SB Nation - Carlos Boozer

Boston Sports On TV, Dec. 11: Knicks, Nets square off with Boston teams idle

Rodger Sherman — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:24:01 -0000

Boston sports fans have some time to soak in the New England Patriots' completely dominant win over the Houston Texans Monday night, as all Boston sports teams are inactive. There's other stuff on TV, notably a pair of intriguing NBA games, but it features out-of-town squads:

NBA: New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets, 7 p.m., ESPN: The NBA's newest crosstown rivalry has turned out to be a relevant one, as both squads are above the Celtics in the Atlantic Division standings. The Knicks are tops in the East at 15-5 with a pair of commanding wins over the Miami Heat, but they dropped their only matchup with the Nets thus far, a 96-89 overtime affair where both sides clanged away and the Knicks fell short, despite 35 from Carmelo Anthony and 28 on only 13 shots from Tyson Chandler. Brook Lopez, who led the Nets in scoring that night, is out for Brooklyn, and they've lost four straight without him.

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Chicago Bulls, 9:30 p.m., ESPN: The Clippers have won six straight, and its more than just ridiculous finishes on Chris Paul passes by Blake Griffin, although there's plenty of that. They're solid on defense and Jamal Crawford is having one of his best years, averaging 17.9 points on near career-best shooting from the field. The Bulls have also won three straight and are managing to stay afloat even without Derrick Rose, thanks to Luol Deng's scoring and Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah in the frontcourt.

Elsewhere:

College basketball: West Virginia vs. Duquesne, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network

St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 7 p.m., ESPNU

Premier League Soccer: Sunderland vs. Reading, 2:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel

Captain Kirk Hinrich Encounters Trouble Aboard His Ship

Joe Gems — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:35:29 -0000

The setting is a dark room lit by a single candle. Above the desk is a framed photograph of six championship trophies, but not visible due to the darkness. GARPAX confidently sits behind the desk. He is a single body with two heads. The two heads talk to each other. CAPTAIN KIRK enters. He is wearing his game-worn goggles and a Converse track jacket. He is sweating profusely for reasons unknown. Is he arriving from a recently concluded game of pickup basketball? Or perhaps his nerves have gotten the better of him? The sweat is an unimportant detail anyway.

GARPAX: Let's discuss the terms of a contract. Where is your agent?

CAPTAIN KIRK: We both want this. He'll only complicate things.

GARPAX: Indeed.

CAPTAIN KIRK: I've been offered 4 million per year elsewhere. I'm looking for a 2-year contract worth 8-million.

GARPAX: How about 2-years, 6-million?

CAPTAIN KIRK: Deal.

[CAPTAIN KIRK exits]

GARPAX: Not the best negotiator, is he?

GARPAX: Maybe he wants to play for a championship-caliber team.

[GARPAX lets out a roaring laugh]

GARPAX: Shit, we haven't introduced him to the rest of the crew.

[GARPAX opens the office door and yells for CAPTAIN KIRK to return. He does]

GARPAX: In our haste, we forgot to introduce you to your shipmates. Some of them you will recognize. We've assembled the finest crew money can buy.

First, we have CHIEF MATE THIBS. Beware, he has a tendency to try and take the reins. Remember that you have the final say on all matters concerning the voyage. Do NOT let him easily overrule you.

BOATSWAIN RIP keeps his finger on the pulse of the ship's workers. He has shown an uncanny ability to rally the workers around him and insight a mutiny. Do not worry. We assure your position as Captain.

ENGINEER JOAKIM is in charge of maintaining the engineering equipment. We hired him because of his motor.

STEWARD CARLOS bosses others around. Tells them where to be, what assignment they missed, and how they could have handled it better. Of course, he does not follow his own advice, and his position is rendered almost completely useless.

ABLE SEAMAN LUOL does a little bit of everything aboard the ship. He's the glue that keeps the crew together, if you will.

CHEF JIMMY cannot cook a lick but can recite any Wu-Tang lyric on command. For this reason, we believe him to be an integral member of the crew, possibly the most integral besides yourself.

It's a fine crew, CAPTAIN KIRK. We have supreme confidence in your ability to right the ship. We've financed the construction of our finest ship yet, the Luxuria Taxe, and place her in your hands. Treat her like the queen that she is. Bon Voyage!

[CAPTAIN KIRK addresses his crew]

CAPTAIN KIRK: Men, we meet, or should I say, reunite today under somewhat dubious circumstances. Your former Captain has been struck a fierce blow...

CHIEF MATE THIBS: Silly me. I was under the impression I was Captain all this time.

CAPTAIN KIRK: ...Anyway, I'm fully committed to the cause and more than capable of navigating us through a successful voyage...

CHIEF MATE THIBS: Where is this voyage headed anyway? We've been stranded here for months, kept in the dark about the future of this ship. I hate these mother fuckers more than I did before we set sail the first time.

CAPTAIN KIRK: Why, a championship, of course. We're here to journey towards a championship.

BOATSWAIN RIP: Yes, a championship. I have very little time left and need another championship to cement my status as one of the most consistently good boatswains of my era.

ABLE SEAMAN LUOL: I thought we were aiming for a run at the Eastern Conference Finals. You know, good run, try not to die playing all 48 minutes of every regular season and postseason game.

STEWARD CARLOS: It's not about where we finish. We just need to set sail, do the best we can, and collect our money. That's all that matters, yo.

ENGINEER JOAKIM: I thought we wanted to improve from last year. Make it to the second round of the playoffs and gear up for 2014.

CHEF JIMMY: Cash rules everything around me. CREAM. Get the money. Dollar dollar bill, ya'll. We should just tank.

CAPTAIN KIRK: Have you no faith?!?! Have you given up so easily? It was just last year that you believed yourselves to be championship contenders. What's changed? [pauses] Don't answer that.

* * *

[Many weeks have passes. The crew is restless and dispirited after making up less ground than they anticipated. CAPTAIN KIRK lets them roam most of the time. They respect him but miss their former Captain]

BOATSWAIN RIP: [frantically approaching CAPTAIN KIRK, who is steering the ship] Captain, My Captain! We need to dispose of some cargo. The ship is carrying a dangerous amount of weight!

CAPTAIN KIRK: Where might the dead weight be, Boatswain Rip?

BOATSWAIN RIP: Well, Captain, SECOND MATE DERRICK has been dead for months. We've left him on the deck, unsure of the proper course of action. I come to you in search of an answer.

CAPTAIN KIRK: Throw him overboard!

CHIEF MATE THIBS: You FOOL! SECOND MATE DERRICK is not dead, he's merely nursing a leg wound.

STEWARD CARLOS: But he's not moving.

CHIEF MATE THIBS: Of course he isn't moving you imbecile. We treated him with the only medicine available to us – copious amounts of rum. He's passed out from all of the drink we forced down his gullet. To throw him overboard would effectively kill our mission.

CAPTAIN KIRK: I'll give him 'til January. If he isn't contributing by then, we'll be forced to throw him overboard.

CHIEF MATE THIBS: [under his breath] Who's commissioning this voyage anyway?

CAPTAIN KIRK: [hears him] The honorable Prince GarPax.

CHIEF MATE THIBS: To hell with him and to hell with King Jerry. He was never serious about funding our mission.

CAPTAIN KIRK: How dare you speak with such a loose tongue.

CHIEF MATE THIBS: It's true! ALL OF IT! I still haven't received a paycheck for this voyage.

ENGINEER JOAKIM: Careful Thibs, you're walking a fine line.

ABLE SEAMAN LUOL: Keep talking. I could use the rest.

CHEF JIMMY: Stay still, son. Don't move. Just think about Keeba. She'll be three in January. Your young God needs you.

CHIEF MATE THIBS: I don't care anymore. We were doomed from the beginning, I tell ya. I'm not afraid to speak out. I'll land somewhere else and take a rag-tag group to the playoffs.

CAPTAIN KIRK: I smell a mutineer! Get him, boys.

[The crew members dutifully chase after CHIEF MATE THIBS, fully prepared to dispose of him. He alludes them just long enough bring about a thundering crash. The crew, including CAPTAIN KIRK had become so distracted with CHIEF MATE THIBS that they lose course of the ship and ram into an iceberg. Water begins to flood onto the deck as the ship slowly sinks. Each member piles onto the lifeboat, including CAPTAIN KIRK, who "fell onto it," and couldn't possibly have stayed with the ship]

[As the Luxuria Taxe sinks into the depths of the ocean, SECOND MATE DERRICK regains consciousness. He watches as his shipmates and new Captain paddle off in the lifeboat. He takes a look around and realizes his destiny. He proudly stands up, says a quick prayer, and goes down with the ship – HIS ship]

Remember When The NBA Lockout Was About Competitive Balance?

Mike Prada — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:53:48 -0000

If Dwight Howard goes to Brooklyn, nine of the 12 members of the 2008 Olympic team will play in New York, LA, or Miami.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) July 9, 2012

(The other three: Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, and Carlos Boozer.)
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) July 9, 2012

At least Tayshaun Prince is in a small market.

NBA Free Agency: If Omer Asik Gets $8 Million Per Season, What Will Taj Gibson Draw?

Ricky O'Donnell — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:30:03 -0000

Lest anyone forgot, it took less than 24 hours for NBA free agency to remind the world that the lockout that interrupted last season has done little to curb excessive spending from league owners. Roy Hibbert, who has never averaged better than 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, signed a max-level offer sheet with the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. Declining-but-productive Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson was said have the league's most untradable contract, but he was dealt to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday for what amounts to little more than payroll relief. The Bulls are dealing with their own "poison pill", a $25 million offer to backup center Omer Asik that is set to pay the reserve over $14million -- aka, a max contract -- in the final season of the deal in 2014-2015.

All of this leaves me wondering how much Taj Gibson could get when power forward becomes a restricted free agent next offseason. If Asik is drawing an annual salary of $8 million, what is Taj going to sign for?

Gibson is seen as the future heir to the power forward throne in Chicago, with fans patiently biding their time until Carlos Boozer is amnestied. The earliest it would happen is after the upcoming season, and even that may be pushing it with two years left on Boozer's deal. It would be a lot of money for owner Jerry Reinsdorf to eat, and he doesn't exactly infuse the Bulls with as much cash as some of the NBA's other major market teams.

O'Donnell: Conniving SOB Daryl Morey Puts Chicago Bulls In Tough Position With Offer To Omer Asik

If the Bulls want to retain Gibson, though, it's hard to see how Boozer can still be around after 2012-2013. The Bulls have a lot of money tied up to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, and the team is already pushing against the same luxury tax that Reinsdorf has never paid. Did we mention the tax becomes far more punitive after this season?

Gibson is about to get a major pay day. I had the power forward pegged as an $8 million a year player last week, but it's looking like that won't nearly be enough. If Asik is getting $8 million per season and Hibbert is getting a max deal, Taj could be looking at $10 or $11 million per season. It seems insane, I know, but this is the harsh reality of current NBA finances. The Bulls will be able to match any offer for Gibson, but it's up to Reinsdorf to open up the purse strings.

For more, stick with SB Nation Chicago. For more on the Bulls, head over to Blog a Bull. For additional news, notes and analysis from around the NBA, visit SB Nation's NBA news hub.

Carlos Boozer On What Matters Most

Tom Ziller — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:50:25 -0000

The Chicago Bulls were ejected from the NBA Playoffs on Thursday, felled by the Philadelphia 76ers and also by injuries to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. That would perhaps make Carlos Boozer the team's best healthy player, and certainly the team's most highly paid healthy player.

Luckily, despite becoming the fifth No. 1 seed to lose in the first round in NBA history, Boozer feels the season was successful. From ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell:

"I thought I played well, especially with the kind of season it was," Boozer said, when asked to asses his second season in Chicago. "We had the best record again in basketball, won our division again, had the top seed again, that's all that matters, yo."

Um.

Booz should be glad that Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are not current Chicago Bulls, because they would probably have no ability to stop themselves from beating him about the head in front of TV cameras after a comment like that.

No one's asking Boozer to weep over a first-round loss in a postseason in which it became immediately clear the second Rose was ruled out that a championship was not in the cards. But to say that getting the No. 1 seed is "all that matters" within hours of a series loss is just inane, foolish and something that will leave an ugly mark on a player who hardly needed to give Chicago fans another reason to dislike him.

There's no city where this would fly. In Chicago, the reaction is going to be very, very bad.

Chicago Bulls Rumors: 'Zero Percent Chance' Carlos Boozer Is Amnestied After Season, According To K.C. Johnson

Ricky O'Donnell — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:01:00 -0000

The Chicago Bulls are still alive in the 2012 NBA Playoffs, but the team's abrupt injury-induced fall from the top overall seed in the postseason to the brink of first round elimination has kickstarted speculation among fans about what to expect in the coming offseason. With reigning MVP Derrick Rose and fellow All-Star Luol Deng slated to miss time at the beginning of the 2012-2013 campaign due to the same injuries that have helped bury Chicago's championship aspirations this season, the Bulls won't be expected to be the same juggernaut they proved to be during head coach Tom Thibodeau's first two years in town.

One often discussed strategy for creating cap space to add another high-level player has the Bulls exercising their amnesty option on beleaguered power forward Carlos Boozer, who signed a 5-year, $75 million contract in the summer of 2010. While fans may be hoping it's true, Chicago Tribune beat writer K.C. Johnson told WSCR 670 there is "zero percent chance" the Bulls will cut Boozer after this season.

On Game 5, Johnson added:

"I've never seen anything like this: just the feeling of [going into the playoffs after an injury-ridden season as the top seed] and to fall in such a short time," Johnson said. "We all know this has a funeral feel to it, but I'm really fascinated to see this game because you can't get past the fact that Philadelphia isn't that good.

"I know the Bulls look like they are done and it feels like they're done and they're acting like they're done, it'll be interesting to see what they come with Tuesday night because, no matter what they are trying to do in terms of how poor they're playing, Philadelphia can't run away and hide."

For more on this series, stick with SB Nation Chicago. For more on the Bulls, head over to Blog a Bull. Additional 76ers analysis can be found at Liberty Ballers. For more news, notes and analysis from around the NBA, visit SB Nation's NBA news hub.

VIDEO: Carlos Boozer Throws A Really Bad Pass

Ricky O'Donnell — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:00:16 -0000

Carlos Boozer has been public enemy No. 1 for Chicago Bulls fans seemingly from the moment he signed his 5-year, $75 million contract. Boozer was never who Chicago wanted in the Summer of 2010: the years spent creating cap space for that specific free agent class was meant to go to LeBron James or Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade. When all three joined forces on the Miami Heat, and Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson signed or resigned elsewhere, Boozer was Chicago's consolation prize. He was better than nothing, but hardly the savior the money was originally earmarked for.

Boozer immediately found himself in trouble in Chicago when he "tripped over a gym bag" and broke his hand before the start of the 2010-2011 season. When he came back, he proved he was a nice player, at least offensively, but not someone who should be making close to a max contract.

Boozer was sneaky-good for the Bulls this season (19.79 PER!), but he's again come up short in the playoffs. On Sunday during the Bulls' Game 4 loss to the 76ers, Boozer threw what was deemed "as bad a pass as you will see by a pro" by announcer Mike Tirico. Check the video:

For more on this story, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more on the Bulls, head over to Blog a Bull.

VIDEO: Russell Westbrook Sings, Carlos Boozer Gives Joakim Noah Tips

Brian Floyd — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:17:26 -0000

ABC/ESPN had the mics turned up on Sunday as the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder faced off. The microphones captured some excellent moments, from Carlos Boozer taking a hit of some smelling salts and, later, coaching up Joakim Noah to Russell Westbrook being ... well, Russell Westbrook.

Though Boozer was hilarious as always, it was Westbrook's singing that topped everything else in the behind-the-scenes, mic'd up clip. Watch as Westbrook does a little dance and hits the high notes.

Via Jose3030. If you're not following him, you really should be.

Can't wait 'til Russ releases an album of power ballads.