Terry Rozier Should be the Most Improved Player on the Boston Celtics

Terry Rozier is finally in a position to really break out for the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics now have the established stars they need to reach their goal this season, but everything behind them is quite unsettled right now. We still do not know who is going to be starting next to Isaiah Thomas, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford, and the bench is even more of a mess.

Perhaps the most perplexing player whose role could be in a million different places right now is Terry Rozier. Rozier’s tenure with the Celtics has been impossible to gauge, and it would be refreshing to see him finally settle into something.

Right off the bat in his rookie season, he was in and out of the rotation. The same continued last season, With that in mind, Rozier also put together two surprising playoff campaigns, with a lot of indications that the Celtics are interested in having him be a part of their future.

Now, we are at a point where something has to give. The Celtics can only carry Rozier for so long, and it should only be a matter of time before he gets too frustrated with his situation.

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With the way the Celtics are set up right now, Rozier is in the best position to be the most improved player on the team. The Celtics desperately need ball handlers, especially for the second unit, and there is no real option beyond Marcus Smart and Rozier right now.

We can anticipate that even if Smart does not start, he will spend the majority of his minutes with first unit players. His defense is too valuable, and Stevens will always want to have him with the best players on the team to get his best possible lineups.

That means Rozier will be the one orchestrating the second unit and leading this youth revolution. There may be more talent on that second unit, but nobody has the comfort and trust that he does.

It is going to be on Rozier to make sure Jayson Tatum is getting the ball in his spots. Rozier is the one that will have to push the pace and unleash Jaylen Brown in transition. It is also going to be on Rozier to find out how to use the different versatile bigs that will be fighting for a big role on that second unit.

Right now, it is too hard to trust that Rozier can do all of this. He has never been given a consistent opportunity to prove he can do it. Those limited minutes in the playoffs, however, are what the Celtics can go off of.

If Rozier captures some of that magic and brings consistency, then he is going to be the most improved player on this team, and could shock the world with a sixth man of the year campaign.

Rozier is far from one of the most important players on this team, but he is the best chance they have at a dominant second unit. The Celtics have Smart, but if Rozier is able to bring them together and make the second unit work, then everything else will fall in place.

We saw what happened last season when Smart went into the starting lineup and the second unit was left without a ball handler. Rozier becomes the most important piece in allowing Stevens to use Smart how he wants.

Rozier is also a key in allowing Thomas to play off the ball, and embrace the best pure scorer on this team. If Smart is always needed for the second unit, then there is no other primary ball handler to run that offense. If Rozier takes that role, then he will have an impact even bigger that what he does on the second unit.

With so much youth, there will always be uncertainty. Rozier is still young, but he is on a different level than the other rookie and second year players on the bench. There is a good chance that the Celtics will finally unleash Rozier this season, and then we will finally know if he can be good enough for extended periods of time.

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If Rozier can handle the second unit, and free up Smart’s role, that alone could be enough to make him the most improved player on this team. If, however, he continues to be a remarkable rebounder, and becomes a strong defender while being a capable shooter, then you can start talking about that sixth man of the year award.