There's trouble in Camelot (along the front line)

This is helpful. It's like I'm talking myself off a ledge.

 

Yup.

 

Deng's $14.5M contract would be coming off the books then.

 

Like I said, the Bulls might consider a salary dump at some point. A team with $15M in cap space could take Boozer from us for nothing; but we're not doing a good job of making him appealing as trade bait.

 

I don't know what you can do. Someone in ESPN's 5 questions daily thingy, which usually sucks, mentioned that Boozer is taking half the shots at the hoop that he usually takes -- and I think that's good for the most part because Boozer can't really finish at the hoop anymore. His jump shot is still stellar as long as he is relatively open. I know you're a big advocate of offense first, given our roster, but Boozer seems to me like he's entered into the Ben Wallace-Bulls phase of his career.

 

To be honest, I'm pretty sure JLIII is not capable of making the passes to get Boozer involved. I like JLIII as a change of pace guard but he has to shoot the ball a ton because that's really what he does. I'm not sure CJ Watson is much better either.

I like the Rose-Boozer pick and pop action we've seen this season. Boozer seems to get quite a few open jumpers, at least at this juncture of the season. I think Rose and Boozer play relatively well together, and I still like how Boozer and Noah pass to each other.

 

Boozer had two bad games. Before that, he really was beastin'. So I think it's really a stretch to say he's on the decline. It looks more to me like he's being misused is all. Look at what Thibs says about the situation - that he and Noah are key to the team's success.

In fact, I would argue they demand a lot of attention, and that at least tires out opposing starters. 82games.com is a week out of date, but check out Boozer, especially opposing PF performance.

 

Completely agree that reports of Boozer's demise are greatly exaggerated. His inside power game hasn't been what it once was, but his defense is much improved this season.

As for being misused, without an effective inside power game, Boozer's not the same kind of offensive weapon he's been in the past. Unless that part of his game comes back, his current usage rate won't change much.

 

He's paired with Noah, who roams the baseline a lot. When he does go in the post, he clogs the lane for those Rose drives. So he has had to adjust his game to complement his teammates.

In last night's game, he and Rose worked on the pick and roll/pop a lot. Rose looks like he hasn't figured out how to get rid of the ball as soon as Boozer's man doubles him, but he did get Boozer the ball a few times for scores. When Boozer did play in the post and his passing out of the post was good for 5 assists. In fact, one of the highlights I see on ESPN over and over this morning is Boozer passing out of the low post (double teamed) to a wide open Rose for a 3pt make.

In Q4, Boozer played a lot of minutes. Since it was Rose time, he played on the wing, which isn't his strength. But it kept him from clogging the lane for those Rose drives. I think that's a sign he's playing smart.

In Utah, he had a PG who ran the pick and roll like clockwork and a C who shot a lot of 3 pointers.

 

Agree. Sounds like he's helping the team win, which in the end is the object of the exercise. If they keep winning and Boozer only averages 13-15ppg, I'm fine with it.