As the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets geared up for their 2019-20 preseason openers, a relatively rare storyline played out when point guards Kemba Walker and Terry Rozier took the floor.
Walker and Rozier played their first games for new teams this season on Sunday, the very teams that they’re slated to face in fact.
Ultimately, Walker’s Celtics defeated Rozier’s Hornets, 107-106 as Rozier recorded a near double-double with nine points and nine assists.
Though Boston got off to a good start over Charlotte, the Hornets actually held the lead over the Celtics for most of the game. Minutes that curiously corresponded to when second-year center Robert Williams III, who would start on Sunday, was eventually replaced by center Enes Kanter.
Kanter tallied 11 points, four rebounds and a block while going a perfect 4-4 from the field but the pick-and-roll defense began to struggle with their rotations and rim-protection.
Charlotte led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter before lineups that included rookies Tacko Fall, Grant Williams, Javonte Green and Carsen Edwards brought the team back in the fourth quarter with impressive plays on both ends.
Fall is still adored by NBA fans, if Sunday night’s standing ovation gave a glimpse of just how large the big man’s fan base is.
He recorded five points, three rebounds and two blocks in just eight minutes but Green, Fall’s primary’s competition for Boston’s final roster spot, scored 15 points on 7-7 shooting from the field.
Edwards has day strong shooting performance, scoring 11 points on 3-6 shooting from three but Williams would struggle from the field, scoring just five points on 2-7 shooting from the field and while missing all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. Nonetheless, with a team-high nine rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal, Williams stayed true to his characterization as a bigger Marcus Smart.
As far as Boston’s starting lineup is concerned, one that didn’t include Smart as Jaylen Brown reclaimed his starting spot and showed his development as a ball-handler on his drives to the cup, Stevens wants to see better defense from the unit.
But just as importantly, each of Walker, Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum — the team’s offensive cornerstones — looked ready to hit the pavement running.
Walker wasn’t necessarily his usual self, tallying 12 points and four assists in 20 minutes while shooting 3-7 from the field. However, the three-time All-Star’s shooting stroke looked good as he knocked down 2-5 of his three-point attempts and continued to show his willingness to be a playmaker.
He also seems to play with a slightly faster pace than the Celtics played at last year, as he spends less time trying to use his ball-handling to escape defenders than the team’s former point guard, Kyrie Irving.
Hayward lent credence to the belief that the organization has in him this upcoming season, moving around as well as ever and getting inside the paint consistently.
He impacted the stat sheet at all levels as well, recording nine points, three assists, three rebounds and one steal in 22 minutes while shooting 4-10 from the field.
However, he only went 1-4 from three-point range.
Tatum, ready to have his first All-Star season, played the best of the trio as he led the team with a team-high 20 points, four rebounds, a team-high three steals and one block in 23 minutes. He made good on his promise to alter his shot-selection as well, as eight of his 14 shot attempts came from three.
How the past may have changed the future
Walker, selected ninth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft by the then-Charlotte Bobcats, spent the first eight years of his steadily blossoming career with the same franchise and may still be in Charlotte had Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak not lowballed the three-time All-Star with his contract offer this summer.
The ability to offer Walker the supermax — a five-year contract valued at approximately $221 million — was Charlotte’s home field advantage but they refused to take advantage of it, leaving the door open for Walker to leave.
Walker chose to sign with the Celtics in the wake of the Irving debacle, elating a downtrodden franchise but also forcing the departure of Rozier, who seemed to only want to stay in Boston if he emerged as the starting point guard.
After starring in the 2018 NBA Playoffs, where he averaged 16.5 points, 5.7 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while playing stellar defense against high-level point guards like Milwaukee Bucks veteran Eric Bledsoe, Rozier grew frustrated with the sacrifices he had to make with Irving’s return to the court.
Nothing against Irving, who was a mentor and supporter of Rozier. He just wanted his own team, essentially.
A sentiment that Irving surely could relate to considering the motivations behind his trade request while in Cleveland.
Rozier, who was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Celtics, is almost the antithesis of Walker in terms of playing style.
Where Walker is a shifty playmaker and above-average scorer from all three levels with a jury still out on his defensive ability, Rozier is a gritty defender who can score from all three levels but has only been most effective getting inside and scoring at the rim.
How it works out for both Boston and Charlotte remains to be seen but the Hornets have the chance to be a strong defensive club with a balanced scoring attack while the Celtics have the opportunity to be dominant on both ends, should Celtics head coach Brad Stevens both find and properly utilize the lineups that will work best.
An issue that Stevens seemed to have last season.
Boston has overturned most of their rotation from last season, seeking high impact players with great character attributes, though they return eight of the players on the roster form last season, including core pieces in Tatum, Hayward, Brown and Smart.
Aside from Walker, Kanter — a superb rebounder and low-post scorer, though a poor defender — was signed by the Celtics this offseason and is presumably the starter in a position deep with versatile but inexperienced players such as Williams III and Vincent Poirier.
Rookies Edwards, G. Williams and Romeo Langford — who didn’t suit up on Sunday —look to be in the team’s rotation as well, though Fall will seemingly receive the most fanfare of the team’s novates.
The Hornets, led by Rozier, have a young core as well, with forward Miles Bridges, guard Malik Monk, forward P.J. Washington and guard Dwyane Bacon comprising the core of the team, along with veterans Nic Batum and Frank Kaminsky.
However, the expectations for each team have a night and day difference, although Sunday’s matchup may have shown that Charlotte will be underrated entering the 2019-20 season.
