Heat’s message to Terry Rozier: ‘We want Terry to be Terry.’ It’s a work in progress

The Miami Heat wants Terry Rozier to be himself. The issue is he’s still trying to find himself within the Heat’s offense.

After playing as a high-usage guard who put up 18 field-goal attempts per game with the Charlotte Hornets this season prior to being traded to the Heat last week, Rozier is still adjusting to his new role as part of a Heat offense built around the leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro.

“It’s been a crazy week, to say the least,” Rozier said ahead of his fourth game with the Heat on Monday night against the Phoenix Suns at Kaseya Center. “But I think we’re all still trying to figure it out together.”

Through his first three games in a Heat uniform, Rozier has flashed different aspects of his skill set that will help the Heat’s struggling offense. His quickness gives him the ability to get into the paint to create for himself and others, he can space the floor with his three-point shot and he also serves as a threat in isolation situations and another playmaker in pick-and-roll sets.

But not enough shots have fallen Rozier so far, shooting just 10 of 33 (30.3 percent) from the field and 2 of 11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range in his first three games with the Heat.

The Heat would argue, though, Rozier hasn’t taken enough shots. He’s averaging 11 field-goal attempts and 3.7 three-point attempts per game in three games with the Heat after averaging 18.3 field-goal attempts and 7.7 three-point attempts per game with the Hornets this season before the trade.

“We need him to be him,” Butler said. “We want him to be him. That’s the reason that he’s here. The more comfortable he gets, the more he realizes that. We’re all in your corner to shoot the ball, to be aggressive, to attack. So as much as we’re on him about it, we’ll be on him even more about it because we want him to be him.”

Rozier’s usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) is also down from a career-high 26.8 percent with the Hornets this season to 20.2 percent in his first three games with the Heat.

It’s not a surprise that Rozier’s volume of shots and usage rate have dipped since joining the Heat. It was actually expected after going from a Hornets team that relied on his shot creation to a Heat team that needs him to complement Adebayo, Butler and Herro, but Rozier’s new Heat teammates and coaches believe there’s room for him to do more.

“He’ll figure it out,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s trying to fit in and I get that. We’re all saying the same thing. We want Terry to be Terry. He’s going to unlock other things for us. You can see the burst that he gives us, the rim pressure, which we need. That’s not just the head coach saying that, that’s his teammates saying that.”

Rozier hears it, too.

“I’ve never been traded in the middle of the season,” Rozier said. “I’m playing with guys that I’m actually open now because they’re getting a lot of attention. I’m not so used to that. But we’ll figure it out. Us all being competitors in this locker room, it’s tough on us and we’ll figure it out. I just got to be myself, man. You got one through 15 plus the coaches telling me to be myself. That’s what I got to do.”

Rozier’s first three games with the Heat have been losses, as Miami enters Monday’s matchup against Phoenix on a six-game skid. But Rozier already sees the difference between how the Heat handles losing compared to how his former team, the young and rebuilding Hornets, handled losing.

“You know the difference between the organizations,” Rozier said. “Simply the difference is guys over here, they don’t like losing. It’s something that they’re not used to. We’re just all looking to turn this thing around together and we’re going to figure it out.”

NO TIME TO PANIC

With the Heat advancing to the playoffs through the play-in tournament and becoming the first No. 8 seed in league history to advance to the NBA Finals during a non-lockout-shortened season last season, Adebayo knows it’s not time to panic despite the team’s recent struggles.

“I learned a valuable lesson last year,” Adebayo said following Monday’s morning shootaround. “Don’t let go of the rope because you never know what’s on the other side. We could have let go of the rope after the first loss in the play-in and been like this is our season. But we didn’t. Because of that, we made a run to the Finals that was so unexpected. So for us, it’s not letting go of the rope.”

SPOELSTRA’S DAY OFF

With the Heat off on Sunday, Spoelstra held a two-hour basketball clinic at the University of Miami for 150 special needs participants.

Those in attendance took photos with Spoelstra and also received an autographed photo from him. Spoelstra also purchased tickets for the participants to attend Monday’s game against the Suns.

The two main beneficiaries of the clinic were the WOW Center Miami and Grind Fitness Miami, which work to empower those with developmental disabilities.