Terry Rozier's trainer raves about client's potential, compares Boston Celtics rookie to All-Star guard Damian Lillard

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2015/07/terry_roziers_trainer_raves_ab.html



Terry Rozier's trainer raves about client's potential, compares Boston Celtics rookie to All-Star guard Damian Lillard






Boston Celtics' Terry Rozier (12) drives against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half of an NBA summer league basketball game Thursday, July 9, 2015, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on July 27, 2015 at 7:15 AM, updated July 27, 2015 at 10:14 AM





BOSTON -- Terry Rozier deserves a break.

Before playing eight games in 13 days for the Boston Celtics summer league team, the guard shuttled around the country for an onslaught of pre-draft workouts. By the end of the tour he couldn't even remember the exact number of auditions. "Eighteen or 19," he said earlier this month, apparently unfazed by all the travel and physical exertion. Rozier would just arrive in a new city, throw on some basketball gear, and try, in his words, "to make an impression of busting my butt."

For the No. 16 overall pick, that emerged as the main goal of the pre-draft process. Sure, he wanted to make shots, but he knew that aspect of his game might come and go. His top objective was "passing the eye test" with his shooting stroke while showcasing his relentlessness in every other way. Rather than dwelling on misses, he counted how many stops he could force.

"Just being tough and just trying to get stops, diving on the floor for loose balls," Rozier explained. "That was my way. That was what I tried to work on. Even though it was mentally draining, going through all the traveling, staying in airports for a long time, hotels, it's mental. It's all mental."

A worker's mentality was one of the first things Cody Toppert noticed about Rozier. As a high-level basketball trainer, Toppert has worked with all types of players and people. By the time he started working with Rozier, Toppert had already watched all of the guard's offensive possessions from college and most of the defensive possessions. But observing everything about a player's past performance can only explain so much. To formulate a plan for how to maximize Rozier's precious time between the college season and his string of workouts, Toppert needed to know all about his client.

"The biggest thing was to get a grasp not only of where he was at," the trainer said by phone, "but the perception of the NBA decision-makers, and figure out where we could work with him the most – whether that's a mentality, a skill, an IQ. We take a very holistic and individualized approach.

"When I first got in the gym with Terry, I didn't know exactly what to expect. I've seen everything from guys who grind to guys who are entitled and everything in between. The biggest thing that jumped off the page was that he's all business. He's all in. He's so receptive to learning, and not just that, but he wants to learn, he searches for opportunities to learn. He craves feedback."

During the pre-draft process, Toppert set up a group messaging system for his clients. In it, he would send quick edits of sets from the playoffs – one night, it might have included a certain pick-and-roll read he wanted his players to learn. Most players in the group took in the help, he thinks, but Rozier lifted it to the next level. Before long, the Celtics draft pick started recording clips on his cell phone to deliver to Topper.

"Everyone else is waiting," Topper said. "He's seeing it, watching it and sending it back."


The All-Star comparison

As the draft approached, D'Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay emerged as the obvious candidates to be the first two point guards taken. After those elite prospects, Toppert saw a "second tier" that included Rozier, Cameron Payne and Jerian Grant, among others.

Even in that talented group, parts of Rozier's game set him apart. According to DraftExpress, he finished second among all point guard prospects last season with 6.2 rebounds per 40 minutes (pace adjusted). Celtics coaches always rave about his "burst," the explosiveness that allows the guard repeated access into the paint. Rozier also has long arms and the fluidity to change directions quickly.

"It stands out to me big time," said Toppert. "I've worked out during the pre-draft process D'Angelo Russell, Cameron Payne. (Rozier) has a shiftiness to him, and that's why I thought no question in my mind that his ceiling was higher than any of the second-tier point guards. This is a kid that could ultimately be – you don't throw out the term All-Star – but of any kid in that second tier (he's the most likely to reach that status).

"Terry Rozier, he's got the X-factor. What we like to say is some guys have talent. Other guys are talented. And the difference is the ED – the extra dimension."

That extra dimension convinced Toppert to throw out an All-Star comparison.

"He reminds me a lot of (Portland Trail Blazers star) Damian Lillard with his athletic attributes and his instincts," said Toppert. "He's a guy that can split a middle ball screen and dunk on you just as quickly as he can snake a middle ball screen and drop it off to the roll guy."


What's next?

With the pre-draft process completed, Rozier's focus will now shift. Instead of preparing for workouts with many teams, his drills and film studies will become more Celtics-specific. Toppert, who has also worked out with Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart, said the team has always communicated well in the past, expressing what improvements they would like to see from their players.

Despite the Lillard comparison, Rozier isn't ready to become an All-Star now. While his summer league performance showed promise, he still struggled to finish inside, and he doesn't always make the right reads with the ball in his hands. One area of focus will be his outside shooting, though Toppert believes his client is "not as far off as a shooter as the naysayers indicate." The duo wants Rozier to finish with a higher release.

"His wrist action's great, but it's got a low trajectory. It's like a catapult. You're shooting it at the basket, not over the rim. So we're working on raising the finish," said Toppert. "His elbow above his eyebrow is the trigger point. 47.5 degrees is the optimal arc to get the ball in the basket. Steph Curry shoots over that. Anybody who shoots under it, it's like when it rains it pours. When it doesn't, it's like the Sahara. That's a mark of a streaky shooter."

After summer league, Rozier said he planned to take about 10 days off before returning to Miami for work with Toppert. Soon, the Celtics guard will have the trainer in his ear, telling Rozier he can't be a "Clydesdale" in the pick-and-roll. In other words, he can't just rush straight for the rim. He needs to calculate his defender, the immediate help defender, and all the rotating players in the background. Basketball isn't just about having all the tools. It's about knowing when and how to use them.

Said Toppert: "Terry's gotta learn to get out of his own way. He's so shifty sometimes he makes too many moves. The guy that he's faking doesn't have enough time to fall for the first fake, so he gets himself into trouble. Once he simplifies it, he'll really have a chance to show off his burst and playmaking. He can make every kind of pass you need. He's very ambidextrous with his passing ability."

After starring at Cornell, Toppert played professionally in Europe for several years. During his time overseas, he picked up a line that stuck with him: "play the advantage." For a point guard like Rozier, that can mean picking on a big man in a switch or knowing the best ways to attack an iced pick-and-roll.

Before the draft, Toppert helped Rozier with his reads partially by putting him through sets run by NBA teams. One play the duo used, coincidentally, was a set the Celtics run often for Isaiah Thomas. When Rozier reached out to Toppert for advice during summer league, the trainer told his client he was running the play without going through the proper reads, and reminded Rozier of all their time spent reviewing the action.

"What's important is to not force what he wants to do, but take what the defense gives him," said Toppert. "Have a solution for the answer. Nothing predetermined, but be ready to handle anything.

"It's all repetition-based. There's only so many ways you can play an action. The way we teach it is form, speed, contact. We review the form, the read, they coverage. Then we ramp up the speed. Then we'll probably throw in a different coverage and ramp up the speed. Then we go into drill series and force a decision. Things will get more specific. For him it's very important to understand what's happening when, and what his solutions are."

The grueling pre-draft process is over, but the work never stops. Rozier is talented, shifty and rugged, but still has regions of a well-stocked toolbox to unlock.



bob




.

On numerous occasions during Summer League, it seemed as though Rozier was focusing so much on speed that he was outracing his own mentality, He'd burst by a defender only to seem stymied as to what to do next. It sounds as though Toppert is working to temper his speed while looking for openings and then use speed to get through those openings.

Sam