Charlotte Hornets: Complete grades for 2019 NBA offseason
By Phil Watson
Terry Rozier sign-and-trade
With Kemba Walker announcing on June 30 that he had decided to sign with the Boston Celtics, all that was left for Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak to do was to perhaps get something back for the All-NBA point guard.
What that something turned out to be was a two-way sign-and-trade, sending Walker and the less favorable of the 2020 second-round picks Charlotte had from to the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets in exchange for free agent Terry Rozier and a top-53 protected 2020 second-rounder.
First, let’s look at the similarities between Walker and Rozier. They both play the point guard position and are undersized a bit at 6-foot-1. End of similarities.
The three-year, $56.7 million contract for Rozier is a huge over-pay, perhaps not in the same vein as Kupchak’s twin four-year, $64 million deals for Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng while he was the GM of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2016, but still … wow.
The one advantage for the Hornets is the deal is front-loaded; Rozier’s cap number goes from $19.9 million this season to $18.9 million in 2020-21 and shrinks to $17.9 million in the final year, 2021-22.
Rozier shined in the NBA Playoffs with the Celtics two years ago, starting in place of injured Kyrie Irving and putting up 16.5 points, 5.7 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 36.6 minutes per game as Boston pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But he shot just 40.6 percent overall and just 34.7 percent on 7.7 3-point attempts per game, so he wasn’t precisely efficient.
With Irving (mostly) healthy last season, Rozier returned — not entirely happily — to a reserve role and averaged 9.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 22.7 minutes a night, shooting 38.7 percent overall and 35.3 percent on 4.3 deep attempts a game.
Yes, the Hornets committed almost $57 million over the next three seasons to a point guard who averages 4.2 assists per 36 minutes in four NBA seasons and has as many seasons shooting better than 40 percent overall as I have — zero.
He is a career 38.0 percent shooter who takes more than half of his attempts from behind the arc and only drops 35.4 percent of those.
That’s not a terrible number, but he doesn’t create a lot of offense for himself or anyone else thus far, taking only 17 percent of his career attempts in the restricted area and posting a career assist rate of 17.0 percent.
Rozier is a body to put into the lineup at the 1 spot and, for what they are paying him, they are almost forced to start him no matter what.
On the positive side, Rozier’s Charlotte tenure — by default — will have to be better than that of Lance Stephenson, the last guard Charlotte dramatically overpaid to come there.