Boozer's weaknesses being exposed at Olympics

[kwill]

I have watched every game the U.S. had played in the Olympics and I know that Boozer is hardly getting any playing time, but good grief. He has just been abused the last two games he has played. The obvious weaknesses are as follows:

1. He is very slow footed laterally. Make him guard a smaller quicker player When Boozer's on defense and its like shooting fish in a barrel. Drive right, drive left, just go around him and score.

2. When Boozer's on offense guard him with a tall athletic guy. He looks totally lost on offense right now. That might be because he is playing so few minutes, but it is also because the U.S. is going small right now and Boozer is getting matched up on 7 footers.

3. Boozer gets lots of rebounds, but in the NBA they allow a lot more pushing and shoving. When Boozer get beat on defense or he is trying to position himself for a rebound, he takes his off arm and places it in the lower back of his opponent. He pushes off all the time. The Olympic refs call it every single time. If NBA refs start calling it more (like they did a few times last year), Boozer is going to be in trouble.

4. Don't even get me started with his help defense.

5. His hands are suspect, but I still don't know if this is mental because sometimes he catches the real tough pass and sometimes the chest pass bounces off.

Just so everyone does not think I'm unfair his positives include:

1. Very strong
2. runs the pick and roll perfectly (great fit with DWill's skills)
3. Plays with two hands and scores with either (when not guarded by an athletic 7 footer)
4. team leader (at least for the Jazz, not Olympics)
5. High motor who tries all the time even when he is playing terrible.

My concern folks is that during an NBA season consisting of 82 games other teams don't really focus on shutting down Carlos. In the playoffs, however, smart coaches attack Boozer's weaknesses. These weaknesses are becoming more and more obvious and I'm concerned because even dumb coaches are going to start to realize Boozer's weaknesses and they will start to expose them.

[Fido]

Every team in the playoffs will attack their opponent's weaknesses. Teams would target Stockton's size with a big guard. Teams wanted Malone to have to have the ball in his hands in the clutch. The problem isn't that Boozer has weaknesses but how well the team can deal with those weaknesses.

It is also clear that Boozer's physical game is not suited to the international game. And if teams are throwing guys 3" taller at him AND he is not allowed to be physical with them, of course he is going to struggle.

In any case, Team USA is destroying all their opponents so far and that isn't the environment Boozer will spend the season in. Boozer is still among the top power forwards in the league and will do fine this season in spite of his weaknesses.

[qman]

None of these 'exposures' are new. All 30 teams in the NBA have scouts and know what Boozer's weaknesses are.

In Boozer's defence

1. He is playing few minutes in garbage time and out of position.
2. The true zone defenses in international ball limit the effectiveness of P/R- Boozer's best play
3. The scrambling defensive style of the US often moves him out of position for rebounds.

[kwill]

qman

I think the playoffs and these Olympics have magnified his weaknesses and next year (even a contract year for Boozer) there will be a drop in his overall effectiveness and numbers as teams in the regular season exploit these now very public weaknesses.

[carrottop12]

Boozer really is a terrible selection for the Olympic team.

He's the exact opposite type of big that excels in the international game, and honestly I'm glad he isn't playing much.

Look at Chris Bosh, he is the ideal international player. He's long, athletic, quick footed, and has a good ability to finish over players with is length.

None of those things describe Boozer. He's a tough low post player who has a good mid range jump shot that teams have to honor in Jerry Sloan's system to prevent from easy lay ups.

[erudite23]

Nice, 5 mpg of scrub duty now qualifies as game film, hm? And besides, wtf are we supposed to learn in a few mpg with different players in a different scheme, on a different continent playing by different rules that we already didn't know by watching him 80+ times a season in the NBA on our front doorstep?

This thread is stupid and pointless.

[Pai Gow]

Boozer needs to be on a team that actual runs plays and the P'N'R, on TEAM USA, the guards bring the ball up the floor, pass it to the wing, who drive and create and that's the playbook of the great Coach K.. I don't like making excuses, especially for Boozer, but his lack of minutes and actual usage is why he looks so bad. Also, his defense has always been bad, even when he was dropping 24 nightly and no one called him out than nearly as much as they are now.

[kwill]

Erudite23

Are you Boozer's agent? His mom? Anyone who has watched any game that Boozer has played in the Olympics should be a little nervous about the way Boozer's playing. He looks lost out there on the Court and he is being absolutely torched on both the offense and defensive end. True he is only playing 4 to 5 minutes a game, but his play suggests he shouldn't get any. Erudite23 please feel free to ignore all my future posts especially the stupid and pointless ones.

AKsWill

You are absolutely right that the style of play (ie penetrate and dish) does not suit Boozer. I also think your right about his defense has always been bad, but unnoticed. I know I'm a lot more forgiving of the olay defense when he's scoring 20 points a game. When his offense is this atrocious it just makes his defenses weaknesses even more noticeable. Maybe I'm reading more into these games than is necessary, but he just looks awful when he plays.

[carrottop12]

Boozer looks like Boozer out there to me.

He's not as good as the rest of the guys on team USA, so he is being used as a garbage man, and Boozer isn't a good garbage man. He needs the ball to be effective.

His rebounding his good, just like always, and his defense is bad just like always.

It's just what Boozer looks like when playing on a team of players better then him.

[outerspacefella]

I can understand that Boozer really doesn't fit well with international basketball, and that garbage time certainly is not good for him.
What I cannot understand is the lack of basic fundamentals exposed when, for instance, Spanoulis just run around him because he was WAAAAAAAY out of position in VERY VERY VERY SIMPLE plays... he just was 3-4 feet out of the line to the basket and almost always left the baseline free to run.

These kind of plays are not because of garbage time or international rules. This is just LACK OF COMMITMENT.

[tankster]

This bovine scat about Boozer is just..........tired!

[schneiderjazz]

Boozer looks like Boozer out there to me.

He's not as good as the rest of the guys on team USA, so he is being used as a garbage man, and Boozer isn't a good garbage man. He needs the ball to be effective.

His rebounding his good, just like always, and his defense is bad just like always.

It's just what Boozer looks like when playing on a team of players better then him.

Don't really agree with this, Bat. Boozer used to be a pretty good garbage man in Cleveland. The thing about international play, as someone already pointed out, is that the zone defenses are tighter, making it difficult for running the pick and roll or working on the inside.
Hopefully Boozer's weaknesses being exposed make him work harder and learn a thing or two, specially on the defensive end.

[outerspacefella]

<...> Hopefully Boozer's weaknesses being exposed make him work harder and learn a thing or two, specially on the defensive end.

I really hope Boozer make me eat my words about "lack of commitment", because I have this feeling that he'll be Jazz bound for some years (which means Kirilenko or Okur or both will be out of SLC next year...)

[JStockLivesOn]

Don't really agree with this, Bat. Boozer used to be a pretty good garbage man in Cleveland. The thing about international play, as someone already pointed out, is that the zone defenses are tighter, making it difficult for running the pick and roll or working on the inside.
Hopefully Boozer's weaknesses being exposed make him work harder and learn a thing or two, specially on the defensive end.

That's a good point.

Boozer has indeed looked bad in the Olympic games, but the flaws he's exhibiting in his game aren't anything new. As others have said, he really should be the twelfth man on this team, so I'm not too concerned.

[erudite23]

Not saying that what you said isn't true (though I don't think it is, but that's not what my point was), just questioning what you hope to prove.

For the most part, this board agrees with everything you have said and then some. Right now its the summer of Boozer bashing, and I don't understand why we need to have another thread dedicated to his short comings, especially when they come in 2-5 minute spurts after games have usually been decided against scrubs and with an entirely different set of rules than he is used to.

As for the specifics, the only thing I saw that was worth noting was his inability/unwillingness to help out when an opposing guard was able to penatrate into the lane. That has always been the really nasty part of Carlos' defense. Man-to-man, he's no less than decent, maybe even above average (gasp!) and he seals his man for rebounds as well as any player in the world right now, which is part of defense, too, remember?

But whatever, no need to get into this again. I just question the motivation for and relevance of this thread. That's all.

[carrottop12]

Don't really agree with this, Bat. Boozer used to be a pretty good garbage man in Cleveland. The thing about international play, as someone already pointed out, is that the zone defenses are tighter, making it difficult for running the pick and roll or working on the inside.
Hopefully Boozer's weaknesses being exposed make him work harder and learn a thing or two, specially on the defensive end.

Boozer was never a garbage man in Cleveland. He was second fiddle to LeBron, but he was no garbage man. His second season in the league was getting 12 shots per game, and that was on a team that also had Ricky Davis and Big Z. He was also the second leading scorer on that team.

To put 12 shots per game in perspective, John Stockton never averaged more then 11.9 FGA's in a single season during his career. That's no garbage man. Boozer was getting the ball.

Second, I don't expect this to be a turning point in Boozer's career. He should naturally get a little better on defense every season because he will just learn the tricks of the trade. Just like Karl Malone did who became a very smart defender as he aged. But I hardly think some 12th man role on a team expected to blow everyone in the world out by 20+ points is going to change his desire to play defense for nearly a 100 games a season.

[JStockLivesOn]

maybe even above average (gasp!) and he seals his man for rebounds as well as any player in the world right now,

It's pretty easy when you push them in the back every play.

[schneiderjazz]

Boozer was never a garbage man in Cleveland. He was second fiddle to LeBron, but he was no garbage man. His second season in the league was getting 12 shots per game, and that was on a team that also had Ricky Davis and Big Z. He was also the second leading scorer on that team.

To put 12 shots per game in perspective, John Stockton never averaged more then 11.9 FGA's in a single season during his career. That's no garbage man. Boozer was getting the ball.

Second, I don't expect this to be a turning point in Boozer's career. He should naturally get a little better on defense every season because he will just learn the tricks of the trade. Just like Karl Malone did who became a very smart defender as he aged. But I hardly think some 12th man role on a team expected to blow everyone in the world out by 20+ points is going to change his desire to play defense for nearly a 100 games a season.

You're right, Bat. Ilgauskas also shot 12 shots per game, but I guess you could say Boozer and Ilgauskas were 2nd options a and b on that team. I thought Boozer was more of a garbage man, 'cause I remember him as a guy who got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks, while Ilgauskas and Lebron were the main options. Guess he was getting more shots than I thought.
Still, you'd think that getting embarassed by scrubs in international competition, which is supposed to be weaker than the NBA, would make you at least, in a contract year, try a little bit harder.

[qman]

The most disheartening thing about Boozer in International play isn't that he gets beat on defense. It is that he gets beat on defense and he isn't really making a effort defensively.

[carrottop12]

Still, you'd think that getting embarassed by scrubs in international competition, which is supposed to be weaker than the NBA, would make you at least, in a contract year, try a little bit harder.

For some reason I just don't think he takes that embarassment home with him.