’t have much of a team to compete in the West. Older than Dirk Nowitski and a couple of other overpaid guys coming of major surgeries. Look for Dwight Powell to log some serious minutes.
  - Banner18
    
    Agree. But they have essentially taken Portland’s spot in the west clusterf*ck that is the 3-7 seeds in the west. The Spurs will take the Clippers spot as the consensus #2 team out there after Golden State and a healthy OKC jumps into the mix as well. I see a good battle between Phoenix and New Orleans for that last playoff spot. I still see the Mavs pick falling into the 19-23 range, but for a few days after Chandler left it did look like they could miss the playoffs and give us a pick in the 8-12 range. Oh well.
    - zippittyay
      
      I predict the mavs pick to be 11-13th, Brooklyn’s to be 6-9th
- zippittyay
  
  I don’t see how they make the playoffs in the west with OKC, PHX, N.O. all with better teams. With any luck, Minnesota will finish ahead of them.. :))
  - swissflix
    
    No Monta=less offense. And DJ is great on D but they had that already with Tyson Chandler. So basically he is just filling a void left by another player. Here’s hoping we get that pick!
- forever_green
  
  Paul needs to change his mind about going there. No Jordan..no chance at championship. I can’t stand the thought of him in that lousy uniform.
- art
  
  What makes anyone think that D. Jordan is that good? He isn’t. This is a wait and see situation as far as the Mavericks go next season.
  - Rod Shaftwell
    
    It isn’t necessarily that he’s that good. Its the fact that he is a very valuable piece when used the right way. Surround him with the right amount of scoring and you can build a formidable team. At least formidable enough to devalue the pick significantly.
    
    His signing there is surely part of their plan to build something which is why I wonder what else they have in the works.
Banner18

As the west stands right now I see the Mavs pick the C’s own falling into the 19-23 range next year. T’Wolves pick is top 12 protected. They could be young and scary and along with Utah, Phoenix, Dallas and the Pelicans be in a cluster of teams battling for the 7/8 seeds. Which is where I think the Celtics will be, fighting with the Raptors, Pacers, Pistons and maybe the Hornets or Nets for the final two playoff spots. But knowing our luck recently in the draft (and that Minny management will see them as 2-3 years away and likely want one more top 12 pick) the Wolves will do just enough to land a pick in the 7-11 range next year, giving us two 2nd round picks, one in the 30’s and one in the 40’s in 2017. Oh well. Here’s hoping the Nets suck, also fall into that 7-11 range and the draft gods have them miraculously jump into the top 3 picks.
Banner18

Rozier’s L’Ville team was better in 2014 than this year and more attention was paid to Terry as the focal point of the offense after Russ Smith graduated, he faced a lot of doubles/D’s designed specifically at attacking him. I’m not sure why R.J. Hunter gets the benefit of the doubt on his junior year (turned 21 in October) 3 point shooting slump after shooting 39% as a soph for the same reason I stated above but Rozier does not get the same treatment after his soph (turned 21 in March) season shooting slump after hitting for 37% as a freshman. Rozier improved his FT shooting from 71 to 79% last year. A good barometer for success among guys who make the 3-point shot part of their game is their FT shooting. Crazy good FT shooters who hover around 90% from the line are thought to be gifted enough to hit the all-world 3 percentage of 40% (Hunter shot 88.7% last year). Guards who shoot around 80% should be decent 3 point shooters in the mid 30’s.
Banner18

There is nothing about Rozier’s shot that looks broken and he definitely has range to the NBA 3-point line and the confidence to hoist ’em up. VERY fast, very clutch player. Legit 6’2″ with shoes on, ripped physique, 6’8″ wingspan. Exciting young guard for this team. Hunter isn’t nearly the athlete, but at 6’6″ with a 6’10” wingspan you hope he can maximize every bit of his limited defensive potential to be an average defender but elite shooter (like Ray Allen did).
Banner18

Speaking of FT% helping see how an NBA pick will fair from 3-point land outside the bubble of the college 3 point line and facing constant double teams, Smart’s yearly drop in FT% is concerning. 78% fresh year, 73% as a soph and 65% as a rookie is strange. He hit 33.5% of his 3’s this year though, just slight improvement there and a return to a 75% FT shooter would make him Tony Allen with a better shot (TA career 72% FT 27% 3’s) and the handle to play backup PG. If Smart is a TA type starting SG (All-defensive 1st/2nd every year of his prime dropping roughly 14pts, 5 dimes, grabbing 4 rebounds and getting 3 STOCKS per) then he is easily worth the 6th pick even if he is never an all-star. The all-star player who I think Smart has the ability to be like if he stays a PG and improves greatly is Billups, but Chauncey was an 85% FT shooter in college, leading to his eventual ‘Mr. Big Shot’ game. Both were about equal (i. e. struggled) as facilitators at the same age.
- swissflix
  
  Billups struggled only because Pitino did not trust him. At least for the 30 something games he lasted in Boston.
  - Banner18
    
    Throw out the 44 games Billups played in Boston as a rook (and even his entire rookie year) and look at what he did the FOUR years after that. Two seasons in Denver, two in Minnesota, basically a part-time starter all four years averaging 10-12 points, 3-5 assists, putting up decent 36-39% shooting from 3, 80%+ from the line, but a tweener who couldn’t hold down a starting PG spot until age 26 when he got to Detroit. Dan Issel and Flip Saunders gave up on him too. Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown did not.
    - Banner18
      
      I think my big point on Smart is that right now he is a SG and Stevens saw this, which is why Turner and IT ran the offense when on the court with him. Kudos to them for not making him sink or swim at PG like Pitino did with Billups. As soon as Billups left beantown (and after also failing at PG in Toronto) Mike D’Antoni, Dan Issel and Flip Saunders all played him at SG and he never really found his groove there but eventually as he got older he gained the smarts and experience to play the point. Unlike Billups I think Smart has the wingspan and strength to guard most any wing player in the league right now. In that regard he is a lot like Dennis Johnson, another guy who was a shooting guard until age 26-27 when he joined the Celtics. Johnson couldn’t shoot from 3 point range to save his life, but he could SCORE (15-19 per) and defend. Maybe that kind of player is obsolete in the modern game? But a Tony Allen-like defender with better ball-skills and shooting than TA has a lot of value in my mind and hopefully Danny, Stevens and the fans don’t quit on him if his career #’s look like Billups while on his rookie contract. Play him at SG with Hunter and have him backup IT and (hopefully/eventually) Rozier. If that is the case it is Bradley who needs to be traded as Smart will just be a younger, bigger version than him with the actual ability to be a backup PG.
  - Banner18
    
    I think Celtic Nation would be truly divided over Smart and whether he was a bust or not if he stayed here all the way through his age 25 season as a borderline starter/3rd guard giving us around 11 points, 4 assists and slightly better defense than Billups in exchange for slightly worse shooting. This would mean he accepted the QO in order to hit unrestricted free agency, showed flashes of brilliance but had FIVE seasons to put it together and did not. That is basically what Billups career path was prior to becoming a Piston in 2002 and turning himself into a 17 point, 6 assist, 1.5 steal, 45/40/90 all-star. Would our fans have that kind of patience? Granted Billups played on four teams in five years and lost half of one season to a lockout and all but 13 games of the next to injury, but still, he struggled in Minnesota with Flip and KG age 24-25 when healthly and entering his prime. It had little to do with his first 30 games under Pitino at that point.
    - swissflix
      
      Maybe but it sure did not help either. And trading your third pick overall away 30 games into the first season shows you did something wrong.
      - Banner18
        
        Maybe what? Pitino did something wrong? Agreed. Maybe Billups struggled for five years because Pitino did not trust him for 44 games? Unlikely. Sometimes it just takes certain guys, especially tweeners, until after their rookie contract is up to really come into their own. Especially guys with 2 years or less of college.
Banner18

I’d be much more excited about guys like Rozier and Hunter had Ainge traded Rondo to Detroit this time two years ago for their reported offer of Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and Charlie Villanueva’s expiring contract. DA asked for Drummond at first (idiotic) then tried to find a way to expand it to Bass and maybe other assets (Jeff Green?) for Monroe before Dumars grew weary and shipped those guys off for Brandon Jennings, a horrible trade that cost him his job. Had he put Rondo with his best friend Josh Smith future superstar Drummond, offense/defense at SG in Caldwell-Pope/Stuckey and traded Monroe for a starting SF who could shoot he might still be in Detroit. Danny may have seen the 2014 Celtics tanking fortunes change a bit and been in position to draft Parker or Gordon in last years draft. An expected rotation of Knight, Rozier, Bradley, Hunter, Middleton, (Young?) Parker/Gordon, Sully, Olynyk and Zeller entering this free agency period may have been enough to get a vet like Millsap, Lopez or Chandler to sign here, be the force in the east the Bucks are about to become AND be in position to lure a FA star next summer when Wallace’s 10m is off the books and the cap goes up another 12-15 million. Oh well.
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dingding

why is RA keeps on following players that no longer play in green? oh I get it Cs are a mediocre team with a mediocre front office than can’t lure a big name to join the team
- SNG
  
  With a mediocre fan like you
art

Good luck to Rondo next season. He’s definitely worth a try for the Kings. It may work out just fine. Now I’d like to know what the Kings were offering in a trade.
juliette_tanderson

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Your Morning Dump… Where Terry Rozier is fast as hell

On Page 2, Tobias Harris is getting paid.

On Page 3, Rajon Rondo is a King.

And finally…

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Your Morning Dump… Where Terry Rozier is fast as hell

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