Hornets News: Former Celtics Guard Gets Wish For Longer Minutes

The Charlotte Hornets start a new era of basketball with a new guard at the helm. Terry Rozier will get the chance to show the league what he is made of, taking over from Kemba Walker.

To recap, Rozier ended up with the Hornets following that trade with the Boston Celtics involving Walker. Since last season, the 25-year-old guard was constantly complaining about limited playing time. A big reason for this is because he played behind Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart. The landscape moving forward has changed for the 16th overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft.

Rozier signed a three-year $58 million deal with the Hornets and is expected to take over from Walker. And this early, it appears he will be getting heavy minutes. Hornets coach James Borrego told Rod Boone of The Athletic that Rozier will probably be playing around 34 minutes a game. He only got 18 minutes per game when he was in Boston, meaning his playing time will be almost doubled.

With increased minutes, Rozier will have to do his part and improve his numbers as well. The 6-foot-1 guard has career averages of 7.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 272 games he has played with the Celtics. The Hornets hope to see him jack up those numbers and do some other things like maturing to be a leader starting this season.

In a recent article from NBA.com, it appears Rozier is up to the challenge. He is ready to turn heads and help the Hornets improve on their performance last season. Charlotte finished 9th in the Eastern Conference last NBA season.

“I can be me. I can play my ball. I can play Hornets ball. I can play myself. That’s the most important thing that I want to do. I can play ball, I can score, I can defend, I can do whatever the coach needs me to. I think people are going to fall in love with how hard I play on both ends.”

Rozier will get plenty of help this coming season. Among the players expected to help out include Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Nic Batum and Bismack Biyombo. Borrego seems to be confident and his new acquisition although he does have big shoes to fill.