It's Been 10 Games Into The Season So Naturally Let's Fire Up The Terry Rozier Trade Rumors!

(Amico Hoops) – The Phoenix Suns are among one of at least seven teams with a strong interest in trading for Boston Celtics points guard Terry Rozier, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Also among those interested in Rozier: The Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources told Amico Hoops. Rozier is a native of Youngstown and attended high school in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights.

With Celtics starter Kyrie Irving emerging and remaining healthy (for the time being), Rozier is reportedly growing frustrated with his lack of minutes in reserve. The Celtics are said to be open to trading Rozier now that Irving has given the team a verbal commitment to re-sign in free agency.

The issue, of course, is Irving’s health. He has been injury-prone during both runs with the Cavs and Celtics, occasionally at the most meaningful time of year.

Rozier replaced Irving as a starter in the playoffs and proved he too is a starting-caliber guard. The Suns, in particular, are in need of a point guard.

The Cavs already have veteran George Hill and rookie Collin Sexton on the roster, and while it’s likely too early to give up on Sexton, a proven player like Rozier may be hard to pass up if he could be acquired for the right price.

“The Celtics selected Rozier far above where anyone expected them to at No. 16 overall in the 2015 draft,” Charania wrote. “They nailed the pick. But committing a full five-year maximum contract to Irving this offseason would make it difficult to match a potential $16-to-$20 million per year (or more) offer sheet on Rozier.”

Rozier, 24, is averaging 7.5 points and 2.1 assists in 23 minutes a game this season.

Maybe the most predictable thing in regards to this entire Celtics season was you KNEW the second Rozier went into a little slump, the trade rumors would start flying. Here we are, on November 7th, the season is 3 weeks old and Terry is struggling and wouldn’t you know it, Sam Amico is out here tossing out trade “rumors”. Now Sam Amico isn’t a hot take guy like you’ll see on ESPN, he is well respected and  100% connected. But all I can do is roll my eyes at this. Between this article  and then Bill Simmons tweeting this

I’m getting a little annoyed with everyone talking about Rozier’s minutes. Coming off the bench last year he played around 23 minutes a night. Right now he’s at 22.7 a night and has no played well enough to warrant more minutes. He can be “mad” about that all he wants, but those are the facts. I feel like it’s the low hanging fruit to just say Rozier is upset with his minutes because that HAS to be why he’s struggling right? Not his offensive approach, not his shot selection, nope it’s all about his minutes. Give me a break.

What also made no sense to me is where has it been reported that the Celtics are still open to trading Rozier. That may have been true this summer, but now? What incentive do they have to move him any time soon? Does that sound like something Ainge would do, just give away a valuable asset when he doesn’t have to? He has a player that is great Kyrie insurance given ya know, there’s like 88% of the season plus the playoffs left. Who knows what happens so why would Ainge limit himself when he doesn’t have to. This is a GM that knows what he’s doing and rarely loses trades. Let’s not forget that.

Now let’s talk about the two teams mentioned in the Suns and the Cavs. We’ll start with the Suns. What incentive do they have to give up valuable pieces for a player they can just give money to this summer? How does that make any sense. One would think guys like Ayton/Booker/Jackson are off the table, even though Jackson has fallen out of the rotation for Bridges at the moment, so they probably wouldn’t be keen on moving Bridges either. So who exactly is Ainge taking back in this deal? I guess they could offer picks, but the Celts already have the SAC pick unless its #1 combined with the potential for a handful of other first round picks, and the last thing this team needs is more picks in my opinion. Then you look at the Cavs and their roster, who on earth could Ainge possibly want from them? At the expense of losing Terry and then Kyrie getting hurt, what could possibly make it worth the risk? Another pick? I’d rather take the risk.

Look, we all know Ainge has big ass testicles and isn’t afraid to make a move if he feels like it will improve his team. But with what would potentially be available, how does that make them better? I guess it depends on who the other 5 teams that are interested are, but even still, why are we talking about this in NOVEMBER? If anything Ainge wouldn’t move him until the deadline, and by then who knows how Terry looks. It’s almost as if people forget Terry is a streaky player, he has his ups and downs no matter if he’s a starter or a bench player. We’ve seen this from him his entire career so I’m a little confused why suddenly everyone is freaking out.

There are just so many reasons for the Celtics to not move Rozier right now that’s probably what annoys me most. Aside from the Kyrie insurance you could always use him in a sign and trade later, you may need him if at a later date Danny uses Smart’s contract as filler in a trade package, and most importantly this team is going for it right now. Subtracting players that can help them right away seems dumb. This team clearly made the choice that they are willing to see what happens in RFA and what his offers end up being, and if he leaves then you thank him for his time and wish him the best. This team is loaded with picks in next years draft and has the guard depth to handle a situation where Rozier leaves for nothing. Ainge does not seem like the kind of guy who overreacts to a sluggish 10 games.

So who knows where this is all coming from, but I can say it was absolutely predictable. When you remember Ainge is all about getting the most out of players and their value, it seems a little weird that this is coming out when Rozier’s value is the lowest it’s ever been. It’s 10 fucking games in and we’re already having to deal with trade rumors, sadly, I don’t think this is going away any time soon even if Rozier turns his play around.

The more things change with this team the more they stay the same it seems. Yawn.