Boozer becoming a star

[dukelifer]

Brand did it last year- now Boozer is leading his team to the second round. In the NBA, you can become a star if you have big numbers and big games. Yesterday, Carlos had 35 pts and 14 rebounds. That is the most points and rebounds by a winning player in a non-overtime, on the road game 7 in NBA history (according to ESPN). If you have not seen Boozer lately- he is morphing into Karl Malone. He has a big upper body and has a sweet jumper that seems to always go in. But even with skills- an NBA player is defined by what he does in the post season when the pressure is on. Boozer passed his first big test. Let's see if he can be the first and only player in the K era to be the star of his team and get to the conference finals by beating the Warriors.

[Indoor66]

Boozer IS a Star... after his performance this past season & in the playoffs. No Doubt!

[kydevil]

When Houston was surging in the first half Booz had 2 big dunks that really killed their momentum. turning into a clutch player eh?

[Cameron]

I couldn't be happier for Carlos. Although he was certainly a star in college, he always took somewhat of a backseat to guys like Shane, Jason, and Mike. Carlos, had he been selfish, could easily have demanded the ball more, because, quite frankly, he could have put up much bigger offensive numbers than what he did. But, that's not the type of player he was. He's getting everything he deserves right now.

Keep making Duke Nation proud...

[dukie8]

Brand did it last year- now Boozer is leading his team to the second round. In the NBA, you can become a star if you have big numbers and big games. Yesterday, Carlos had 35 pts and 14 rebounds. That is the most points and rebounds by a winning player in a non-overtime, on the road game 7 in NBA history (according to ESPN). If you have not seen Boozer lately- he is morphing into Karl Malone. He has a big upper body and has a sweet jumper that seems to always go in. But even with skills- an NBA player is defined by what he does in the post season when the pressure is on. Boozer passed his first big test. Let's see if he can be the first and only player in the K era to be the star of his team and get to the conference finals by beating the Warriors.

so who is the best blue devil in the nba right now? boozer, brand or g hill? and k can't develop any nba talent...

[Jim3k]

so who is the best blue devil in the nba right now? boozer, brand or g hill? and k can't develop any nba talent...

Not Grant, as much as I (we) love him. And perhaps not the two others, Boozer or Brand, though they are serious talents. I think a legit argument can be made in favor of Luol Deng. He's become a do-everything guy for da Bulls.

Even so, I think the jury's out on the question. Brand is out because his team never made it to the playoffs. The other two-- Deng and Boozer-- ...Well let's wait a few games and we'll have the answer.

[phaedrus]

luol's had a very good season and is having an even better playoffs, but boozer is clearly more important to the jazz than deng is to the bulls. he is the centerpiece of their offense, as well as being one of the league's best rebounders. deng is still improving, of course, but right now only one of the two is a 2nd or 3rd team all-nbaer.

of course, what will really define boozer right now is a matchup with tim duncan in the conference finals.

[rsvman]

What do you think it will take before we can finally put a fork in the notion that ex-Duke players make lousy professionals?

Right now you've got Deng and Duhon, both doing quite well with the Bulls; Boozer becoming a bona fide star; Brand in the bigtime for several years; Hill a long-time star; Battier doing everything right; Magette putting up pretty big numbers; etc.

When does it become enough? When do even sports announcers have to admit that playing basketball at Duke does not automatically doom you to professional mediocrity?

[dukelifer]

What do you think it will take before we can finally put a fork in the notion that ex-Duke players make lousy professionals?

Right now you've got Deng and Duhon, both doing quite well with the Bulls; Boozer becoming a bona fide star; Brand in the bigtime for several years; Hill a long-time star; Battier doing everything right; Magette putting up pretty big numbers; etc.

When does it become enough? When do even sports announcers have to admit that playing basketball at Duke does not automatically doom you to professional mediocrity?

One knock on Duke is that is does not have a NBA Hall of Famer yet- or no championship with a Duke player as a starter. The hope is that will change soon.

[Cameron]

One knock on Duke is that is does not have a NBA Hall of Famer yet

Gene Banks was inducted as an Asphalt Legend in SLAM Magazine's 2003 edition of "Streetball." Does that count?

[Troublemaker]

What do you think it will take before we can finally put a fork in the notion that ex-Duke players make lousy professionals?

Right now you've got Deng and Duhon, both doing quite well with the Bulls; Boozer becoming a bona fide star; Brand in the bigtime for several years; Hill a long-time star; Battier doing everything right; Magette putting up pretty big numbers; etc.

When does it become enough? When do even sports announcers have to admit that playing basketball at Duke does not automatically doom you to professional mediocrity?

Well, we should probably stop couching our arguments in terms of "Hey look, we don't suck at developing pros, why don't you admit that" and start pointing out that Duke probably has the best group of pros in the league right now. Basically, I don't think you're going far enough in your complaints. It's not that we don't suck, it's that we're the best or one of the best.

[Troublemaker]

of course, what will really define boozer right now is a matchup with tim duncan in the conference finals.

Which Boozer would lose handily. Duncan's got too much size, talent, and experience for any PF to deal with. Boozer is a top-15 player in the league right now, and that will still be true even if loses a hypothetical playoff matchup between him and Duncan. (I also think Golden St is going to take care of Utah in 5 or 6 games).

[_Gary]

I also think Golden St is going to take care of Utah in 5 or 6 games.

I don't know. I've got a feeling GS shot all their bullets in the 1st round. I'm actually thinking Utah in 5. Tonight will be the big test. If GS is going to win this series, I think they have to win this first game.

Gary

[Classof06]

Well, we should probably stop couching our arguments in terms of "Hey look, we don't suck at developing pros, why don't you admit that" and start pointing out that Duke probably has the best group of pros in the league right now. Basically, I don't think you're going far enough in your complaints. It's not that we don't suck, it's that we're the best or one of the best.

Agreed. It's no longer that we're not as bad as people think, it's that Duke has one of the best groups of NBA alumni out of any school, period. Boozer and Brand are all-stars, Luol is next, and Battier, Duhon, and Maggette have all found their niche in the league. It's only a matter of time (when ORL gets a competent coach) before JJ finds his role as well.

[Troublemaker]

I don't know. I've got a feeling GS shot all their bullets in the 1st round. I'm actually thinking Utah in 5. Tonight will be the big test. If GS is going to win this series, I think they have to win this first game.

Gary

I think the Warriors showed that they have enough resiliency in bouncing back from the Game 5 collapse at Dallas to close out the Mavs in a blowout in Game 6 that a Game 1 loss to Utah shouldn't faze them. I don't think Golden State is worn out or a fluke so they should have plenty of bullets left to shoot. It's just a matter of staying healthy. If the Warriors are healthy, Utah will have lots of trouble guarding them, and while the same should be true on the other end with Boozer, I have a feeling the refs are going to allow Golden State to be very physical with Boozer and Don Nelson will probably use a zone to collapse inside. I don't know if Utah can hurt the zone enough to loosen things up for Boozer.

[unwrinkled ear]

Boozer IS a Star... after his performance this past season & in the playoffs. No Doubt!

Indeed! I had a miniature debate with myself before the Houston series about who to root for (Battier/ Houston or Boozer/ Jazz) and it was answered swiftly: Utah.
Why?
Because Boozer is the only former Duke player who is the star of an NBA team.
(Brand has certainly shouldered that a little bit, but he has had other great folks around him. Boozer stands out because he is THE go-to guy)

[phaedrus]

Which Boozer would lose handily. Duncan's got too much size, talent, and experience for any PF to deal with.

not a chance, Troublemaker. every duke big man has known TD's secret since ~1997 - he's SOFT.

[_Gary]

I don't think Golden State is worn out or a fluke so they should have plenty of bullets left to shoot.

I'll make no bones about my bias in this series. I can't stand GS and would be rooting for Utah regardless of whether Boozer was on the team or not. Although it's certainly an added bonus to have another Dukie playing in the second round and I hope he continues to shine. But I dislike GS with a passion. Between Richardson, Davis, Pietrus and Jackson the Warriors have a team of players that I enjoy rooting against. So my prediction of an easy Utah win is probably based more on what I want to happen than what I think will happen.

Gary

[thebur]

Not Grant, as much as I (we) love him. And perhaps not the two others, Boozer or Brand, though they are serious talents. I think a legit argument can be made in favor of Luol Deng. He's become a do-everything guy for da Bulls.

Even so, I think the jury's out on the question. Brand is out because his team never made it to the playoffs. The other two-- Deng and Boozer-- ...Well let's wait a few games and we'll have the answer.

Just so we don't slander our guys on our own board, Brand AND Maggette both went to the playoffs last year after posting a 47-35 regular season record, and earning home court against the Denver Nuggets, whom they defeated in 5 games. They lost to Phoenix in a nail biter of a Western Conference Semifinal that went to 7. It was probably one of the most fun playoff series before the finals last season, if you could stay up to the wee hours of the morning 3 nights a week!

GO CLIPS! Duke West! (Sort of)

[Clipsfan]

Not Grant, as much as I (we) love him. And perhaps not the two others, Boozer or Brand, though they are serious talents. I think a legit argument can be made in favor of Luol Deng. He's become a do-everything guy for da Bulls.

Even so, I think the jury's out on the question. Brand is out because his team never made it to the playoffs. The other two-- Deng and Boozer-- ...Well let's wait a few games and we'll have the answer.

I don't think the question can be answered by how the overall team did. I doubt that anyone would say that Okur is better than Garnett, although Okur's team is in the playoffs while Garnett's wasn't. As well as Boozer is currently playing, he had a really good matchup against the rockets (Yao is just too slow to guard him). He's a great player, but I'd pick Brand to be on my team before I'd pick him. In my opinion, Brand is the best Duke player in the league right now. It's great that there are other guys who can be considered, though!

Deng is good, but he will get better. If we revisit this in a couple years, the answer could easily be him.

[dukemsu]

If Utah and SA hook up, I actually think Duncan's in for a tough time. Carlos is the physical sort of player who can get into Tim's chest and frustrate him. Duncan does not like physical play, and can be goaded into worrying more about the officials than the guy he's playing.

That said, Duncan looks a lot better than he did at this time last year. Conversely, if Carlos goes up against Stoudamire, I think Amare would give him fits over a 7 game series because he matches or exceeds Carlos' strength.

dukemsu

[Sir Stealth]

Watching Boozer consistently get clutch offensive rebounds in traffic just makes me think of him getting tackled at the buzzer in 2002. I'll probably never get over that one...

[RepoMan]

Word. Everytime I seem him snag an o-rebound and score on a putback, I punch myself.

[thebur]

Word. Everytime I seem him snag an o-rebound and score on a putback, I punch myself.


Don't let my last thoughts of the day be about that Indiana game! My wife couldn't believe how pissed I was, and as we were getting gas in Takoma Park it began to snow. That prompted this loud exchange between me, God, and a Foot Locker employee in his referee shirt at the pump next to me:

GOD begins conversation with snow in late march.

ME (to God and world): you see that, that's it, hell is freezing over. you have finally done it.

I then see Foot Locker Employee-

ME: Hey your boys in stripes really blew it for my Devils tonight. Carlos got FOULED at the buzzer.

SLIGHTLY SCARED FOOT LOCKER EMPLOYEE: Sorry dude.

[DavidBenAkiva]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

[JasonEvans]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

You know, it was about a year ago that the Jazz management were wondering if they had made a bad move signing 'Los and were supposedly thinking of trading him.

Now he is likely one of the 10-or-so best players in the NBA. They seem to be happy with him now, eh?

-Jason "the playoffs are Carlos' coming out party!" Evans

[phaedrus]

More love for Boozer:

ESPN's poll on the main page is "Who is the best player left in the NBA playoffs?" And the poosible selections? Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Tim Duncan, Lebron James, Steve Nash.

That's just such a compliment to be mentioned alongside two former MVP's. Boozer, of course, was last nationwide, but the state of Utah had him first!

wonder where ohio put him?

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

I would love for Carlos to have great games and the Jazz lose. Sorry, I am a long suffering Warriors fan. I am enjoying this ride. For once, it seems, I am not rooting for the favorite and if my team loses big time sadness won't come into play. Now it is like, GO WARRIORS, and if they lose, well, they were not supposed to be there anyway.

GO DUKE!

[rthomas]

Games like the one last night might bring me back to the NBA. Damn, that was an excellent game. And the drama of Derek Fisher coming into the stadium in the second half and hitting a big three in OT. Wow!

Once again, Boozer was great, had 30 points and 13 rebounds.

[dukelifer]

Games like the one last night might bring me back to the NBA. Damn, that was an excellent game. And the drama of Derek Fisher coming into the stadium in the second half and hitting a big three in OT. Wow!

Once again, Boozer was great, had 30 points and 13 rebounds.

I agree. NBA ball is about as boring as it gets in the regular season but it is a different game in the playoffs- very exciting when you get two evenly matched teams. Makes you wonder if they should simply play a whole season of playoff games or an Olympic type tourney and see who survives. Players only get paid for how long they play. That would put a different spin on the game.

[bird]

I don't watch the NBA, but I checked into the game and got hooked. The combination of the energized crowd, the obvious desire of the players, and the players making key plays (with a minimum of bone headed moves) made for compelling stuff.

[dukeENG2003]

makes me wonder if the regular season is just too long.

When these guys care about it, and play their hardest though, its clear that they are the best basketball players in the world. Talk about the US's recent failures in international ball all you want, but they are. I really would like to see what would happen if we simply sent the Detroit Pistons (minus Carlos Delfino obv) to the olympics.

[Uncle Drew]

A couple years back most of the media was blasting Boozer for jumping ship to Utah instead of staying with the Cavs. (Quite honestly I thought he was insane to leave a Lebron James led team) Then he got injurred and the Jazz were wondering if the so called Duke jinx had hit them by paying a player so much to be on the injurred reserve list. Seeing how Boozer played much of last year, all of this year and in the playoffs has been awesome. I'd have a hard time picking a bigger "beast" right now between Brand and Boozer. Now raise your hand if after the 2002 NBA draft you thought Boozer would end up being the best player out of J. Williams, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Carlos. How many NBA teams are kicking themselves right now for letting him slip to the second round?

[ikiru36]

Hi,

I would love for Carlos to have great games and the Jazz lose. Sorry, I am a long suffering Warriors fan. I am enjoying this ride. For once, it seems, I am not rooting for the favorite and if my team loses big time sadness won't come into play. Now it is like, GO WARRIORS, and if they lose, well, they were not supposed to be there anyway.

GO DUKE!

This is exactly how I feel as well, though I was rooting a bit harder against the Jazz last night with the whole arena wearing that foul color! I'll be there tomorrow night in my "We Believe" shirt, but will continue to secretly be rooting for Carlos, so long as the Warriors are otherwise playing well.

It was fun in the last round rooting against the Mavs, but hating on Stackhouse in particular. This is my first time getting into pro hoops (I, for whatever reason, began attending Warriors games with about a month left in the season and lucked into a fun ride! I'm not a total poseur however, as I've loosely followed the Warriors, from afar, since my Bay Area HS days watching Manute Bol hoist 3's)

[of course, it doesn't hurt that with the money made (through the Warriors own site so somehow not scalping?) off selling tickets to the two playoff games I've been unable to attend, I've already almost halfway paid for season tickets all next year!]

Go Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dukeENG2003]

Just so we don't slander our guys on our own board, Brand AND Maggette both went to the playoffs last year after posting a 47-35 regular season record, and earning home court against the Denver Nuggets, whom they defeated in 5 games. They lost to Phoenix in a nail biter of a Western Conference Semifinal that went to 7. It was probably one of the most fun playoff series before the finals last season, if you could stay up to the wee hours of the morning 3 nights a week!

GO CLIPS! Duke West! (Sort of)

Yeah, that was the best series of the playoffs last year IMO an absolute blast to watch.

[VaDukie]

It seems NBA media types are going out of their way to keep Blue Devils from getting the recognition they deserve. Boozer did not make an All-NBA team, coming in behind Chris Bosh.

Boozer
20.9 ppg
11.7 rpg
56% FG
PER rating 24.11

Bosh
22.6 ppg
10.7 rpg
50% FG
PER rating 22.72


While the stats are fairly even, consider that Booze put them up in the West (where the Jazz won 51 games), while Bosh (47) did it in the much less competitive East. Additionally, Boozer was one of only three players (Brand and Amare being the others) that averaged in the top 20 in points, rebounds, and FG%.

Unless the media from Toronto, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Cleveland all got disproportionate voting weight, I don't understand how this happened.

[phaedrus]

bosh should be on there. i think dwight howard and melo are the only ones that could have been left off instead of boozer, and judging by the votes, the voters felt the same way:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/nba/05/10/all.nba.ap/index.html

boozer actually got more votes than dwight, but they had to put in a third center. the lack of real centers is really what hurt him, honestly. they should just have 3 forward spots - there are only like 4 real centers in the nba these days anyway. is duncan any less of a center than stoudemire? i think bosh plays a good amount of center as well.

edit: along the same lines, it's hard to argue for stoudemire or yao (who only played 48 games) over boozer as well.

[Classof06]

If I'm not mistaken, Boozer did miss a substantial portion of the season due to injury. That might explain it.

[JBDuke]

If I'm not mistaken, Boozer did miss a substantial portion of the season due to injury. That might explain it.

I don't know if you call it substantial or not, but Carlos missed all of eight games - less than 10% of the regular season.

[EarlJam]

Man, this quote is very simple and seemingly obvious in it's points, but to hear any NBAer, especially a former Duke guy talking "we" instead of "I" - well, it's just cool. Boozer, I love you.

"The great thing about that is if you got two guys on one person, simple basketball will tell you that somebody is open," Boozer said. "We do a good job of getting the ball to the guy who is open. It doesn't matter who scores, as long as we score."

-EarlJam - who believes if the right call was made in the Indiana game (foul on Boozer in the end) then Duke would have gone back-to-back again.

[VaDukie]

everytime I hear the Duke gets all the calls line, I have a flashback to the hack on Boozer at the end of that game.

[thebur]

Yeah Carlos did not miss much time, I kept track thoroughly as I had him in my "Duke NBA Fantasy Team" along with Brand, Battier, Duhon, Deng, and Corey Maggette. (I was in a league with all carolina guys and moved all the Dukies up 5-10 spots in the autodraft order knowing they would move them down... it was genius)

I paid more attention to fantasy basketball this year than I have since college. I sincerely encourage you to find a bunch of Carolina fans and do this, the taunting was great as my team of Royal Blue trounced them. I only ended up coming in third, but I made sure they knew that the rookie in their league with all the Duke guys was one of the best two teams in the league when my guys were healthy!

[darthur]

I'm from Toronto so I may be biased, but I think Bosh's place on the all-NBA teams was very safe. He is clearly the best player on a team that went from 27-55 last year to 47-35 this year. How does he not make it?

IMO, the biggest obstacle facing Boozer is that he is not head and shoulders above some of his teammates. Kirilenko, Okur and Williams are all studs. Boozer is the best of the group I think, but it is taking people a while to realize this.

The most surprising thing on that list for me is Stoudemire on the first team. Seems like a combination of the center/PF imbalance, and sympathy votes because he is coming back from major surgery. He's good, but he's not that good.

[VaDukie]

Sir Charles on Boozer

"Boozer might have been, probably been the best player in the playoffs thus far"

Outside of Barkley's grammar issues, I think it's incredibly high praise for what he's done. I love how with Boozer emeregence the line has changed from 'Devils don't turn out in the NBA' to 'they should turn out more players considering who they recruit'.

[heyman25]

He has been off the charts in his playoff performance.

[DukieUGA]

Deng tore it up last night against the Pistons too. Unfortunately the Clippers totally fell apart down the stretch, robbing us of the chance to see Brand and Maggette play. They have also torn apart the old line that "Duke doesn't produce good NBA players". While Dunleavy is a fair bit short of being a star, he has produced fairly well in his NBA tenure. Duhon is a quality point guard with a Derek Fisher type potential, steady and even-headed, though his shot has yet to get consistent enough to be a star. Dahntay Jones really improved his play this year with more playing time, he showed he can be a legit scoring option which augments his already strong defensive reputation. Shelden had a solid if not spectacular rookie year, he was undermined by some inconsistency there in the middle of the year, but turned it on late. I think the same can be said for JJ. D-Ew-drop saw serious reduction in his productivity this year overall, but on occasion showed flashes of potential, he might just need a new place to play. Grant had a quality, veteran type year on a young team, i hope it's not his last. Hopefully Shav can rebound (pun alert) from his nasty injury last year and get on the court again. I really hope that Jason Williams gets another shot to play, there have got to be guys in the NBA who are not better than J-Will at the guard spot. At any rate, Boozer has been amazing all year, and only displaying that even more now. And he never gets involved in negative publicity, like fighting, super-whining or trash-talking to the media etc. He seems to be a class act.

[cape cod]

Mr. President Battier, the consumate team player and winner.

[cspan37421]

Boozer is a stud. Soon folks will ask, "who held Carlos Boozer to under 20 pts per game in college? A: Coach K.

The only time I saw Boozer in the news for off-the-court stuff was when some celebrity (was it Prince?) trashed or remodeled (without permission) his house while renting it.

Very sorry for Jason Williams. He has maintained a very positive attitude but it is sad we'll never know how great of an NBA player he could have been. We do know he was a great college player, and no one can take that from him. He did make a remarkable comeback from a very extensive set of injuries - a testament to modern science and his determination to recover. But last I heard he was cut by an NBA D-league team, so I think he's not all the way back and may never get there.

By the way, what happened to the guy who hit Bobby Hurley? Not Hurley's fault but if he had his seatbelt on, he might not have been hurt so badly.

[pigs2k1]

Anyone remember the 2002 DBR mock draft? Did anyone archive the results? Just wondering who was the clairvoyant fantasy GM on the board that ended up stealing Boozer.

(OK, it was me, I picked him at #19, I think, with Orlando's pick. Personally, I thought he was a bit of steal at 19)

[gus]

By the way, what happened to the guy who hit Bobby Hurley? Not Hurley's fault but if he had his seatbelt on, he might not have been hurt so badly.

He was convicted (in a 2nd trial) of misdemeanor reckless driving. He was apparently not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I don't know what his sentence was, but the max would have been 6 months in jail. I doubt he served that. It's pretty easy to find his name, but Hurley, even then, wanted to put the incident behind him and didn't want to testify. I imagine the driver does too. It's a shame that Bobby's career was cut short like that by an accident, but it was an accident. Both people involved made poor decisions, but hopefully both have moved on with their lives.

[pamtar]

Saw a stat on TV yesterday that said Boozer and Brand are 2 of only 3 players in the top 20 for ppg, rpg, and blocks per game. Pretty impresive. Shows how well rounded NBA Dukies are.

[thebur]

Saw a stat on TV yesterday that said Boozer and Brand are 2 of only 3 players in the top 20 for ppg, rpg, and blocks per game. Pretty impresive. Shows how well rounded NBA Dukies are.


I think the stat that you saw was that Brand, Boozer, and Stoudamire were the only three players that were in the top 20 in PPG, RPG, and FG%. Neither Amare or Los were in the top 20 in BPG. Amare was 23, Boozer was not in top 50.

[juise]

Los was on PTI's "Five Good Minutes" yesterday. The interview comes about 10 minutes into this MP3 (http://podloc.andomedia.com/dloadTrack.mp3?prm=1644xhttp://espn-mp3-od.andomedia.com/espnpod2/espnradio/pti/pti070518.mp3).