Pitino Raves About Rozier

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2015/07/23/louisville-basketball-coach-rick-pitino-raves-about-celtics-guard-terry-rozier/30572457/



Pitino raves about Rozier
Jeff Greer, @jeffgreer_cj 1:39 p.m. EDT July 23, 2015






(Photo: Sam Upshaw Jr.; The C-J)





TORONTO -- Rick Pitino has made it clear how much he likes former Louisville guard Terry Rozier and his prospects as a professional basketball player.

On Wednesday, Pitino told a story about a Rozier workout with the Boston Celtics, the team that selected the 6-foot-1 guard with the 16th pick in the first round of June's NBA draft. The story, Pitino said, illustrated the kind of player he wants at Louisville.

"There's a very difficult shooting drill," Pitino said. "It's 55 shots on the move. You're exhausted when you get done. I think the most shots made were 43. They went out and did it. There were four guys there doing it. It's very exhausting. My guys, they can get through it. The (other guys) can't even breathe at the end of it.

"So now Terry said he didn't like his score. 'I want to do it again.' OK, so he does it again. The other guys jumped into it and said, 'We'll do it again.' When it was over the second time, Terry still wasn't happy with his score. The other guys were done. Terry did it two more times. Danny (Ainge) has never seen that before.

"So, I think that hunger and drive epitomizes what we want in a Louisville man. Somebody who just does not give up, who will not relent or fatigue. And that's Terry."

Pitino and Rozier have kept in close contact since Rozier declared for the NBA draft in April and began preparing for the leap to a pro career. In June, when Rozier was selected far higher than most draft analysts anticipated, Pitino told the Boston Globe that Rozier was "just scratching his potential."

"We had the poorest shooting team I've had in some time [this season]," Pitino said. "Defenses packed it in against him, and he still got in the lane and did great things for us."

Rozier had a strong NBA summer league run, averaging 12.2 points, 3.9 assists and three rebounds over 27.9 minutes a game. He has not yet signed a rookie contract with the Celtics, though first-round picks are guaranteed a two-year deal with a third-year option.



bob
MY NOTE: My favorite part is where Pitino says "Danny Ainge never saw that before". Whether or not Rozier's score improved or not, that was the competitive fire that got him drafted #16.


.

Well, after all these years, maybe Pitino brings good news for the Celtics. Rozier does seem like the sort of player who doesn't take the easy path to anything. It will be really interesting to see what that work ethic can earn him with the Celtics. On the other hand, should we be concerned that he couldn't get what he considered a good score in at least three tries? I wonder how he did on the fourth attempt.

Sam

He basically talks about his perseverance and high end stamina but not about his ability to knock down a shot.

Also interestingly, he mentioned how teams were packing it in and Rozier was still able to drive. Sounds a bit Rondo like to me. If they were packing it in then you would think his outside shooting would have been better.

Just reading between the lines

dboss

Pitino can go to hell...

Good observations, dboss.  If other teams were packing it in, it probably reflects on team members other than Rozier.  It seems obvious that Rozier will have to work on his outside shooting.  But it seems he shot the three ball much better in the Summer League than Rondo did in his first year (39%-21%) so I have high hopes that Rozier's upside on outside shots is better than Rondo's ever has been. However, based on the Summer League results vs. Rondo's first NBA season, Rondo shot two-pointers much better than Rozier (43%-33%). Yup, Rozier actually shot better from behind the arc than inside it (39%-33%). So Rozier could wind up finding that getting to the hoop and finishing well poses a greater challenge than outside shooting in the pros—the opposite of Rondo's experience.

Sam