Cameron Boozer

[Chuck Everett]

I swear people take this guy for granted because of how consistent he is. That's one of the best traits a future pro can have.

I really don't care what he did in highschool. When I watch him now I see a guy who's athleticism and skills are pretty average.

That's fine, but it's hard for me to discount his Team USA experience as a prep. Even with the creme de la creme in his age range, he's always been dominant. I guess we'll just have to wait and see once he reaches the pro level.

Because even with him putting up 20 and 10 this year (and he is likely to do so), people are still going to look for his warts.

[tontoz]

I swear people take this guy for granted because of how consistent he is. That's one of the best traits a future pro can have.

I really don't care what he did in highschool. When I watch him now I see a guy who's athleticism and skills are pretty average.

That's fine, but it's hard for me to discount his Team USA experience as a prep. Even with the creme de la creme in his age range, he's always been dominant. I guess we'll just have to wait and see once he reaches the pro level.

Because even with him putting up 20 and 10 this year (and he is likely to do so), people are still going to look for his warts.

His warts aren't exactly hard to find. In his previous 2 games he's 10-32 from the field. Not a good look for an "elite" big man.

[Chuck Everett]

I really don't care what he did in highschool. When I watch him now I see a guy who's athleticism and skills are pretty average.

That's fine, but it's hard for me to discount his Team USA experience as a prep. Even with the creme de la creme in his age range, he's always been dominant. I guess we'll just have to wait and see once he reaches the pro level.

Because even with him putting up 20 and 10 this year (and he is likely to do so), people are still going to look for his warts.

His warts aren't exactly hard to find. In his previous 2 games he's 10-32 from the field. Not a good look for an "elite" big man.

Fair enough.

[Duke4life831]

I swear people take this guy for granted because of how consistent he is. That's one of the best traits a future pro can have.

I really don't care what he did in highschool. When I watch him now I see a guy who's athleticism and skills are pretty average.

That's fine, but it's hard for me to discount his Team USA experience as a prep. Even with the creme de la creme in his age range, he's always been dominant. I guess we'll just have to wait and see once he reaches the pro level.

Because even with him putting up 20 and 10 this year (and he is likely to do so), people are still going to look for his warts.

This is my thing with Cam. There are two clear different conversations to be had with him.

Looking at Boozer from a prep view point (high school, U18 international play, and college), you can easily make the case he is a generational player. He's 1 of 4 players to win Gatorade POY 2x. He was FIBA World Cup MVP, and I think he has a fantastic chance to be consensus All American as a freshman. There is no denying how dominant Boozer has been at the prep level, again I think you can honestly say he is a generational player at that level. Like I think there is a great chance Boozer can be NPOY as a freshman (I do think his shooting numbers will shoot up as the year goes on).

I think we can have that conversation, while also having a separate conversation about how he projects into the current NBA. If this were 15 years ago, Id say Cam would be penciled in as the #1 pick. Because 15 years or so ago, we had guys like Kevin Love, ZBo, Aldridge, Carlos Boozer and so on making All NBA teams. Because we still had the classic PF at that time. There was a clear archetype in the league of players with similar builds and athleticism, who were legit All NBA caliber players.

But the NBA is just a drastically different game now. Look at the last 5 All NBA teams, who is the comp for Cam? I know some have said Julius Randle, but just watch Randle move and then watch Boozer move, we're talking drastically different levels of agility. And even then, Randle is on his 4th team and it seems like whenever the team trades him, that fanbase tends to be happy he is on a different team.

In all honesty, I think Sabonis is probably the closest to Cam when it comes to size and athleticism. But even then I think Sabonis is at least an inch to 2 inches taller and he just plays so much bigger. And even then, that's been the question with Sabonis his entire career. Can you play him at the 4 to hide his rim protecting flaws, or can you actually win with him as the 5?

[bigboi]

I really don't care what he did in highschool. When I watch him now I see a guy who's athleticism and skills are pretty average.

That's fine, but it's hard for me to discount his Team USA experience as a prep. Even with the creme de la creme in his age range, he's always been dominant. I guess we'll just have to wait and see once he reaches the pro level.

Because even with him putting up 20 and 10 this year (and he is likely to do so), people are still going to look for his warts.

This is my thing with Cam. There are two clear different conversations to be had with him.

Looking at Boozer from a prep view point (high school, U18 international play, and college), you can easily make the case he is a generational player. He's 1 of 4 players to win Gatorade POY 2x. He was FIBA World Cup MVP, and I think he has a fantastic chance to be consensus All American as a freshman. There is no denying how dominant Boozer has been at the prep level, again I think you can honestly say he is a generational player at that level. Like I think there is a great chance Boozer can be NPOY as a freshman (I do think his shooting numbers will shoot up as the year goes on).

I think we can have that conversation, while also having a separate conversation about how he projects into the current NBA. If this were 15 years ago, Id say Cam would be penciled in as the #1 pick. Because 15 years or so ago, we had guys like Kevin Love, ZBo, Aldridge, Carlos Boozer and so on making All NBA teams. Because we still had the classic PF at that time. There was a clear archetype in the league of players with similar builds and athleticism, who were legit All NBA caliber players.

But the NBA is just a drastically different game now. Look at the last 5 All NBA teams, who is the comp for Cam? I know some have said Julius Randle, but just watch Randle move and then watch Boozer move, we're talking drastically different levels of agility. And even then, Randle is on his 4th team and it seems like whenever the team trades him, that fanbase tends to be happy he is on a different team.

In all honesty, I think Sabonis is probably the closest to Cam when it comes to size and athleticism. But even then I think Sabonis is at least an inch to 2 inches taller and he just plays so much bigger. And even then, that's been the question with Sabonis his entire career. Can you play him at the 4 to hide his rim protecting flaws, or can you actually win with him as the 5?

Who said Randle? That’s disrespectful. Randle legit looked like Bron in high school at times. Their athleticism are worlds apart so that comparison doesn’t make any sense at all. Boozer is slow and unathletic without enough skills to match. Paul Millsap is prob who he ends up like tbh

[Braggins]

25/8/5 in 23 minutes with four 3pt makes

[The Master]

I think we can have that conversation, while also having a separate conversation about how he projects into the current NBA. If this were 15 years ago, Id say Cam would be penciled in as the #1 pick. Because 15 years or so ago, we had guys like Kevin Love, ZBo, Aldridge, Carlos Boozer and so on making All NBA teams. Because we still had the classic PF at that time. There was a clear archetype in the league of players with similar builds and athleticism, who were legit All NBA caliber players.

But the NBA is just a drastically different game now. Look at the last 5 All NBA teams, who is the comp for Cam? I know some have said Julius Randle, but just watch Randle move and then watch Boozer move, we're talking drastically different levels of agility. And even then, Randle is on his 4th team and it seems like whenever the team trades him, that fanbase tends to be happy he is on a different team.

In all honesty, I think Sabonis is probably the closest to Cam when it comes to size and athleticism. But even then I think Sabonis is at least an inch to 2 inches taller and he just plays so much bigger. And even then, that's been the question with Sabonis his entire career. Can you play him at the 4 to hide his rim protecting flaws, or can you actually win with him as the 5?

I agree that Boozer isn't as good as people believe him to be, but his shooting projection is still pretty good for a player of his size, he's been a frequent +80% free throw shooter as an 18yo with long range here and there; he's probably more all-round skilled than most of these guys were in his age; he's big and committed enough defensively to not be a negative defender; he's a gifted passer and dominant rebounder; and has handles to actually adapt to the contemporary basketball. Perhaps not a franchise-defining player, but I don't think All-NBA projection is outside his reach/overoptimistic. I agree and I don't think he shows that much of an upside to fit into any of offensive facilitator / two-way player / dominant scorer roles (and it's much easier to project something like that to Dybantsa, Peterson, or Flagg last year) - but is he really a similar player to these power forward archetypes? The whole problem of guys like Randolph, Boozer, or Love would've been/was that they weren't capable of playing defense on perimeter/pick and roll coverage nor they were rim protectors - e.g. Love was at some point unplayable against the Warriors for this reason, you just couldn't play him neither as a power forward or center. Boozer jr, while not the quickest guy, is easily a tier better in overall mobility and strength-to-quickness ratio, he's also much more skilled than e.g. Randle was his age. The problem is - so far I haven't seen that much to actually put him on Dybantsa/Peterson tier in some long-term projection discussions, even though we need more sample size in their instances as well - but he may be a victim of relativity then, as not being on a tier of Peterson (let's say that's the case), and not being as good as some people believe, isn't something to be ashamed of when he's really very good, and I think he'll prove that he is.

[King Ken]

Boozer better than the names being mentioned. The problem is, what he is legitimately at the next level. I had him as the best player in his class but Neo and Darryn are just too good as well and both project more for the NBA than he does. Boozer might be out of the top 5 when it's all said and done and I think he's a truly special and insanely good prospect.

AJ is in his own lane. Not quite cornerstone like Wemby and Bron but he's in that tier with AD where you see them being the best in their position for at least 5 years.

Darryn is in a special tier as well. These elite floor tier. To me, his personnel around him will matter more than anything he does.

Then you got lower floor for the NBA, higher upside. That's guys like Neo, Wilson, Koa, Nate, Cenac, Mikel, and Tounde.

Cam is in the Darryn tier but he's 10x from the situation. I like Cam more than Paolo. I like him more than Chet and Jabari too. Just guys may pass him because this class is that good. I dont know who yet but it could be multiple players. Right now, it's still A.J., Peterson, and Cam Boozer.

[ezhkw8u69e]

I am not a big fan of this archetype. He’ll have to really shoot it to win me over.

[kobyz]

reminds me a lot of Draymond

[FarBeyondDriven]

he's definitely unique. He's not a super long shot blocking 4/5 like JJJ. He's not big and tall enough to be a full-time 5 like KAT, Sabonis and Jokic. He's not shifty enough to be like Randle. Just remember, he's 18 y/o. He will improve his handle, his shot and probably as a lateral athlete. I think he's going to be a little bit of KAT and Randle. Randle with less wiggle but with elite BBIQ. A lesser shooter than KAT but a better defender. He's not really in consideration for top guy off the board so not sure why people are talking about him like he's being overrated or not translatable to the NBA so early before we've seen him much in college.

[JMAC3]

I could see him being a Kevin Love type in the NBA. Smart, Productive but just not really franchise changing despite how good the boxscores look.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I could see him being a Kevin Love type in the NBA. Smart, Productive but just not really franchise changing despite how good the boxscores look.

he can actually defend though which does make him franchise changing. Kevin Love is a Hall of Famer despite not being able to defend either the perimeter or inside. He was only averaging slightly above a stock per game at his peak. If Boozer is replicating Love's offense with the Wolves (25-12) but also with adequate to good defense, that is franchise changing because he'll also be an offensive hub potentially getting 5+ assists. Love was good enough to be part of a Big Three that went to three different Finals. He had to take a backseat to Lebron but so didn't Wade and Bosh in Miami.

[King Ken]

The one thing I need to see from him is exactly what his dad was best at. PnR screening and PnR finishing. Its critical for bigs and even though its less critical for 4s than it used to be, for someone as offensively blessed as Boozer, he needs it just as bad as his dad had it.

[Braggins]

35/12/5 with 6 stocks
13/16 from the floor ~ 2/2 from 3pt

[FarBeyondDriven]

35/12/5 with 6 stocks
13/16 from the floor ~ 2/2 from 3pt

those were Larry Bird averages in college. This kid is really good.

[The Master]

he can actually defend though which does make him franchise changing. Kevin Love is a Hall of Famer despite not being able to defend either the perimeter or inside. He was only averaging slightly above a stock per game at his peak. If Boozer is replicating Love's offense with the Wolves (25-12) but also with adequate to good defense, that is franchise changing because he'll also be an offensive hub potentially getting 5+ assists. Love was good enough to be part of a Big Three that went to three different Finals. He had to take a backseat to Lebron but so didn't Wade and Bosh in Miami.

Yeah, Love had his value in an era of traditional two-big men lineup and became a problem once teams started to play smalball regularly and having a power forward shooting 3s wasn't that big of an advantage, when you could play wingmen in the same role. Now, stretch 5 is a solution but he was nowhere near being good enough as a rim protector/defender overall to play this role.

Boozer jr will be a vastly superior defender on perimeter in comparison to Love and players-alike, so I don't see these comparisons at all. He's also much more skilled than Randle was this age. The question about Boozer is his superstar ceiling, not perennial all-star 'floor' and upside. He looks like a player that will get you 25-10-5 type of boxscore in the NBA, but you can wonder if there's 'more' both offensively and defensively to find there. Can he become a more 'traditional' point forward at some point? Will he develop his shooting to become a 90 percentile or something among 4s from 3pt line with his shooting mechanics? Is there any upside for him to become something more than just a good/okay defender? These are the questions you have to realistically answer while evaluating him. But like I said, his floor is extremely high.

I am not a big fan of this archetype. He’ll have to really shoot it to win me over.

Yeah, he's a perimeter-oriented power forward, he'll have to develop his perimeter skills further. That being said, he shoots so far 5 3s a game and has been an 80% free throw shooter for years, so potential is definitely there.

[Chuck Everett]

35/12/5 with 6 stocks
13/16 from the floor ~ 2/2 from 3pt

those were Larry Bird averages in college. This kid is really good.

His productivity will get him no credit sadly. To win people over, he has to come to the NBA and do the same.

[bigboi]

35/12/5 with 6 stocks
13/16 from the floor ~ 2/2 from 3pt

those were Larry Bird averages in college. This kid is really good.

His productivity will get him no credit sadly. To win people over, he has to come to the NBA and do the same.

It’s his playing style, will say he does benefit from this era tho. The word tweener doesn’t exist anymore and plenty of players have proven that you don’t need amazing athleticism to excel in the league today

[tontoz]

35/12/5 with 6 stocks
13/16 from the floor ~ 2/2 from 3pt

those were Larry Bird averages in college. This kid is really good.

His productivity will get him no credit sadly. To win people over, he has to come to the NBA and do the same.

Or maybe he needs to do it against a college team that doesn't suck.