Whether he’s playing sparse minutes or significant ones, Terry Rozier doesn’t make a lot of mistakes when he’s on the floor.
Maybe it’s because of his ball-handling skills, or his court vision is off-the-charts.
Rozier would love to offer up those as the reasons why he has such a high assists-to-turnover ratio, but here’s the truth:
“It’s easy for me to say, ‘I got a good handle. I was careful with the ball,’” Rozier told CSNNE.com. “It’s hard to turn the ball over if you’re not being aggressive.”
And that is the line that Rozier toes this days which has enabled him to become a regular off the Celtics’ bench this season. The 6-foot-2 guard has appeared in all 24 games for Boston this season.
Rozier’s aggression will be on display Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs who once again find themselves among the top teams in the NBA.
“I still want to make good plays,” Rozier said. “And down the stretch be aggressive and not turn the ball over.”
For his career, the second-year guard has an assists-to-turnover ratio of 2.5:1. This season, he has 47 assists with 14 turnovers for a 3.4:1 assists to turnover ratio which is tops among all second-year guards who play at least 10 minutes per game (Rozier logs 19.1 minutes per game).
He has done it lately and still manages to maintain a high assists- to-turnover ratio.
In Boston’s last four games he has averaged 9.5 points despite shooting just 38.8 percent from the field while tallying 12 assists with just one turnover.
Rozier attributes his increased aggression to being reminded recently as to why he’s in the NBA.
“As a scorer all my life, you always have to be aggressive,” Rozier said. “You’ll draw attention. Once you draw that attention, you just make the extra pass. You’re never in the wrong when you’re aggressive. I had to find that out when I came into the league. I was a little too passive and things like that. Once I’m aggressive, playing downhill I’m never in the wrong. It’s about making plays because I’m not a selfish player.”
And when he is aggressive, that opens up scoring opportunities for himself as well as opposing players.
“I can make that extra pass,” Rozier said. “I can look for guys and look for myself too.”
But the trick is doing it consistently, something Rozier readily admits is still a work in progress when it comes to his game.
“It’s tough,” Rozier said. “I had to ask Avery (Bradley) like a week in a half ago; I asked him how do you get yourself prepared for every game, mentally. He said it’s tough. But that’s what separates the pros from the average joes. You have to come in and wake up that day with the mindset, ready to play and play well and help my team win. That’s what I try to do now heading into every game.”