BOSTON -- Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said that he’s saddened by allegations of sex parties for University of Louisville recruits in which two of Boston's rookies -- Terry Rozier and Jordan Mickey -- were named.
A book, "Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen," published this month by self-described former escort Katina Powell, 42, details nearly two dozen stripping and sex parties from 2010 to 2014. In the book, both Mickey and Rozier are alleged to have had sex with escorts during recruiting visits.
"I haven't talked to [Rozier or Mickey] since the report came out [Tuesday] morning,” Stevens said Tuesday evening before the Celtics’ annual Shamrock Foundation Gala at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel. “Obviously, it's something that, any time you see allegations of that regard, just from the whole big picture of everything that's been alleged, it just saddens you. But I have not talked to them [Tuesday].”
The Celtics did not make either Rozier or Mickey available to the media before Tuesday’s event. Stevens was asked if the allegations could be a distraction for the team.
“Obviously, those guys will have to answer that for you,” said Stevens. "Again, I think it's something that I don't know a lot about. And, at the same time, I think they'll answer it the way however they feel they need to. And they'll handle it the way they need to.”
Rozier told Outside the Lines: "I don't want to talk about it. ... I was already committed before I took my visit. ... I will say, though, Coach [Rick Pitino], as far as the dorm situations and visits, he'd go out to eat with the recruits and their parents. As far as after that, he wouldn't know. ... I can say his nose is clean.”
Mickey, who ultimately chose to play at LSU, declined comment to OTL.
Stevens, who spent six seasons as head coach at Butler University, admitted it’s difficult to monitor everything involving student-athletes and recruits.
“I think, at the end of the day, you hope that people make right decisions,” said Stevens. "You hope to help coach them in that regards and lead them in that regards. And, at the same time, you’re not there 24 hours per day. So, again, who knows? I don’t know the particulars of this, per se. But I think, at the end of the day, generally, that’s the way I feel about it. I think that you have, certainly, a large impact on [players], but again you’re not there every minute of every day.”
Added Stevens: "I just think it's sad when -- and again, it's all alleged and I want to make sure that that's very, very clear -- but I think it's sad any time, obviously, the allegations that came out, just from the standpoint of adults and everything else. But, again, out of respect to these guys, out of respect for Louisville, out of respect to the fact that I don't know anything and I wasn't there, it's not really fair for me to comment on it.”