Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was recently asked what should be expected of him in his first full season with the team, and while he didn’t want to tip his hand, he implied that he’s looking to prove the naysayers wrong.
“It’s just a wait and see,” Rozier said. “That’s why I stayed off all the podcasts. I don’t do all the talking. My game speaks for itself. It’s always been like that. This summer, I’ve been seeing all the talk. I don’t know if people have been bored or whatever, but I see it all. So I’m going to respond the right way.”
The Heat acquired Rozier not long before last season’s trade deadline. In January, Miami traded a first-round draft pick on top of veteran guard Kyle Lowry to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Rozier.
Thanks to a neck injury, Rozier didn’t see the floor at all during the Heat’s stint in the 2024 postseason or the team’s last few games of the 2023-24 regular season. However, he was recently cleared to play 5-on-5 and is expected to be ready to participate in training camp.
Rozier appeared in 61 total games during the 2023-24 regular season, 31 of which came with the Heat after he was dealt from the Hornets. With Miami, he averaged 16.4 points on 42.3 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent shooting from 3-point range in addition to 4.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.0 steal per contest.
The 30-year-old was one of the Heat’s top scorers last season, but he didn’t get off to a scorching start in his stint with the team. In his first 10 games with the squad, he averaged just 12.6 points per game while shooting 35.9 percent from the field and 23.4 percent from deep. He turned things around after that.
Rozier has plenty of playoff experience under his belt, and that could come in handy for the Heat if they can qualify for the 2025 NBA Playoffs. While he hasn’t experienced playoff basketball in quite a bit since he recently carved out a long stint with the Hornets, Rozier was part of a few playoff runs earlier on in his NBA career when he played for the Boston Celtics.
With Rozier starting, the Celtics made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Across 19 playoff games, Rozier averaged 16.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
With any luck, Rozier will be able to experience a deep playoff run once again in the upcoming season.