So, did people see how much we missed Smart defensively and at the end of the game tonight?
Rozier didn't play bad by any means, but he played pretty much how I thought he would with the big boys - how a 2nd year, 16th pick should. 27 minutes, 5 pts, 2-5 fg, 3 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls, 1 TOV and a +2 overall. A decent overall game for him, but he just doesn't impact the game the way Smart does. His defense is still lightyears away from Smart's, and he still needs to learn how to play off the ball better.
Aside from the handful of minutes he got over 6 playoff games last year, these were basically the first 27 minutes of meaningful NBA minutes that Rozier has played in his career.
As I've said several times over the past month or two - with Rozier's lack of playing time last year, you pretty much need to treat this as if it's a rookie year for him. What I mean by that he's going to have his ups and downs, particularly through he first half of the season, as he sheds off his training wheels.
* It's going to take him time to get a handle on how opposing teams/players play
* It's going to take him time to learn what he can/can't get away with from officials
* It's going to take him time to learn plays/sets (practice is not the same as real games)
* It's going to take him time to build chemistry with the other guys in the second unit
* It's going to take time for him to get past the intimidation of playing with two All-Stars (Thomas/Horford) and an All Defensive teamer (Bradley) so he can gain the confidence to be selfish and take shots
I invite others here to reminisce back to the first half of Jarred Sullinger's, Kelly Olynyk's and Marcus Smart's rookie years. Every one of those guys flashes signs of potential/skill, but mostly looked completely clueless on the court up until around the All-Star break - after which something changed and all three of those guys started to look like talented NBA players.
It's not likely going to be any different for Rozier. He's going to have moment where he's going to look like a stud, and he's going to have moments where he's going to look like D-League fodder. Most of the time he'll hover somewhere in the middle.
Once he's got about half a season under his belt and he start to get into a rhythm, then he's going to show us what he's capable of on a more consistent basis, and by the end of the regular season I predict that he's going to putting a LOT of pressure on Green and Smart for those backup guard minutes.
But...it's not going to happen overnight. If it does, then he's even better then I thought.