Carlos Boozer: “Kobe Is Wired Differently”
In 2008, in China, Carlos Boozer and Kobe Bryant were teammates. They comprised the “Redeem Team”, a gifted group of NBA-Olympians hoping to restore the gold medal luster to United States Basketball. According to Carlos Boozer, Kobe Bryant set the tone for the entire team those two weeks. He was up at five working out and so everyone else, wanting to keep up with him, did the same.
Boozer, interviewed on Time Warner SportsNet, couldn’t help but laugh thinking about the Kobe program. “He has an incredible drive to be successful and it’s not just talk. He’s not who is by accident. The legend is real. He’s in practice teaching. He’s running sprints with us. He has such a high I.Q., he has no problem talking about the nuances of the game to give us a peek of what he sees on a play to make us better as a group.”
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The Kobe program is still in effect as he relentlessly and maniacally pushes himself and his teammates for a higher purpose. “Kobe is wired differently”, Boozer said. He told the story of a team bus trip before a game and most of the players were asleep. Except Kobe was studying film. “He’s smarter, he has more tricks. His pump fakes still gets guys in the air”, Boozer said, comparing Kobe of 2014 to Kobe of 2008. “He’s a student of the game. He puts the work in not just on the court but in his mind. At this point in our career the mind is more important. You have to think the game. It’s very impressive.”
Relentless drive has never been associated with Carlos Boozer. He grew up in Alaska and won a national title at Duke. “It was fun to be a champion there”, Boozer remembered.
After Duke, he was drafted in the second round in the 2002 NBA Draft, a stunning development he didn’t see coming. It made him want to pay back all of the teams who passed on him, some of them rejected him twice. “I was hurt, I was shocked. I felt like I had to prove myself. I had a huge chip on my shoulder. I still carry it with me today.” Draft night motivated him to sustain a career. “The magic is always the work. You have to put time into your craft.”
Last year, when Carlos Boozer was with the Chicago Bulls, when he barely played in the 4th quarter, it was obvious what had happened. Time happened. The power forward who made two All-Star appearances had disappeared.
“I wanted to be on the floor helping my teammates win games”, he admitted.
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And yet it was understandable why he was not. He had never been explosive. His skill was his ability to chase rebounds down, put in misses and hit a mid-range jumper. He wasn’t a shot blocker or rim protector. He was dependent upon an All-Star quality point guard with vision who could get him the ball exactly where he wanted it. That was the only way he could succeed.
Given that very visible Carlos Boozer in decline melodrama, the Lakers bid on him per the amnesty wire anyway. Frankly it was puzzling. It was one of those peculiar Lakers bad decisions, of which there have been many, in the last four years. It was desperate. It came off all wrong, a gigantic misstep just so they could boast to whomever that they had a name people heard of. And that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was actually having them defend it as something that made sense.
But Carlos Boozer dismisses any criticism that comes his way. He says that his career is not finished. “There have been people that have written me off already, that think I’m done. I’m not. I’m smarter. I don’t do as much wasted movement.”
But here are the facts. He is on pace for a career low. He is averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds. A career 52% shooter is making just 44% of his shots. Just so you know how far he has fallen, Boozer’s rookie year he averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds on 53% shooting
So this is the slow, quiet march of Carlos Boozer. It is the transformation of an All-Star to a role player, someone who can contribute something but not everything. Part of that ‘something’ is mentorship. It happened to him his rookie year with Zydrunas Ilgauskas who took Boozer under his wing. And then so did Karl Malone. Boozer feels a responsibility to do the same for Ed Davis and Julius Randle.
“I have a lot to teach about being a big man in the game and how to stay and how to improve”, Boozer said. “I tell them I just study guys. I had clips of Karl Malone and clips of Kevin Garnett and I could take some things from them and add it my game. Get some film. Go on the court, work on those moves and continue to improve. For us to be successful we all have to keep growing and keep getting better and keep being open minded and keep being able to hear criticism the right way.”
In Juneau, Alaska, where Boozer moved when he was nine years old, daylight is short, it ends in the early afternoon. At three or four o’clock darkness arrives quickly, obliterating light from the windows. So perhaps, Boozer is prepared for all of this, for endings, for things that don’t last the way you want them to. Just like the Alaskan darkness, the light of Carlos Boozer’s career is slowing ebbing into a narrow glimpse of what it used to be.