Posts tagged CarlosBoozer at FanHouse

It starts with a simple procedure. The subsequent effects are as dramatic as they are extensive.

Carlos Boozer, who's already missed 21 games this season due to injury, will miss an additional month of action due to arthroscopic knee surgery, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.

Now, the Jazz have suffered with injuries all over their roster this season. Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, most of the roster has missed some time. Boozer's time away has been tempered, somewhat, by the emergence of Paul Millsap. Unfortunately, this simple surgery affects that as well.

In the immediate, this makes the Jazz' trek to retain their Northwest title and top four seed that much more difficult, a prospect that's already daunting considering the Blazers' inevitable emergence and Denver's resurgence. It means that the odds are significantly impacted that they will be able to enjoy the friendly confines of their home come April and May, Considering the vast advantage they enjoy in Salt Lake, that's a pretty big hit. But the long term effects are also notable.

If Kevin O'Connor and Jerry Sloan really do have some Magic Power Forward Beans in the safe, now'd be a splendid time to push them into some soil. With Carlos Boozer still ailing and awaiting a second MRI this weekend, replacement Paul Millsap has received a pair of health shackles. Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune reports Millsap will sit for 7-10 days with a strained knee ligament.

Boozer has been out so long and you don't really get the impression he's anywhere close to ready to get back in sneakers -- there have even been whispers of surgery for Boozer. Meanwhile, starting center Mehmet Okur has missed a few starts due to back spasms. That's three of your top four big men off the bat. The Jazz have survived Boozer, Okur and Deron Williams' previously sprained ankle. But this is getting a bit absurd.

Andrei Kirilenko -- who has done masterful work as a sixth man -- will take the power forward position, apparently. Luhm reports that unless Okur can play, rookie Kosta Koufos will start at center tonight when Utah meets Dallas. Yes, it has come to this: Sloan is starting a rookie. (A rookie he doesn't seem to particularly like, at that.) It's only a matter of time until Kyrylo Fesenko gets his big break, right? (Right?)

I caught up with Deron Williams in the visitors' locker room an hour or so before Friday's double-overtime marathon in Detroit. We chatted about the best point guards in the East, the surprising controversy surrounding Carlos Boozer's recent comments about opting out and the decisions his team has to make this summer.

Matt Watson: I know you practiced against [Rodney Stuckey] in Vegas, right? I was wondering what you think of his emergence and how he's taken the reins from Chauncey [Billups]?
Deron Williams: I've definitely liked him as a player since he got into the league. I didn't know much about him before he got into the league because he went to a smaller school, but he's out here making a name for himself. He's one of the up and coming point guards in this league. I was definitely impressed with him this summer, playing against him everyday.

MW: He kind of reminds me, and I think he reminds a lot of people, a little bit of you -- he's a little bit bigger and stronger [than most point guards]. Do you see that comparison at all?
DW: He's more of a scorer than I was coming out. I'm more of a pass-first guy, but I've adapted my scoring a little bit. He's definitely big and strong, gets to the hole, finishes with contact and definitely added the three-point shot to his game.

A report from the Palace of Auburn Hills, where the Pistons faced the Utah Jazz on Dec. 20.

Earlier this week, Carlos Boozer confirmed what most of us assumed all along: he planned on opting out of the final year of his contract this summer in hopes of signing a long-term deal.

It's simple math: a six-year deal is better than a one-year deal, right? Gilbert Arenas made the same announcement last season and created zero outrage. The reaction from Utah's front office and ownership, though, was surprisingly indignant. GM Kevin O'Connor called the revelation "peculiar," and owner Larry Miller went so far as to say, "It's one of the top 10 stupidest things I've heard an NBA player do in 20 years."

Unexpectedly stuck with a public relations nightmare on his hands, Boozer was in full cleanup mode while talking to reporters before Friday's game.

"I called and I talked to everybody in the [front] office and I told them that obviously I made a mistake and I apologize," Boozer said. "For me, I felt like I did the wrong thing by speaking about it, but it's over, it's done with.

"Obviously I let them know that I want to be in a Jazz uniform, they know that -- it's the same thing I told you guys yesterday, the same thing you guys have been hearing all along."

Really, the local backlash over Carlos Boozer's obvious honesty in matters of his early termination option has gotten absurd. On Wednesday, Boozer told ESPN's Chris Sheridan he'd be executing his early termination option this summer to become a free agent. Most of the world responded with a collective "Duh."

Boozer has been counted as an '09 free agent for the past year because there is simply no question that it's the smart move. I mean, will we raise our fists to the sky when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade announce they will be opting out in 2010? Of course not. In a utopia, we would refuse to be insulted by the truth.

Larry Miller's mind is no idyllic entity. The Jazz owner (in the hospital again) basted Boozer on SLC sports talk radio Thursday. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune has the quote.

Because of last season, every announcement a player makes with regard to his early termination option will get attention. Gilbert Arenas announced very early on that he'd be invoking his ETO last summer -- he did, and he received an almost no-brainer, big-dollar extension. Elton Brand and Baron Davis, however, kept mum or at least wishy-washy with regards to their own options. Most expected Brand to opt out with a Clippers extension already in place; Davis had been expected to keep his contract and wait a year for free agency. Of course, we all know how that turned out.

Carlos Boozer, who has missed most of the season with a strained quad, took Gil's path Wednesday by telling reporters he would be invoking his ETO this summer. It had been a no-brainer -- Boozer's set for $12.7 million next season, and he'll likely command $16 million or more in starting salary -- but the obviousness didn't stop for wringing a few hands in SLC, according to Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor was taken aback by the pronouncement.

Did Boozer just state the obvious because he was asked? Or is the whole Paul Millsap emergence making 'Los feel unimportant? Not to hang a long-gone albatross around Boozer's neck, but the whole Gordon Gund fiasco serves as a reminder that this player isn't exactly the shining example of team loyalty.

The Utah Jazz have a decision to make. As I mentioned earlier this week, Paul Millsap has been an absolute stud filling in for the injured Carlos Boozer, averaging nearly 19 and 12 on 56% shooting over the last 11 games. Boozer has the option of testing free agency this summer, and considering he's already making $11.6 million, it just might take a max contract to convince him to come back.

Trouble is, Millsap will be testing the market, as well, though as a restricted free agent the Jazz will have a chance to match any offer. Millsap is currently the team's lowest-paid player, making just under $800,000, and as he admitted to Tim Buckley of the Deseret News, he's looking to get paid:

"You can't help but think about it," he said candidly of the money matter. "It's a big thing.

"But," Millsap added, "if I do things right, my time will come."

Since neither guy appears in the mood to give a hometown discount, there's a good chance the Jazz will have to settle for keeping only one. Who should it be?

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. IndyStar.com: Shaquille O'Neal, so happy to be back home in New Jersey that he's ... stealing candy bars?

2. South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Shawn Marion, feeling like a caged animal.

3. SI.com: Good Interview with Scott Foster, the other (innocent!) referee whose name kept coming up in the Tim Donaghy scandal.

4. Toronto Star: Do not mention the "stupidity" of the Chris Bosh 2010 free agency to Raps' coach Sam Mitchell.

5. Deseret News: Carlos Boozer "hasn't decided" if he'll opt out this summer. What? You don't believe Boozer when he's talking about his contract?

6. AlanaG.com: A hilarious tale of a trip to the voting booth, which has been taken a little too seriously by at least one other site. (Oh, and it's NBA-related because of the video of Acie Law voting, I guess.)

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

The opening locale for our NBA Preview tour hosts a championship contender ... unless you believe in Vegas, where two teams have odds of at least 18-to-1 to win the title. Bettors have Utah at 18-to-1 and Portland, ahem Portland at 12-to-1. Clearly, folks expect big things from the newborn Trail Blazers.

That brings us to our first topic: how good will Portland be? The Blazers caught much of the nation off-guard last year, with a long winning streak through the early winter keeping the team alive in the rough Western playoff race. Clearly, Portland overperformed based on common expectation. Is that even possible this year? Win or lose, the Blazers will likely get more attention than any other Northwest team this season. The burgeoning tomorrow promises excitement, and no one wants to miss out the introduction of greatness. No pressure, kids.

FanHouse's Tom Ziller argues his ranking of the top 50 players in the NBA.

After two seasons of undisputed domination over the West's best power forwards, you wouldn't think Carlos Boozer would have to explain his power. Perhaps that his arrival on the top flight has coincided with Deron Williams' introduction to the league has dampened appreciation and recognition of his elite talent level. The fantastic thing about basketball, though: we can look into Boozer's past, which says pretty clearly he'd be this good with or without Deron.