The Dangers of Booze(r)

Ten years from now, if I said to you, "Remember when that NBA star left Cleveland without telling the front office and the affronted owner wrote a letter to the fans about him?", you'd say I was talking about LeBron James, without question. No problem with that; the "summer of 'The Decision'" was one of the craziest months pro basketball has ever seen.

But if you said I was talking about King James, you'd be wrong.

Turns about six years earlier, another established Cavs star took a fast powder out the back door of Cleveland and failed to mention to the owner or GM that he was leaving.

Ladies, gentlemen, let me tell you a little story about Carlos Boozer.

The first letter

After cementing his status as the best basketball player to come out of Alaska since Sarah Palin, young Carlos Boozer chose to head south and play for Coach K and Duke University. Whether this choice set the stage for future controversial events, we can only speculate. We can say with certainty, however, that Duke players are notoriously soft and have a "punk" quality about them. (Not really, although Duke would produce Jay Williams, Luol Deng and J.J. Redick.)

After two years at Duke and a national championship, Boozer set his sights on the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers ended up taking him and he immediately produced in his first two seasons, the second alongside rookie LeBron James. With his rookie contract up, the Cavs offered a contract to young Booz: $39 mil over six years.

The Utah Jazz offered a six-year contract as well, but for $70 mil.

The Cavs could not match those numbers with their salary cap, and Boozer signed with Utah. Here's where things get sketchy.

The Cavaliers came out and said they had a "handshake agreement" with Carlos about his contract status, which he then broke by signing with Utah. Boozer, in turn, said there was no such agreement, that "he's not a guy who gives his word then takes it away."

That's where the letter comes in. In an eerie parallel to the LeBron situation six years later, then-owner Gordon Gund posted a letter on the Cavs' website, explaining the situation to the fans. Which side was right was never fully uncovered. But Boozer's credibiltiy was never fully unsullied.

The second stop

It'd be easy to say C-Booz went to Utah and became their best power forward since Karl Malone. To some point, that was true. But as Deron Williams didn't come along until 2005, Booz and the Jazz wallowed in it for awhile, to the point that three months into the '05 season, Jazz fans were waiting for the return of Andrei Kirilenko to right the ship.

When AK-47 is your best player, you dream about a point guard. Every night.

Even after the Deron-to-Boozer pick-and-roll took off, there where questions. Late Jazz owner Larry Miller questioned his effort after he was injured in his first season with Utah, and he ended up missing 135 games in six years.

As if that weren't enough, Booz suffered from the athlete's most feared affliction, worse than an ACL tear or a high-ankle sprain: foot-in-mouth disease.

During the 2008-09 season, he publicly said he was going to opt out of his contract and dip out of Utah (which didn't happen), which Miller called "one of the top 10 stupidest things he'd heard an NBA player say in 24 years." Then in the offseason, he went on Chicago and Miami radio stations and basically said he wouldn't be in Utah after 2009.

And he was right. The rest is history, or present if you want to think of it as such: the Bulls cleared cap space, missed out on Bosh and LeBron, but landed C-Booz.

The third man

Since coming back from a broken right pinky finger, Booz has done a great job in Chicago, at least according to the numbers. He's averaging a double-double and finally has given the Bulls the low-post scorer they've never had. He's given Derrick Rose some protection as well, and provides veteran leadership.

Yet, the potential problems bubble just under the surface. I watched a Bulls-Bucks game a few weeks ago where Ersan Ilyasova—I'll say again: Ersan Ilyasova—made Carlos look absolutely silly on defense. Jumping at shot fakes, getting lost in the lane, that sort of thing.

That has been an ongoing problem of the season, and something the Bulls knew about, but on a Tom Thibodeau team, defense is going to be a priority.

The hand injury did nothing to assuage Bulls fans about Boozer's durability. In fact, it's almost a parallel to how his Utah career began.

Finally, when Derrick Rose was asked if Joakim Noah or Boozer talked more on the court, Rose answered "Boozer" without hesitation. Hopefully, that doesn't extend to the media. We already ready know it extends to the hip-hop world.

(Editor's note: If Booz is going to drop a verse on a Twista track during the season, can it at least be good?)

On a team with the budding superstar (Rose) and the soul of the squad (Noah), Boozer is, in reality, the third guy. We've seen how well the Bulls are going now, and everyone's got their sights set on a championship run.

But just like with the booze, things that start so well can go south very quickly. Just ask Dan Gilbert.

See you in the cheap seats.

JS