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| Boozer looking to have a bounce back season. Photo credit: USA Today |
With the departure of Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers will have to look to one of their newest acquisitions this offseason—Carlos Boozer.
By: Benjamin Felix Santos
Last season, the veteran forward averaged 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Chicago Bulls. But a lot of inefficiencies began to surface in his game which clearly diminished his productivity, especially in the clutch. We would often see Tom Thibodeau relying on his younger forward Taj Gibson in the fourth quarter. Boozer would be limited to being just a bench warmer for many 4th quarter periods of games for Chicago, a completely change from his earlier days with the Bulls.
That being said, we’ll be seeing him play for a different team next season, which will be the Lakers, who’ll need all the help they can get out of him.
Currently, the Lakers roster is quite filled specifically in the power forward position, as renowned rookie Julius Randle and athletic big man Ed Davis will be fighting for minutes with Boozer. Thus, it’ll be interesting to see on who Byron Scott will pick as his starting front court.
Boozer, 32, will look to replace the huge void left by Gasol, who is now with his former team. It’ll definitely be a huge chance for him to raise his market value once again and become a very solid inside force like he used to be back in his earlier years with the Utah Jazz, where he averaged in the 2007-08 regular season, 21.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and was voted as an all-star.
Also, by playing side by side with the great Kobe Bryant, he will have to match the pressure and demands of Mr. Number 24 and of course the thousands impatient Lakers fans out there. Boozer certainly still has the capacity to be a dominating post presence in the league—if he puts the right amount of effort and dedication into improving and maximizing his game.
The acquisition of Boozer is undoubtedly a good move for the Lakers, especially, in terms of saving more money. He may not be as good as he was before, but his experience and knowledge of the game will prove to be of huge benefit for the younger players in the team for next season.
Entering his 13th year in the league—the Lakers will be the fourth team Boozer has played with since being drafted. Hopefully, he’ll be able to return to his all-star form and avoid sitting on the bench during the fourth quarter.
If he does turn things around, we’ll be hearing a lot of noise in LaLa land.