Hello,
Being a life long Jazz fan I had the misfortune of experiencing Carlos Boozer's bad attitude self-importance, lack of hustle and his constant injury problems. Can you see why I was so glad Chicago signed him? Carlos Boozer finally had a half decent game last night. He had 26 points, 17 rebounds and one assist. That might be his first career assist, the man is a black hole. That is when he's not scared to shoot. According to his stat line he had two blocks. I don't remember him seeing him block any shots. I do remember his shot getting blocked a few times though. For the most part so far so good, but let's look at his shooting percentage. He made 8 of 19 shots, that's not a real great shooting percentage. Of course when one has several shots blocked, it's hard to have a good shooting percentage.
But the thing that brought back the bad memories of Carlos Boozer's time in Utah is a comment he made about the Miami Heat. He referred to the Heat as the "big two", obviously referring to Lebron James and Dwayne Wade. That did two unfortunate things for the Bulls. That fired up Chris Bosh who absolutely went off in this game. Bosh was 13 for 18 and had 34 points. The second thing is if Miami is the "big two", what does that make the Bulls? They must be the "big one". You have Derrick Rose which is quite simply the man. However you can't consider Carlos Boozer a second big player as he continues to disappear. Especially in this series where he's been absolutely awful.
Out of the three former Jazzmen who play for Chicago this season, the one I miss the most is Kyle Korver. He's been pulling a disappearing act in this series too though. He's going to be how Jimmer Fredette is in the pros. He will be a player that stretches the defense, but be a liability on defense. Korver seemed to fill the scoring role for the second unit and stretching the defense role for the Jazz last season. His absence this season was noticeably missing. The Jazz signed Al Jefferson, who plays harder and with more heart than Boozer does. The Jazz missed Carlos Boozer not at all. He has four more years on his contract. It wouldn't surprise me if he's out of the league before his contract expires. His highest trade value in a couple of years will be as the expiring contract. Thanks again Chicago for taking him off the Jazz's hands.
Now lets talk about Jimmer Fredette. First of all I'd like to say I'm a big Fredette fan. It was so fun cheering for BYU this last year, when they were actually nationally relevant. Jimmer Fredette was a large percentage of the Cougars success. I'm saying thanks Jimmer for all your hard work and excellent shooting for BYU.
But now I have a request for the Utah Jazz, please don't draft Jimmer with the #12 pick. He's not going to be deserving of that pick. Again I think he'll be a Kyle Korver like pro. That's not necessarily a bad thing to be, however that's not the kind of player I want with the #12 pick. Also the Jazz already have a good shooting white guy with Gordon Hayward. That was a reach at #9 in last year's draft. I don't know enough about the college/international players to make a guess who would be good at #12.
However I'm excited about what Doug Gottlieb says. He's projecting that Kyrie Irving is going to go #1 to Cleveland. That will end up being a brilliant pick or a complete disaster. Enes Kanter #2 to Minnesota, is he going to go there and fade away like so many others? Is he going to be the next great European player like Dirk Nowitski or is he going to be another Luc Longley? Gottlieb projectss Derrick Williams going #3 to the Utah Jazz. I would love for the Jazz to get Williams there. I loved watching Williams in the NCAA Tourney, thanks again Arizona for defeating Duke. The Jazz can get rid of the injury prone Andrei Kirilenko, save money and get a better offensive player. Not a bad pick.
Speaking of which I don't doubt that Irving is a great player. But he played at Duke, not a team known for sending the best players to the pros. According to bleacherreport.com, here's their Top 5 pros of the last 30 years. This list doesn't frighten anyone. 5) Luol Deng: a good player but is only the third or fourth best player on the Bulls. 4) Corey Magette: is he still in the NBA? Mr. I've never met a shot I didn't want to shoot. 3) Carlos Boozer: more concerned about himself than his team. 2) Elton Brand, a great player but what has he really done? 1) Grant Hill, how many seasons did he miss due to injury? He's been a solid role player for the Suns though and also is a very classy gentleman. To my knowledge none of those players have ever won a NBA title. Kyrie Irving could move into the Top Five very quickly. Just one question where's Bobby Hurley?
Now let's compare Duke's Top 5 to North Carolina's Top 5. This isn't even close. 5) Rasheed Wallace: A complete misfit but he did win an NBA title. 4) Walter Davis: No NBA titles but a solid player for 15 years. 3) Vince Carter: a player that has never lived up to his potential and that doesn't seem to bother him a lot. 2) James Worthy, one of my favorite players of all-time. He had that amazing quick first step and went on to win 3 NBA titles with the Lakers. He was the NBA Finals MVP in 1988. 1) Well duh, Michael Jordan. I was never a big fan of his, but no one can deny his greatness. He won 6 championships in the NBA.
Just one question where's Pete "The Thrill" Chilcut? Okay, I just made that nickname up. He really wasn't much of a thrill was he? In fact can we say he went to Duke?
Why have Duke players been so mediocre once reaching the pros? I have no theories really. They have a great coach at Duke, Coach K. They have plenty of talent. Duke players seem to be injury prone. How many games did Irving miss his freshman season?
themusicaddict
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