Cameron Boozer

[JMAC3]

The unathletic Cameron Boozer casually broad jumping from the free-throw line to the restricted area off the dribble when driving to the basket, AND absorbing & finishing through contact:




Unathletic, though.

He's functionally stronger than Paolo and Julius Randle. Neither of them leverages their size, strength, and power as Boozer does. Neither has his combination of long strides and fluid/coordinated two-foot jumping ability. Sengun and Sabonis sort of do, but they both have much shorter legs/strides. Long strides + strength, size, and power + two-foot jumping coordination/fluidity is a deadly combination.

Cooper Flagg has a similar combination of stride length and two-foot jumping coordination/fluidity to Cam. More horsepower as a jumper, but less strength/bulk behind it.

Look at this ****.




I can't believe he's getting the tag of being so unathletic when clips like this exist. People are so focused on his vertical displacement (how high he jumps) when they should be focusing on his horizontal displacement (how far/long he jumps). He covers a really decent amount of distance on his one-foot jumps, two-foot jumps, and pivots.

It's going to be really hard to stay in front of him without fouling at the NBA level. Expect a high FTr on rolls, cuts, and drives when he can broad jump half the length of the key off the bounce, absorb and deliver physical contact, send the defender stumbling backward, and finish strong without losing balance.

The NBA is a horizontally stretched-out game these days. The larger pro-sized court, the deeper three-point line, the defensive three seconds rule, the freedom of movement rule, the more prolific three-point shooting and spacing, the fact that offensive players are allowed more physical contact than ever, the carrying of the ball, the gather step.

All of these aspects of the modern NBA benefit Cam's horizontal jumping athleticism immensely. He's not going to have to worry about going over the top of guys to score, as he'll just go through them.

I really think many are overthinking it regarding how Cameron's going to get his shot off in the paint. He's way too skilled, high IQ, strong, long-strided, and has enough reach & length to make it work. The spacing and dribbling/carrying/travelling/gather step interpretation of the modern game has changed the dynamics of how separation is created and leveraged to score.

He can shoot, handle/drive, and pass very well for his size. He finds adequate solutions against problematic matchups in college, of which there aren't many. He'll do the same in the NBA. Too many tools in his workbelt not to fix it like Bob the Builder. Just like Bird, Magic, Karl Malone, and many other similar-sized forwards in the past. And the handful of below-the-rim stars (Brunson, SGA, Jokic, Luka, Curry, Harden, Cade, Reaves, etc) carving up the NBA right now.

He'll take big, long, athletic defenders outside and stretch them with perimeter shooting and dribble drives to negate their vertical advantage. And pick apart their off-ball defense, help defense, and positioning with high-level passing powered by intelligent decision-making. The ability to handle and drive is probably the area I've slept on most, as well as others. The big wing qualities. Imagine Paolo with a brain that can shoot. Actual good shot selection, decision-making, and scoring range.

I always come back to this recent Thinking Basketball video:

"...whereas the gather step is really about ground-bound, horizontal solutions."

"The spacing of today's game has really exacerbated these gather-based moves. There's just a ton of room to play 1-on-1 driving into the paint that wasn't there in the past."

Watch on YouTube

This one too, he catches the ball wide open and gets a rim grazing two hand dunk- what a specimen lol

[BostoNZ]

I have Boozer #1 but "jumping from the free throw line to the restricted area" isn't going to sway many non-believers lol

[JMAC3]

Here is where Cam Boozer ranks among recent Duke Bigs in Dunks- obviously height and role can affect to some degree. However you also have to think Cam Boozer leads this entire list in FGA and played a larger portion of mins than most of these guys too.

Mark Williams 96 Dunks 59% of mins
Marvin Bagley 94 Dunks/75% of mins
Khaman 81 Dunks 53% of mins
Zion 72 Dunks/65% of mins
Jahlil Okafor 64 Dunks/ 73% of mins
Jabari Parker 61 Dunks/ 76% of mins
Wendell Carter 56 Dunks 66% of mins
Lively 54 Dunks/48% of mins
Mark Mitchell 50 Dunks/65% of mins
Vernon Carey 47 Dunks 61% of mins
Pat Ngonga- 42 Dunks/46% of mins
Cam Boozer- 41 Dunks/83% of mins
Paolo 41 Dunks/82% of mins
Maliq Brown 40 Dunks/50% of mins
Cooper Flagg 36 Dunks 73% of mins
Marques Bolden 34 Dunks/ 44% of mins
Filipowski 25 Dunks/76% of mins

I think Boozer definitely is below average athlete among these Duke Bigs alone, let alone a top 3 pick.

Guys like Jabari, Wendell Carter, Okafor had more vertical explosion and Vernon Carey putting up more dunks while playing 20% fewer mins is also a bit concerning.

I don't think Boozer is a bottom 10% athlete or anything but he is definitely going to be in the 25-35% in the NBA, which could hinder his star potential.

[CptCrunch]

Boozer's full shot distance chart

[FrodoBaggins]

Boozer's full shot distance chart

Nice work. Solid paint touch out to 10-12 feet.

[CptCrunch]

Don't feel like putting in other threads, here is Boozer's draft profile with rest of my top 5 - Boozer/Wagler/Peterson/Caleb/AJ in that order.

[FrodoBaggins]

The Ringer's comparison vision board for Boozer:

Players like Boozer are why the comp cloud exists. How do you give shape to a player with all-time great production while also acknowledging a play style that can seem more like an obliteration of style? You go outside the box and into the fourth dimension. Lately, I’ve really taken to the idea of Cam as the Tim Duncan of Antoine Walkers. ’Toine was immortalized by his famous because there are no 4s quip about why he attempts so many 3-pointers, but in his prime, he was a do-it-all playmaking power forward who feasted in the post with his back to the basket—too strong for most wings, too nimble and slippery for most bigs. Boozer carries an eerily similar tool kit, but he has a bigger, sturdier frame and his offensive efficiency is several orders of magnitude greater than anything ’Toine could even dream of. It might take some imagination, but replace ’Toine’s signature shimmy and hedonistic shot diet with Duncan’s patient, ascetic game and temperament, and I think you’d get fairly close to describing the Cam Boozer experience.

Some solid comparisons in there. They seem to understand that he's an old-school, offensively versatile PF who can handle, pass, post, and shoot. Body of a 4, skill set of a 3, sort of thing. That's how a commentator described Chris Webber during a '90s Washington Bullets game I watched recently.

The Tim Duncan of Antoine Walkers is interesting. I assume that can be inferred as having upgrades in cognition and intangibles, resulting in improved shot selection, general basketball IQ, awareness, decision-making, game management, tempo control, and leadership, among other things. Boozer's also a superior all-around shooter to either of them, and perhaps comparable to a young Duncan for drawing fouls.

Fun little statistical visualization:

Antoine Walker's best stretch was the six seasons from 1997-98 to 2002-03. So, the absolute peak of the Deadball Era. He averaged 21.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.5 bpg, 3.3 topg on .410% FG, .333% 3PT, .442% 2PT, .671% FT, .487% TS (94 TS+).

Looks a little like a Cameron Boozer stat line, minus the efficiency. Let's change that. Let's set his 3PT% to .370, 2PT% to .500, and FT% to .800 and see how the PPG and TS% change. And also increase his FTr to .400 for good measure.

1998-2003 Antoine: 21.4 ppg on .487% TS (94 TS+)
Adjusted version: 25.0 ppg on .558% TS (108 TS+)
Difference: +3.6 ppg, +.071% TS, +14 TS+)

[FrodoBaggins]

The unathletic Cameron Boozer casually broad jumping from the free-throw line to the restricted area off the dribble when driving to the basket, AND absorbing & finishing through contact:




Unathletic, though.

He's functionally stronger than Paolo and Julius Randle. Neither of them leverages their size, strength, and power as Boozer does. Neither has his combination of long strides and fluid/coordinated two-foot jumping ability. Sengun and Sabonis sort of do, but they both have much shorter legs/strides. Long strides + strength, size, and power + two-foot jumping coordination/fluidity is a deadly combination.

Cooper Flagg has a similar combination of stride length and two-foot jumping coordination/fluidity to Cam. More horsepower as a jumper, but less strength/bulk behind it.

Look at this ****.




I can't believe he's getting the tag of being so unathletic when clips like this exist. People are so focused on his vertical displacement (how high he jumps) when they should be focusing on his horizontal displacement (how far/long he jumps). He covers a really decent amount of distance on his one-foot jumps, two-foot jumps, and pivots.

It's going to be really hard to stay in front of him without fouling at the NBA level. Expect a high FTr on rolls, cuts, and drives when he can broad jump half the length of the key off the bounce, absorb and deliver physical contact, send the defender stumbling backward, and finish strong without losing balance.

The NBA is a horizontally stretched-out game these days. The larger pro-sized court, the deeper three-point line, the defensive three seconds rule, the freedom of movement rule, the more prolific three-point shooting and spacing, the fact that offensive players are allowed more physical contact than ever, the carrying of the ball, the gather step.

All of these aspects of the modern NBA benefit Cam's horizontal jumping athleticism immensely. He's not going to have to worry about going over the top of guys to score, as he'll just go through them.

I really think many are overthinking it regarding how Cameron's going to get his shot off in the paint. He's way too skilled, high IQ, strong, long-strided, and has enough reach & length to make it work. The spacing and dribbling/carrying/travelling/gather step interpretation of the modern game has changed the dynamics of how separation is created and leveraged to score.

He can shoot, handle/drive, and pass very well for his size. He finds adequate solutions against problematic matchups in college, of which there aren't many. He'll do the same in the NBA. Too many tools in his workbelt not to fix it like Bob the Builder. Just like Bird, Magic, Karl Malone, and many other similar-sized forwards in the past. And the handful of below-the-rim stars (Brunson, SGA, Jokic, Luka, Curry, Harden, Cade, Reaves, etc) carving up the NBA right now.

He'll take big, long, athletic defenders outside and stretch them with perimeter shooting and dribble drives to negate their vertical advantage. And pick apart their off-ball defense, help defense, and positioning with high-level passing powered by intelligent decision-making. The ability to handle and drive is probably the area I've slept on most, as well as others. The big wing qualities. Imagine Paolo with a brain that can shoot. Actual good shot selection, decision-making, and scoring range.

I always come back to this recent Thinking Basketball video:

"...whereas the gather step is really about ground-bound, horizontal solutions."

"The spacing of today's game has really exacerbated these gather-based moves. There's just a ton of room to play 1-on-1 driving into the paint that wasn't there in the past."

Watch on YouTube

Another example of Cameron's impressive two-foot horizontal displacement:



He takes off from just inside the free-throw line:



And lands with his front foot in the restricted area:



Slightly moves the front foot, but that's not getting called. He can perform a step-through off that lead leg if he wants to. All the way to the rim from the top of the key off one jump stop. He's going to be really tough to stop from getting inside.

[FrodoBaggins]

https://theswishtheory.com/analysis/2026/04/cameron-boozer-dukes-generational-dancing-bear/

Carlos Boozer calls his son, Cameron Boozer, a “modern-day version” of Tim Duncan, via Marc Spears:

“You look at what Tim Duncan did. I’m not comparing Cameron to Tim Duncan, but he was another guy that wasn’t [athletically] a Kevin Garnett or a Tracy McGrady or a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal. But you know what he did? He won five championships in that era [against] those players — the Kobes and the Shaqs, because of his IQ, because of his skill set, and because his team would follow him… That is who Cameron is. He’s a modern-day version of that… So. if you want to win, you pick Cameron.” – Carlos Boozer

One popular comp for Boozer has been Kevin Love, and for good reason; while the mobility of these two players and play-styles on the ball are quite different, there are a handful of outlier elite attributes in outlet passing, rebounding, three-point shooting, post-up prowess and an impressively high BPM impact rating that make the stretch-four prospect comparisons easy to make. Love was an even better rebounder in college than Cam, but was slightly less efficient as a scorer and was 4 percentage points worse as a 3pt shooter. One big difference, though, is Boozer’s playmaking talent being on another level (25% AST/14% TOV%) compared to Love’s score-first style (14% AST%/15% TOV%)

Love was a big time prospect in his own right as a next-level scorer, shooter, rebounder, play-finisher and all-time outlet passer. Boozer’s ability to do those things similarly well while combining that scoring gravity with his handle, vision, and two-way feel takes his game to another level, allowing him to make quick decisions, create advantages for teammates and generate good shots for his team consistently, is what takes his potential superstardom to an even higher level of a scoring creator than Love.
One huge skill separating these two prospects here is Boozer’s handle, refined enough to help him self-create so many of these opportunities without needing a teammate to create the advantage first, which is uncommon for a big man. That handle, with the added team-focused playmaking, creates a floor-stretching downhill scoring creator with offensive engine gravity.

Another popular comparison brings up aesthetic similarities to the Magic’s Paolo Banchero and peak Pistons Blake Griffin in things like role malleability, scoring versatility, short-roll and postup playmaking, downhill play-finishing, and free-throw drawing as a powerful dunking 6’9”+ 250lb tank who can operate both ends of a pick-and-roll. As far as the hype machine bringing up names like Tim Duncan and Nikola Jokic, it’s for glimpses of similarities in fundamental footwork, strong screening, team-first connective play, and general understanding of the game as old-school offensive hubs, like Duncan sleepwalking to 20-10-3-3 statlines and Jokic splashing otherworldly tough shots and diming unthinkable passes from nearly any spot on the floor.

None of these are one-to-one comps; just all-time great prospects and players with comparable roles, playstyles, and archetypes who Boozer can build off to impact the game in similar ways to the stars who walked before him, like an artist mastering their craft by studying the classic works of old before mixing up what they learned into something new.

Any franchise painting on an empty canvas should give Boozer the paintbrush and get out of the way.

Synergy Playtypes:

Excellent or very good all-around scorer in most situations:



Excellent, Versatile Scoring Profile:



Boozer quite literally scored 1.0-1.5 PPP in every playtype other than off screens and handoffs, thriving in Post Ups (1.1 PPP), Spot Ups (1.3), Transition (1.4), ISO (1.0), Put Backs (1.4), and Cuts (1.5).

For comparison, AJ Dybantsa scored 0.88 PPP in ISO, in the 58th percentile, and 1.0 on Spot Ups, the 64th percentile, and 0.77 PPP as P&R Roll-Man, 14th percentile. Dybantsa thrived as P&R Ball-Handler, Transition, Post Ups, and Put Backs, but still scored less efficiently than Boozer in all those playtypes, except for his Put Back Rate.

Just to further highlight his scoring versatility, Boozer scored 1.3 PPP as the Roll-Man in P&R on 60 poss, and scored over 1.0 PPP on 63 poss as the P&R Ball-Handler. Breaking that up into pops vs rolls: 31 times he pick-and-popped for 1.3 PPP; 25 times he pick-and-rolled for 1.4 PPP; 4 times he slipped the pick for 1.5 PPP.

Are you picking up on the absurdly efficient scoring in nearly every playtype in nearly every situation on and off the ball?

Other than handoffs, off screen, and less scripted plays that don’t involve his patented putbacks, he’s rated in Top-20 percentile in all 8 other playtypes recorded by Synergy.

Offensive Engine Indicators – Team Shot Creation via Boozer’s Scoring + Playmaking in ISO, Postup, P&R Ball-Handler

Efficient shot creation including passes shows the decision making and execution ability of a primary ball-handler, which could be one of the sports’ few measures reflecting a player’s feel for the game.

Boozer scored 1.0 PPP on Drives for Duke; he preferred to drive left, averaging 1.1 PPP on 67 left-side drives compared to 0.9 PPP on right-side drives.

When including passes as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, Boozer’s shot creation for his team becomes even more efficient at 1.08 PPP on 128 possessions, staying at 1.1 PPP on another 72 possessions where the defense “commits” to him as a P&R ball-handler.

Compared to Dybantsa, AJ created 0.93 PPP on 356 possessions as P&R Ball-Handler including passes, a roughly 0.15 PPP worse than Boozer’s 1.08 PPP.

Cam’s ISO PPP, including passes to teammates, rises slightly above 1.0 in efficiency; Dybantsa’s rises to 0.9 PPP.

Boozer encourages defenses to double him in the post; when including passes on postups, Boozer creates 1.1 PPP on 241 poss (84th percentile); he creates just under 1.0 PPP on 121 postups where defense “commits”, and he creates 1.1 PPP on 91 postups where defense sends a hard “double” (85th).

Dybantsa does well out of the post, creating 1.2 PPP on 128 possessions for his team, a slightly better mark than Boozer on half the volume.

Boozer’s scoring creation indicators are so promising, he could take being a versatile efficient offensive hub to a full blown ‘offensive engine’ level for a franchise if his skillset is maximized for its quick processing efficient shot creation.

All in all, these efficiencies across every play type as both a scorer and team-first shot creator show how malleable Boozer’s game can be at any level, thanks to his efficient shooting versatility and high-feel decision-making.

[Eatgreenz]

Seeing what CMB is doing. I have no worries of Boozer translating.

[Marvin Martian]

Seeing what CMB is doing. I have no worries of Boozer translating.

CMB is impactful and able to play bigger than his size because of his defense, athleticism, and rebounding. Boozer got the last part down, but not the defense and athleticism.

Comparing college numbers, CMB has a way better stock rate than Boozer. They are nowhere near similar

[Eatgreenz]

Seeing what CMB is doing. I have no worries of Boozer translating.

CMB is impactful and able to play bigger than his size because of his defense, athleticism, and rebounding. Boozer got the last part down, but not the defense and athleticism.

Comparing college numbers, CMB has a way better stock rate than Boozer. They are nowhere near similar

I say this because undersized big with no jumpshot in CMB is not struggling to play playoff bball. Don't see why Booz would with an even better skillset.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Seeing what CMB is doing. I have no worries of Boozer translating.

CMB is impactful and able to play bigger than his size because of his defense, athleticism, and rebounding. Boozer got the last part down, but not the defense and athleticism.

Comparing college numbers, CMB has a way better stock rate than Boozer. They are nowhere near similar

I say this because undersized big with no jumpshot in CMB is not struggling to play playoff bball. Don't see why Booz would with an even better skillset.

The reason would be that CMB can guard multiple positions at a high level.

[Cammo101]

I have no doubt this board will be arguing about Boozer for the next 5 years.

[Marvin Martian]

I have no doubt this board will be arguing about Boozer for the next 5 years.

And rightfully so when box score watchers and analytics are painting him as a generational prospect on the same tier as AD, Flagg, Zion etc when he likely won't even go number #1 in his own draft class.

If he becomes anything less than perennial All-NBA, a lot of these draft models will need to be scraped

[Cammo101]

I have no doubt this board will be arguing about Boozer for the next 5 years.

And rightfully so when box score watchers and analytics are painting him as a generational prospect on the same tier as AD, Flagg, Zion etc when he likely won't even go number #1 in his own draft class.

If he becomes anything less than perennial All-NBA, a lot of these draft models will need to be scraped

Analytics can only take you part of the way. The eye test still matters.

[ReggiesKnicks]

If he becomes anything less than perennial All-NBA, a lot of these draft models will need to be scraped

Huh?

That's...not how this works.

Do you understand how outliers work? Do you understand how models work?

Models are never 100% correct. They in fact are designed to not be 100% correct.

The point of a statistical model is it lets us predict within a certain confidence interval what a player could theoretically project as and helps paint a baseline picture of what a player could be. There are still outliers and there will always be outliers in statistics.

This doesn't mean we scrap the model. We should instead scrap the people who don't understand the models while refusing to learn how the models function.

[tmorgan]

I’m seeing a lot of new discussion here. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I feel like a lot of Boozer’s critics feel the same way I do.

I’m not worried much about his offense. There will be some matchups that are tougher for him, particularly guys with enough strength and mobility to not get bullied and stay in front well enough to allow the help defense to mess Cam up. For the most part though, I think Boozer will be an overall plus on offense, as his diverse mix of bully ball, passing, foul drawing, and a good set shot should keep defenders on their heels.

It’s the defense that worries me. The constant blow-bys at the college level. He’ll probably play fundamentally sound D, but it sure seems like a lot of guys will shoot over him or just go around him. He certainly can’t play any real minutes at center. The only real strength on that end will be rebounding.

Still my 4th or 5th pick, depending on how Wagler tests and the team picking’s needs. Almost zero bust potential is great, but you gotta go for ceiling in the top 5, don’t you?

[Cammo101]

I’m seeing a lot of new discussion here. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I feel like a lot of Boozer’s critics feel the same way I do.

I’m not worried much about his offense. There will be some matchups that are tougher for him, particularly guys with enough strength and mobility to not get bullied and stay in front well enough to allow the help defense to mess Cam up. For the most part though, I think Boozer will be an overall plus on offense, as his diverse mix of bully ball, passing, foul drawing, and a good set shot should keep defenders on their heels.

It’s the defense that worries me. The constant blow-bys at the college level. He’ll probably play fundamentally sound D, but it sure seems like a lot of guys will shoot over him or just go around him. He certainly can’t play any real minutes at center. The only real strength on that end will be rebounding.

Still my 4th or 5th pick, depending on how Wagler tests and the team picking’s needs. Almost zero bust potential is great, but you gotta go for ceiling in the top 5, don’t you?

I've been critical of Boozer's upside, but I am running the card in for him at pick 4.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Turns out Boozer is the same size and even better athlete than both Sabonis and Sengun are. He's without a doubt the better offensive player than they are by a lot. His defense can't be any worse. I'm now convinced that he's going to be capable of playing 3-5 depending on the lineup making him one of the most unique and versatile bigs in the league. He's an elite prospect in today's NBA. I see virtually no scenario where he isn't a multiple time all-star and he's probably going to make all-nba several times. He can fit anywhere but in particular I think he'd be perfect for the Wizards and Bulls.