Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier has been nursing a neck injury dating back to last season, but he recently made a step in the right direction in his recovery.
“Where I’m at right now is just about fully, fully, fully cleared to play 5-on-5,” Rozier said during a conference call with local reporters on Wednesday. “But I am doing every on-court activity, playing a little bit of 3-on-3. So I figure in the next couple weeks, I’ll be graduating to 5-on-5. I feel great.”
Rozier is also seemingly excited for Miami’s training camp at Baha Mar in the Bahamas to commence next month.
“I’m a gamer, I’m a hooper,” Rozier said. “I think getting my wind up is the most important thing. But once we all come into camp together, just getting that full camp together is the most important thing. Not me trying to learn how to play five on five again, I’ll be fine. I think it’s just me getting with the other guys and getting on that level so we can play the right way, play together.”
Due to his neck injury, Rozier was sidelined for the last four games of the 2023-24 regular season. He also didn’t suit up at all during Miami’s matchup against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
The Heat certainly could have greatly benefitted from Rozier’s presence against Boston. Points were hard to come by for the Heat all series long, as Miami averaged only 92.2 points per game and boasted an offensive rating of 100.7.
However, it’s worth noting that another one of the Heat’s best scorers — Jimmy Butler — was sidelined for the whole series with an MCL injury. Hence, even if Rozier were healthy enough to play against Boston, it still might not have been enough for the Heat to beat a team that went on to win the 2024 title.
Shortly before Rozier went down with his injury in the latter stages of the regular season, he seemed to have found his groove playing with the Heat. In four games played in the month of April, he averaged 18.3 points while shooting an otherworldly 58.6 percent from 3-point range on 7.3 attempts per contest.
He started the month off with a 34-point scoring explosion against the New York Knicks. Rozier shot 10-of-15 from the field and 8-of-11 from 3-point range in a game the Heat won by 10 points on April 2.
Rozier wasn’t on the Heat to start the 2023-24 regular season, though. He was a member of the Charlotte Hornets up until late January, when Miami traded Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round pick in exchange for him.
Heat fans should be excited to see Rozier begin what will hopefully be his first full season in Miami, and with any luck, he’ll be able to avoid the injury bug moving forward.
