It needs to be said: Boozer looks great

[majortripps69]

And Ronnie Brewer stands out for his defense to me. And so does Ronnie Price. AK is a defensive SPECIALIST....

I disagree on your assessment of Brewer. He is great in the passing lanes, but on the ball he is a horrible defender. AK is a solid defender, and one of the reasons he is still on this team, I guarantee if he wasn't a good defender he would have long been gone. As for Price, I have no real judgement since he doesn't see enough floor time to warrant an answer as of yet. One more footnote on the Brewer thing and this should be telling, why does AK guard the best SG's and not Brewer?

[Sloanfeld]

One thing that stood out to me even more than the I'm getting a raise comment, was the comment about how well he performed in the playoffs but his team just didn't.

I had knee surgery last year, came back and fully recovered, had a really good individual playoff run, but my team fell short as we lost to the Lakers.

Boozer had good run, but his team fell short. He is part of the team that fell short. He also says, "WE" lost to the Lakers. He's not throwing anyone under the bus since he is part of that team.

The SLTrib mislead readers with this paragrah:

Eaton has fewer concerns whether Jazz players like Deron Williams, Memo Okur and Andrei Kirilenko could again accept Boozer or not, who during one radio interview said he played well during a first-round playoff loss to the Lakers but that his teammates "fell short."

Boozer said team, meaning him. He did NOT say 'team mates', which would exclude him and mean that he's throwing them under the bus. Sorry that you and many others were fooled by the Boozer hating media, but I'm not a sucker.

[red4hf]

A little off-topic, but not much, Aldridge just got a 5 year deal worth $65 million....... That was for averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds......

If Boozer puts up 20 and 10, what kind of deal is he going to get next year? (ps, I actually think he's going to play the entire year in Utah)

What are the Bazers thinking?

[outerspacefella]

At the time the Jazz signed Boozer I thought it was a big risk, but dude's got huge upside. Now there's not upside, you get what you see, and what you see has been decrypted long time ago by most teams.

[Yung D-Will]

Honestly anything Boozer is only effecting us now. If the Jazz are to be successful in the future I don't see Boozer in that image. He'll cause us more problems in the longrun

[ColdBlue]

Per 40 minutes (which is what you typed).

[erudite23]

Per 40 minutes (which is what you typed).

I'm really confused. Yes, I gave per 40. But you said 35 something or other and I can't figure out what you were referring to.

[DelaneyRudd]

I think the nastiness is over. We have come to the arrangement that Boozer will play hard and then go on his way. Who knows what the future holds but Carlos will not want to jeopardize his contract next off season so happy sailing for now. I really doubt this will equate to added trade value so I guess we look at PFs with our awesome Isiah pick. Maybe a S/PF combo. I don't have a good feeling about that Lithuanian guy but I'm no scout so I dunno.

[erudite23]

Yeah, I think you hit it on the head. I really believe that Carlos is here for the season and that, if things fall just right, he could potentially re-sign here--though it would take a season full of goodwill, an added commitment to defense, a deep run into the playoffs in which he plays an integral role and him taking a contract that is in the reasonable range and not out-of-control--but in the event that he gets traded I think we should be targeting a wing with some range on their jumper who is also a good defender OR can create his own shot. Someone like a Josh Howard, Mike Miller (if he returns to his previous form), Ariza, Butler, or someone of that ilk. Who knows how good of a player we could get, but someone like that. If we could get that from Boozer and Millsap plays like he was playing last year in Booz's absence, and we could find ourselves suddenly playing like a legit contender.

Anyway, I'm very impressed with how well everyone involved has handled this situation. All it takes is one guy being selfish and me-first and this situation would go nuclear in the blink of an eye. But it has been a non-issue to this point. Being a small media market helps.

[ColdBlue]

Per 40 minutes (which is what you typed).

I'm really confused. Yes, I gave per 40. But you said 35 something or other and I can't figure out what you were referring to.

I was just saying that he probably averages 35 minutes. I can solve that right now:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3632

I was pretty close... his average minutes per game is about 34.

[erudite23]

Per 40 minutes (which is what you typed).

I'm really confused. Yes, I gave per 40. But you said 35 something or other and I can't figure out what you were referring to.

I was just saying that he probably averages 35 minutes. I can solve that right now:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3632

I was pretty close... his average minutes per game is about 34.

Oh...yeah, true. But I also compared it to his career high numbers PER 40 as well, so it was an apples to apples comparison.

[Yung D-Will]

I think the nastiness is over. We have come to the arrangement that Boozer will play hard and then go on his way. Who knows what the future holds but Carlos will not want to jeopardize his contract next off season so happy sailing for now. I really doubt this will equate to added trade value so I guess we look at PFs with our awesome Isiah pick. Maybe a S/PF combo. I don't have a good feeling about that Lithuanian guy but I'm no scout so I dunno.

This is basically what I was thinking. Boozer for this year might be great but I think it's pretty obvious that Boozer/The Jazz have no real long term future together. It just never would work out.

[ColdBlue]

Oh...yeah, true. But I also compared it to his career high numbers PER 40 as well, so it was an apples to apples comparison.

Cool. I guess I was the confused one.

[erudite23]

Well....is anyone ready to come clean on the Boozer issue?

After starting 13/42 (31%) in his first 3 games, he has been shooting 58% from the field, grabbing 12 boards a game and putting up 20ppg with less touches than he is accustomed to. Basically, he is the same player that he was in the past, only he is making a more concerted effort this year (with mixed results, admittedly) to help his teammates defensively.


Right now Carlos is as good as he's ever been, though its just an 8 game stretch. Is anyone ready to eat crow? Prediction of his demise were sadly exagerrated and out of control. The dude really is an exceptional player. And while the team is obviously not living up to what it should be, you can't put it on Carlos.

[StocktonShorts]

I'll start.

Hi, my name is HappyProle, and I'm a recovering Boozer hater.

[idajazz]

Well....is anyone ready to come clean on the Boozer issue?

After starting 13/42 (31%) in his first 3 games, he has been shooting 58% from the field, grabbing 12 boards a game and putting up 20ppg with less touches than he is accustomed to. Basically, he is the same player that he was in the past, only he is making a more concerted effort this year (with mixed results, admittedly) to help his teammates defensively.


Right now Carlos is as good as he's ever been, though its just an 8 game stretch. Is anyone ready to eat crow? Prediction of his demise were sadly exagerrated and out of control. The dude really is an exceptional player. And while the team is obviously not living up to what it should be, you can't put it on Carlos.

Nope, not even close.

I am glad that he is doing what he should be doing, I hope he keeps it up, and improves his defense.
Over the course of the past 5 seasons I spent many a night wondering when he would loose the fancy suit and put on a jazz uni.
The dude has spent a ton of time riding pine. We can argue weather he nursed/faked injuries until pigs grow wings, The fact still remains that Booz is an injury prone wuss, who cost us a ton of games and maybe even a shot at a title.
I will take a bite of your crow when the guy plays a injury free season, with no drama.

[erudite23]

Let me refer you to 2007-08, good sir. Already did that.


Bottom line is that everyone all along the way has kept making predictions about him that weren't true, and then they won't admit that they were wrong or see the error of their ways. Some players are injury prone, that is part of the game. He hasn't missed a single playoff game since he's been here, and if you throw out the travesty of a season that happened in 2004-05, then he's played in over 75% of the team's games since.

Would I like him to be more durable? Hell yes I would.

But 75% of the posters on this board have said some version of "Boozer is done with this team, he isn't the player he used to be, he will not play another game in Utah, he is a distraction and if he's here this season his presence will hurt the team" etc and none of that garbage has ended up being true. I think people should be accountable, just like they expect athletes to be accountable. Even if you can't deal with the harsh realities of sports--like the fact that some players just get hurt more than other players--than at least you can own up to it when you push and opinion that clearly is proven wrong.

I don't think that's too much to ask.

[Diop]

I really doubt this will equate to added trade value so I guess we look at PFs with our awesome Isiah pick. Maybe a S/PF combo. I don't have a good feeling about that Lithuanian guy but I'm no scout so I dunno.

Would you like Diaw? He is a Combo Forward, what could we get for him?