Terry Rozier shoots down reports he's unhappy with playing time

PHOENIX -- Terry Rozier addressed speculation that he was unhappy with his role and playing time in Boston over the first 10 games of the season and quickly put an end to the belief that he's not understanding of his role.

"If you don’t know me, then you probably think I’d say something like that," Rozier said of Wednesday's report from Bill Simmons of The Ringer. "I woke up to the news just like you woke up to the news. I don’t know where it came from, but like I said, I’m happy to be in this position where I’m at, to be playing on a team that’s mentioned to have a chance to be in the championship, so I’m not really worried what’s being said."

Rozier has struggled in the past week after having a strong start to the season and his minutes have been up-and-down as he's battled with consistency. The transition to a secondary role is no surprise for the fourth-year guard though, who is doing the best he can with his situation. 

"I go from starting in the playoffs to coming off the bench, I’m pretty sure it’s not easy for nobody," Rozier said. "I’m not complaining, and if you know me, I’ve never been one to complain about -- I would never go to the media or bring out the unhappy thing, I would never do that. Like I said, people who know me know I wouldn’t do that. I’ve never been a selfish type of person, selfish player. You can tell the way I play I’m all about team, we, everything. Everything will be alright. It’s not as bad as people make it seem."

While the Celtics remain extremely unlikely to even consider dealing Rozier in his contract season, Rozier was not surprised with the report from the Athletic that up to seven teams would have interest in making a move for him.

"That’s how it should be," Rozier said. "There should be more. I’m blessed to be putting on this uniform, representing this organization every day, so I have no complaints. At all."

After a strong start to the season, Rozier is shooting just 32 percent from the field over the past five games, which led to a conversation between him and Stevens about the fact he was pressing a little bit in his limited time on the floor.

"I feel like I was doing that a little bit," Rozier admitted. "I wasn’t saying so much minutes, but just when you try to watch a lot of film, you try to find out where you can be aggressive, where you can be effective on this good team, and it’s tough, but like I said, all that doesn’t match if my mind is tangled up with things, if I’m pressing it would be tough to play, so I mean it makes sense, so like I said, free mind, everything is good."

Stevens also went to bat for his player in the wake of the speculation.

"Obviously, Terry was a big discussion point yesterday and Terry’s been nothing but a great teammate here. He’s been nothing but a great guy here," Stevens said. "He’s never said a word to me. You know that he’s struggling not from saying something but just from not seeing the ball go in as much. But he just keeps on being him. That’s what we love about him. You wouldn’t expect anyone that’s as ambitious or as accomplished as him to feel any differently than that. And so at the end of the day, it’s on us to help him play better."