C: Carlos Boozer (2014-2015)
- Performance with the Los Angeles Lakers:
Carlos Boozer ended his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, playing just one season with the team after a memorable run with the Chicago Bulls in what was the first time since Michael Jordan where the Bulls actually had a good enough team to make it to the NBA Finals.
Boozer actually did not play as bad as you would expect him to while knowing that it was the last year of his career. Boozer averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in 23.8 minutes per game.
Boozer’s NBA career ended relatively early compared to his peers. He was only 33 years old when he played for the Lakers and probably could have been a role player for another 2-3 years. He did wind up playing 38 games before officially retiring and then re-appearing in the BIG3.
- Accomplishments outside of the Los Angeles Lakers:
Carlos Boozer was never the best big man but even outside of his prime he was always regarded as a very talented second or third star for a team. His best two seasons were his all-star seasons with the Utah Jazz from 2006 to 2008. In those two seasons, Boozer averaged 21 points and 11 rebounds per game.
He never eclipsed 20 points per game in any other season of his career but was a threat to score 20 points and snag 10 rebounds every single game. In fact, if you compare Boozer to Pau Gasol (which is fitting, as Gasol came into the league one year before Boozer), then you would see two very similar players.
In the 10 seasons from 2003 to 2013, Boozer played 633 games and averaged 17.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Gasol averaged 18.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in 681 games played.