Cameron Boozer is one of the most highly-touted prospects in what has been hailed as a pretty talented class of prospects. He isn’t just known for his overall talent as a player, but also for his family ties to Carlos Boozer, a former NBA star.
How Are Cameron Boozer & Carlos Boozer Related?
Carlos is Cameron’s father, and the latter has followed in the footsteps of the former. Both played for Duke, although Carlos won the NCAA title with the Blue Devils in 2001, while Cameron took them to the Elite Eight.
One big difference between the two is that Cameron has been hyped up even before he started college, and not just because he is Carlos’ son. That hype has led to him being projected as a top-three pick. Even though Carlos became a star, that was not what many thought when he first entered the NBA.
Even though Carlos had won a title with the Blue Devils, he was a second-round pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002, selected with the No. 35 pick. Despite the team getting LeBron James the year after, Boozer played only two years with the Cavaliers before leaving for the Utah Jazz in 2004.
From there on out, Boozer blossomed into a two-time All-Star (2007 and 2008), one-time All-NBA recipient (2008), and an Olympic gold medalist (2008). Despite being a second-round pick, Carlos became one of the best players from his draft class.
Boozer’s bread and butter was in the post, where he would feast as a scorer and a rebounder. At the peak of his career in the 2007-08 season, he averaged 21.1 points and 10.4 rebounds. He was also part of a Jazz team that made the Western Conference Finals in 2007, a feat they have yet to achieve since.
His peak years were with the Jazz from 2004 to 2010, though he moved on to the Chicago Bulls in 2010, where he played until 2014, when the team amnestied him. His last NBA season was with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played one season (2014-15) before his NBA career ended.
Despite Cameron being Carlos’ son, there haven’t been any whispers that he has the window opportunity open thanks to his dad. In fact, because of how talented Cameron is, the fact that he’s Carlos Boozer’s son has little to no bearing on him as a prospect.
Cameron is a talented player who is more of a jack-of-all-trades big man, able to space the floor, pass, and rebound. The defense remains a question (that was one of Carlos’ flaws as a player), but the upside is too good that the only reason he may not go No. 1 is that there are two prospects arguably more talented than him:Â AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson.
Quite a few NBA players have had their sons enter the NBA, but few have had their sons turn out better than they did. There’s a solid chance Cameron may be the exception to this.
