Playing for Heat always appealed to Terry Rozier. Why? ‘D-Wade definitely was the main reason’

Before guard Terry Rozier was traded to the Miami Heat in late January, he had already envisioned playing in a Heat jersey. The possibility of landing with the Heat always appealed to Rozier.

Why? For the most part, Dwyane Wade.

“D-Wade definitely was the main reason,” Rozier, 30, said.

Rozier’s love for Wade is well-documented at this point.

While growing up in the Cleveland area around a bunch of people who adored Akron native LeBron James, Rozier idolized Wade. Rozier tried to copy Wade’s moves during workouts as a kid, even falling to the court on purpose in an attempt to emulate Wade’s “Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight” campaign.

Wade, 42, is the reason Rozier wore No. 3 in high school and with the Charlotte Hornets.

“That love started because I grew up in Ohio where everybody was a LeBron fan,” Rozier said ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at Kaseya Center. “But I’m not 6-foot-9, so I definitely related more to D-Wade. Just ever since he was at Marquette, just how competitive he was. So I started liking him early and it just stuck with me.”

Rozier developed a friendship with Wade over the years, too. It began when Rozier was playing in college at Louisville and continued when Rozier entered the NBA in 2015.

Rozier was even one of the players Wade exchanged jerseys with during his final NBA season in 2019. Rozier, who was with the Boston Celtics at the time, requested Wade’s jersey two months before that moment actually happened following a game between the Heat and Celtics.

“I got a text at 4 in the morning from Terry Rozier,” Wade said in 2019 of the story behind his jersey exchange with Rozier. “He’s like, ‘Yo, I’m going to need that jersey.’ So I go and I look at when we’re playing them, thinking we’re about to play Boston. I’m like, ‘We don’t play y’all till January.’ So he put his request in early and let me know at 4 in the morning to make sure that when we play them, he needed that jersey. We have that kind of relationship.”

When asked to reflect now on that text he sent Wade four years ago asking for his jersey two months before their matchup, Rozier smiled.

“He’s my favorite player, he’s one of the main reasons why I play basketball, he’s who I modeled my game after,” Rozier said. “So it was only right that I got his jersey. That’s probably why I texted him two months before we actually played him. It probably just popped in my mind, but I wanted to make sure we got that out the way before anything. I didn’t want to ask him too late. But I’m glad I did and I’m glad my dream came full circle.”

That Wade jersey is hanging in Rozier’s house in Cleveland.

“I got a little jersey room,” Rozier said. “It’s at the center.”

Now playing for the organization that Wade will be forever linked to, Rozier is reminded of his favorite player almost every day through memories plastered throughout the Heat’s facility at Kaseya Center. When Rozier was traded to the Heat a few months ago, he received a text from Wade “basically telling me to be who I am and telling me congratulations.”

All of it serves as a reminder of how far Rozier has come since meeting Wade as a college student when the Heat played a preseason game in Louisville in 2014.

“I just look back to when I was 6, 7 years old, I was just in the gym by myself,” Rozier said. “Me going to shoot the ball, going to the hole, I used to fall on purpose. I use to try to copy D-Wade, I used to think I was D-Wade all the time. Just fast forward to now, it’s just kind of full circle where I can put on a Heat uniform and I can give the best version of myself.”

RESPECT EARNED

Bam Adebayo has spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career with the Heat, but Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr does have some experience coaching Adebayo.

That’s because Kerr was an assistant coach for Team USA when Adebayo was part of the national team’s roster that won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Kerr spoke highly of Adebayo before Tuesday’s matchup between the Heat and Warriors.

“Bam is a great player, No. 1,” Kerr said. “I mean, you’re always looking for elite two-way basketball players if you want to win at a high level. That’s what we look for with Team USA and all the NBA teams look for that. Bam was amazing in the Olympics in Tokyo at both ends of the floor. Elite switch one-through-five guy, but also great as a push man in transition. It’s very unique to have a center who can push in transition.”

Kerr will serve as Team USA’s head coach for the Paris Olympics this upcoming summer. While that national team roster has not yet been finalized, Adebayo is among the top candidates to make the cut.

“He’s a great, great player,” Kerr continued on Adebayo. “It was fun to get to know him. He’s quiet, but very mature, very professional, very kind person who you enjoy being around. You see his character, you see the quality in the human being just being around him every day.”