A lot of the rumors that surface in the week ahead of NBA free agency seemingly are devised from complete lunacy.
But this one might take the cake.
The New York Knicks reportedly have serious interest in Boston Celtics restricted free agent Terry Rozier. No, that is not the ridiculous part, we’re just getting started. The team is waiting in the wings for the fallout of a potential Kemba Walker-Celtics deal that would see the C’s renounce their rights to Rozier, making him a free agent. All right, completely reasonable thus far …
Now the fun begins.
According to New York Post’s Marc Berman, The Knicks, who once were rumored as a likely destination for Kyrie Irving, do not see Rozier as “too far a step down” from Irving.
“There are some in the organization who wouldn’t regard Rozier as too far a step down from Kyrie Irving because of his age — 25. Rozier, who went to Louisville, also knows Kentucky’s Kevin Knox,” Berman wrote.
There is a lot to unpack here. First off, Irving is a six-time All-Star and an NBA champ who hit arguably the biggest shot in recent NBA history. Rozier has no All-Star appearances and other than a brief run manning the point for the C’s in the playoffs in 2018, has not won anything.
Because of Rozier’s age? He’s 25. We’ll remind you casually here that Irving only is 27, so the notion that Rozier is a young up-and-comer compared to the All-Star quite frankly is pretty laughable.
“He’s a good player, young, willing to defend and shoots better than people think,” one NBA personnel director told Berman of Rozier. “The problem this season with Terry was the locker room from what I’m told Kyrie destroyed.”
The Knicks’ interest in Rozier could be completely legitimate, but can we please be real here for a second? If anyone knows how infuriating Irving can be, it’s Celtics fans, but even they (well, most of them) are not capable of the mental gymnastics it requires to believe Rozier is anything near a comparable to Irving.
This is exhausting.
