According to basketball-reference.com, http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boozeca01.html Boozer's PER is at 20.5, and his per 36 numbers are pretty much in line with his career numbers. When we look at his stat lines in the box score, they look like we're not getting that 20+/10+ all-star caliber player. But we really are getting that player, just the coach is using him 5 minutes less per game than he's historically played. Last night he gave us 23 points and 8 boards in 25 minutes. A point a minute is beast in' it!
I've been okay w/ Carlos this season. He's in shape, more active on D (but still not great), and on offense he's more or less looked okay. With Carlos on the Bulls, I think there are a few important considerations to keep in mind: 1). Derrick Rose isn't the PnR point guard that Deron Williams was 2). Carlos' pet play off the pick n' roll is partially negated by the fact that it takes away a driving lane for Derrick Rose and the man who guards Noah can come over and help easily, since he has a bad jumper 3). We're a better, more balanced team than the Jazz were, so his optimal production for the team is going to be less here than in Utah 4). Thibs favors defense more heavily than Sloan did, and thus will have less use for a slow-footed defender like Carlos. It also makes sense to limit his minutes to avoid injury. Could help over the life of his contract. So all in all, if we can a 30 mpg/20 PER Carlos who isn't too bad on defense, I won't complain.
20+ PER puts him in the All-Star discussion. I think his PER is on the rise, lately, as well. The alternative is Taj and his 14 PER, though Thibs has played them together more this season. Boozer guarded Howard and held his own. As for the pick n roll, I think it's more an issue of passing the ball to Booz when he's open. His low scoring games, he didn't have many touches at all. And what's up with Deng? He's kinda sucked on offense, especially lately. It would be nice if they can have good games at the same time.
Can't support this. Not only was Sloan very keen on defense, he was more open in his criticism of Boozer's D. And yes, when Sloan's name is mentioned, I can't help but say something. Boozer's rebounding % numbers are down a bit (16.7% total rebounding % this season vs a career 18.2%). Noah's rebounding %s are similarly down. This is kind of inevitable when you go from one stud rebounder to two. Boozer's points per 36 minutes are also down a bit (18.5 this season vs 19.0 career and 19.8 last season). His assist % is way down (6.5% this season vs career 13.8%). All this said, I'm happy with Boozer this season and he played very well last night.
In his last few seasons with the Jazz, Sloan's teams weren't known for their defense so much. He emphasized the strengths of his players. Defense won him 0 championships, though he had stellar talent. A great coach, nonetheless.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/ As you can see, in the Jazz' two most recent contending lineups, their DRtg was 102 with the defensive-oriented team, and 107 with the offensive-oriented team. The results were similar, though the offensive-oriented team did make the conference finals one season. His final season, the team was 10th in DRtg and 12th in opponents points against. The season they made the WCF, they were 17th and 18th, respectively; they were7th in scoring and 3rd in ORtg.
I like my power forwards to be a bit more powerful, but Boozer is doing his thing this year. He's been efficient at what he does well, which is an asset to the team. His faux effort on D is frustrating, and he's just so damn soft. Its all the expectations game. We need him to be more than he is to beat the Heat, IMO, and he's giving us what he gives us. The Bulls would be worse off without him though, no doubt. There is no "BEAST" in his game though.
There is a great thread on realgm about Rose and Boozer and the Bulls pick and roll game. Pertinent conclusions are : 1. Rose gets trapped a long way out 2. We run the pick and roll out past the 3 point line 3. Closer in and in a crowd Rose doesnt run his man into the pick , isn't the greatest guy with visions and decisions ( yet ) and his natural instinct is to take on the defense and take it to the hole himself CONCLUSIONS. A. Bulls could really use a creditable 2nd ball handler , isolator , facilitator out there B. We could use a pop shooting big to complement Boozer C. Derrick needs to improve his decision making in a shorter version of the Bulls pick and roll and continue to work at getting better at his partnership with Carlos. Jason Smith is a guy who I believe could be really good in our system. Brad Miller and Kurt Thomas were great fits. Probably would help if Taj could hit a jump shot as well. Right now we have 3 of our 4 bigs that are completely unreliable on the offensive end.
I'm pleased with Boozer's play this season but I can't help feeling like it's fool's gold. He's had a lot of room on his p&pop jump shots and he's hitting them, which is good. Are those shots still going to be here come playoff time when defenses play with more effort and quicker rotations? I don't think so. It feels to me like Boozer's early success has largely been tied to the fact that teams are just not able to expend maximum effort on a consistent basis this strange season.
I hate being Debbie Downer but I think Boozer's performance today is representative of what we can expect from him in the playoffs. He's no longer explosive enough to take the ball to the hoop. And he's never been tall enough to get off good shots when defenders crowd him. Boozer is great against mediocre teams, and on low energy nights, but we can't expect much against Bosh and the Heat wing defenders.
I had to pause the DVR, rewind, and see this play a few times. Rose drove the right side. There was a wall of 3 defenders from FT line to base line. Rose stopped, pivoted directly toward Boozer, who had set a screen for him a few seconds earlier. He clearly saw Boozer was wide open with a clear path down the lane. But he didn't pass him the ball. I've seen that in Boozer's low scoring games. I don't get it. Early in the game, boozer was able to post up and score. This was also a game where Deng was making shots and not sharing the ball much. Like I posted before... It would be nice to see them both do well in the same game. Wasn't boozer looking like 20/10 when the Bulls ran out to their early big lead? (yes)
Well, to the various points made in this thread: @Transplant, I think those Jazz teams under Sloan were more remarkable for their offense than defense. I know Sloan's reputation, but I tend to side w/ Denny on this one. @SST - I have doubts that you might be right. Boozer's best nights seem to come when his jumper is falling, not when he's mixing it up inside. I honestly don't know if this has more to do w/ Boozer or our scheme. Sometimes I wonder if Boozer on the bulls is sort of like Pippen on the Rockets. Good player, but not in a scheme that fits his strengths. I more or less agree w/ FJ's analysis. As great as Derrick is, he's not great at hitting guys in their spots. He makes his living by being a human tornado, but doesn't have much finesse in his passing game. I'm not too concerned w/ Carlos' stats at this point. The dip in rebounding rate is trivial. Natural when playing w/ a guy like Noah. The assists don't bother me much either. He gets the ball less here, and he seems to do fine hitting the open man. If there's one thing I worry about, it's his dip in FT %. He's kind of playing like Kirk Hinrich around the rim, which is not good for our starting power forward.
Start Taj or Omer in place of Boozer and it'll free opposing bigs to rush Rose even more. The system, or Rose's decisions, are not getting the best production out of Boozer. Or Deng, for that matter. A healthy pre-Rose Deng got near 18 PER, now he's near 15. Boozer has an outside shot, a plus.
I agree that Boozer is by far our best option at PF. Taj is the beneficiary of backup quarterback syndrome at this point. As a starting PF his flaws would quickly become apparent. No other frontcourt player on this team is going to put up 23 points in 25 minutes anytime soon. I have noticed a tendency to use Boozer as a face-up player more often this season, which is good. Enough with those clunky iso's where everyone stands still and he tries to back down a guy 3 inches taller than he is. However, I think K4E is right that Boozer is losing the expectations game right now. My guess is that in the big picture, what we're getting from Boozer is not too surprising if you would have followed him his entire career. He's entering the backside of his career playing with a PG who doesn't do well in the pick n' roll on a team that demands excellent rotational D, which is something he's terrible at. The best we can hope for is to figure out a way to let him do what he does well and live with it, but that won't be enough to get past Lebron, which is what everyone was hoping for.
This is off topic and if wishes and nuts were candy and . . . I wish Mirotic was playing right now and we didn't have to wait until 2014-15. I've kept my posting about him on RealGM because there are international fans there, but he's been killing it. I think he is better than Taj Gibson right now -- though he obviously brings different strengths -- and that there is a chance he's better than Boozer at this time. It's too bad that we can't just wipe away the finances, and the contracts, and the collective bargaining agreement and put him in a Bulls jersey this season. I'd feel better about the Bulls championship aspirations.
