Why Terry Rozier will Win the 6th Man of the Year Award
Scary Terry emerged last season by playing like a complete stud after Kyrie Irving went down for the Celtics. Rozier averaged 17.2 points per game in the 16 games he started in last season. He made it clear that he could run an offense on a successful team and his scrappy defense was just the cherry on top. If you didn’t love Terry Rozier before the 2017-18 NBA playoffs, you fell in love with him during the playoffs. He revved up his gameplay even more and got involved in one of the most entertaining storylines I can remember. The Terry Rozier-Eric Bledsoe beef sparking the friendship between Rozier and former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe is pure fucking gold. Fun storylines don’t win you NBA awards however. So let’s get into why Terry Rozier is going to win the NBA 6th Man of the Year award.
Running the Offense
Terry Rozier would start for over half of the teams in the NBA. Instead, he gets to be the backup point guard on the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. I’ve watched each Celtics preseason game and I attended the game they defeated the Hornets. When Rozier is on the floor, everyone looks to him and plays based off his game. That includes Hayward, Tatum, Brown, Horford, AND Kyrie. The key player there is Kyrie, who’s allowed to play off the ball when Scary Terry enters the game. Terry is a better passing point guard than Kyrie and is only a few notches below the playmaking and shooting of Kyrie. We can expect Terry to be out there with Brown, Tatum, and Morris a bunch. That means he should be getting a shit ton of assists in his time out there with their shooting ability. He’ll be seeing around 25 minutes a game which is plenty for him to make his impact running the offense.
Celtics are Really Good
Terry Rozier is going to make a positive impact on this team no matter what he does. Making a positive impact on a team that does really well means so much. The 6th man on the Magic might put up 25 points and 8 rebounds, but the Magic suck. I anticipate Rozier’s averages will be close to 16 points per game, 5 assists per game, and 5 rebounds per game. Those averages on the top 3 team in the league is gonna look fucking phenomenal. Playoffs have no impact on voting for awards, but this team is going to be making a deep run in the playoffs. That deep run involves Rozier having a huge role in their success. The winning playmakers around Rozier such as Horford, Hayward, and Smart will only propel him forward. Lastly, Terry Rozier is lucky enough to have a coach who is considered by many as the best in the league. Brad Stevens, who was just voted best coach in the league by the GM’s, brings out the best in his players and that’s been proven time and time again. This winning organization will provide the platform needed for Terry to win the 6th Man of the Year award.
Contract Year
After this season, Terry Rozier is set to be a restricted free agent. With that in mind, he’s going to want to increase his worth. Increasing his worth will increase the dollars in the contracts he is going to be offered. Tons of teams could use a young productive starting point guard and Terry fits the bill perfectly. One down side to this being his contract year is that at times he might be selfish rather than make the best basketball move to raise his stats and in turn raise his stock. Rozier could easily average 20 points if he was a selfish player and took every open shot opportunity he had. However, since Terry has a fantastic all-around game, and ideally, he will shine brighter in every area rather than just scoring. Terry plays with a chip on his shoulder in a similar way to how Isaiah Thomas did when he was with Boston. This chip will lead to success for the Celtics, but most importantly lead Terry Rozier to claiming the 6th Man of the Year Award.
-Brandon Black (Follow @bhblack02)
You love fantasy sports but getting tired of the same thing every year? Stop it. Join ThriveFantasy today where you bet on only the top tier players and gain points based on prop bets. Sign up today using the Couch Guy Sports link NOW & get in on the action. (Must deposit a minimum of $10 upon signup and ThriveFantasy will MATCH that $10)