Is it time to take Terry Rozier out of the Boston Celtics’ rotation?

With Terry Rozier questionable against the Portland Trail Blazers, should the Boston Celtics consider taking him out of the rotation?

The Boston Celtics announced Wednesday that Terry Rozier is questionable for their game in Boston against the Portland Trail Blazers with knee soreness.

The Celtics need a win badly to keep them in the hunt for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs and to keep their collective morale from bottoming out. Missing Rozier in this one is definitely not a bad thing considering the way he has played recently. Rozier does not consider himself a backup, and rightfully so. He helped lead the Celtics to the brink of the NBA Finals as a starter, but his acclimation back to a reserve role has not gone well.

Either Rozier is unwilling to accept a reduced role with less offensive responsibility or he as outgrown coming off the bench after last spring. Regardless of what you believe, Rozier has been flat out terrible. The headline of this post probably shouldn’t even be a question, Rozier needs to sit, and it should have happened already.

He isn’t guaranteed the shots he used to get as a starter, so he’s been forcing the issue. When players start to press, it hardly produces good results. Rozier is a good shooter, but his shooting percentages have been rough all season, especially the last two months.

Rozier shooting in 2019

January: 38.7 FG%/33.8 3P%

February: 34.6 FG%/34.9 3P%

Rozier’s net rating is -2.8 over the last 15 games, the lowest on the team besides Guerschon Yabusele and Robert Williams who both play sparingly. There is an argument to play Rozier and hope he figures things out because his ceiling is higher than any reserve guard out there, but at some point, you can’t wait any longer.

Boston can take Rozier out of the rotation indefinitely, use Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward to manage point guard duties whenever it’s not Kyrie Irving, and use Brad Wanamaker when needed. Hayward and Jaylen Brown tend to play better without Rozier on the floor, so in order to solve the inconsistencies in the second unit, pulling Rozier out of the equation could be a step in the right direction.

This is not to say all of the Celtics’ problems can be attributed to Rozier. We aren’t going to use him as a scapegoat like the Cleveland Cavaliers did with Isaiah Thomas last year. The Celtics have to take this one step at a time to figure out their winning formula, and taking Rozier out of the rotation is the most logical first step based on his play to this point.