BOSTON -- It almost seems like the basketball gods knew well in advance that tonight’s preseason game between Boston and Charlotte would be more than just another run-of-the-mill, run-up-to-the-regular-season-kind-of-game.
Boston and Charlotte are meeting for the first time since the two teams engineered a sign-and-trade this summer that brought Kemba Walker and a future second round pick to Boston while the Hornets acquired their point guard for the present in Terry Rozier.
“The league did that on purpose,” quipped Walker in a one-on-one interview with NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely. “It’s gonna be fun. I’m really looking forward to seeing my old teammates. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of those guys.”
Ditto for Rozier who returns as a starter, a position he longed to have as a Celtic only to find himself playing behind a pair of all-stars; first Isaiah Thomas and more recently Kyrie Irving.
He showed promise as being a better-than-average starter in this league during the 2018 playoffs when the Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in part due to his 16.5 points, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds as a starter while an injured Kyrie Irving looked on.
With Irving physically healthy enough to play most of last season, Rozier’s minutes and overall impact took a noticeable dive.
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And you better believe that lack of playing time will factor in Rozier playing tonight’s preseason game with a Game 7-like mentality for most of the time he’s on the floor.
“I’m pissed off about a lot of stuff,” Rozier recently told the Charlotte Observer. “I want to prove myself again.”
Meanwhile, Walker’s focus isn’t so much on proving himself but to continue to build towards developing the kind of chemistry required to make a strong postseason run - something he has never done in his previous eight seasons in the NBA.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens is well-versed on what Walker can do on the floor, having seen him for years in the NBA and prior to that, when Walker was a star at UConn and Stevens coached Butler University which lost to Walker’s Huskies in the 2011 NCAA Championship.
But as Boston went about learning all they could about Walker prior to offering him a max contract, Stevens saw a consistent theme develop with just about everyone the Celtics talked to.
“You get information on just about every player that comes through the door,” Stevens said. “From people that have worked with him, people that have played with him, people that have coached him at every level. And the only thing I would say is there’s not one negative word about him from anyone, anywhere, anytime. And, amazingly, that’s been validated. He’s just an enjoyable guy to have around. He is talking about all the right stuff. He’s a worker, a good player and all that stuff. So, we’re happy that he’s here. He certainly has impacted us well.”
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