Sam Smith @SamSmithHoops Bulls say goodbye to Carlos Boozer. Have used amnesty provision. Teams will be able bid for him.
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/jon-greenberg/post/_/id/383/boozers-chicago-legacy-not-totally-fair Boozer's Chicago legacy not totally fair CHICAGO -- If Carlos Boozer ever writes a book about his four seasons with the Chicago Bulls, he should title it, "I Think They Were Yelling 'Booz.'" While he wasn't always a fan favorite, no one had more confidence in Carlos Boozer than Boozer himself. And with good reason. The Plan D of the 2010 free-agent bonanza, Boozer was an integral part of four Bulls teams that competed hard, made the playoffs and earned plaudits, but were ultimately beset by the knee injuries of Derrick Rose. Boozer's Bulls tenure ended Tuesday when the team announced it was using the amnesty clause on him, an open secret considering the Bulls had agreed to sign Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. Predictably, the Bulls used the option to wipe the last year of Boozer's five-year, $75 million contract from their salary cap. In a league where every contract can be bartered, Boozer, a crafty veteran with tangible skills, was the exception. Maybe it was because every team knew he was getting "amnestied," a verb unique to the NBA the past three years and common in Chicago. I mean, we've only been talking about it since the amnesty clause was added to the new collective bargaining agreement before his second season with the team. The Bulls will still have to pay Boozer most of the balance of the $16.8 million owed to him in 2014-15, minus whatever a team pays him for this season, but it won't count against the salary cap. Boozer was the walking reminder that the Bulls failed to land LeBron James & Co. in 2010. He became the scapegoat for a try-hard team that didn't have its No. 1 option for the past three playoffs. And when they did have him, it was clear Boozer wasn't the championship running mate everyone hoped for. Boozer was a lot like Alfonso Soriano. He was overpaid because he was a free agent, and fans never forgot that the dollars didn't always match the performance. Boozer started his career on a bad foot, when it was announced he fractured his right wrist "tripping over a bag at his house." It was a questionable injury for a player known for being injury-prone, but after quickly returning from that injury, he turned into something of an "iron man" for a team constantly dealing with injuries. You could count on Boozer to show up every game. There's something to be said for that. Boozer made 280 starts while finishing far fewer games. He averaged 15.5 points and nine rebounds, playing just more than 30 minutes a game. Give Boozer credit: No starter cheered more for his backup than he did for Taj Gibson in the fourth quarter. But by his last season, it was obvious his time had run out. He played only 28 minutes a game, mostly the first and third quarters. He averaged 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds, the lowest averages since his rookie season in Cleveland. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau all but banished Boozer to the bench for fourth quarters, as long as Gibson could hobble. Carlos didn't like it, nor should he have, but his complaints never hurt his spirit. This TNT video of Boozer miked up is a classic and proof that he was a solid teammate. But when it comes to public opinion, you can't really call Boozer polarizing, because he didn't have many defenders outside the inner circles of the Bulls. Fitting because defending was his biggest limitation. On a team full of max-effort defenders, Boozer stuck out. He was best known for yelling to Joakim Noah that his man was a-coming. In the past four years, Boozer was probably the loudest Bull. He certainly was the best paid. He never lacked for confidence, either. My favorite Boozer story was when I asked him about his rap debut in 2011. After his song "Winning Streak" was introduced before the second game of the Eastern Conference finals, the Bulls lost four straight. Offensively, Boozer still had plenty of moves, the rainbow jumper, the up and under, the "and-1" hand gesture. He could've used a few more inches, height-wise and in his vertical, but that's why he was a second-round pick in the first place. And for a second-round pick, he's had quite a career. He rose to fame in Utah where he played off Deron Williams in pick-and-roll situations. Playing with Rose, who could split defenders faster than Boozer could hashtag #holdat, Boozer didn't get the same kind of looks in Chicago, while his weaknesses were magnified. Boozer won't be remembered with great fondness in Chicago. It's not totally fair, but that's life. He'll be fine -- don't worry about him. If Rose's knees would've held up, maybe the Bulls would've upset Miami once in the past three postseasons. Maybe Boozer would've been part of a championship team. But they didn't, and he wasn't. And now he's gone.
Up to nine teams can big on Carlos Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine Nine teams, by my count, have enough cap space to put in post-amnesty bids for Carlos Boozer: ATL, CHA, HOU, LAL, MIL, ORL, PHI, PHX & UTAH If Charlotte gets him, they have had a nice summer IMO
I agree with the Espn article. He got paid. He showed up. He was nice to his teammates. He was an ok, if flawed scorer on a team so lacking in scorers with Rose out he looked great by comparison. No D. Coach lost confidence In him. Best years likely behind. Good luck. Smell ya later.
Disagree. Boozer just doesn't cut it on the value equation...paid $16.8mil, but worth a lot less. If you want to trade a player like that, you either have to be willing to take on an equally poor value contract or give away real assets (player or future draft picks) to make taking Boozer more palatable. I'm glad that the Bulls weren't willing to do either of these. As for the idea that, because the Bulls didn't vehemently deny that Boozer might be amnestied, it made it impossible to trade him, that's just ridiculous. Boozer's been a known amnesty candidate for two years and as the Bulls went about their business of trying to improve their team, they couldn't help but make it clear by the offers they were making that they were prepared to amnesty Boozer. In the end, denial in the face of overwhelming evidence just makes those holding to the denial look foolish. Moving on, the Boozer era for the Bulls was pretty good and its low points weren't low because of Boozer. TB#1 handled Boozer's Chicago eulogy pretty well above. I'm good with leaving it at that.
What a disingenuous article, with a complete BS premise. Of course Boozer's contract could have been moved, if the Bulls would have given up assets to move it... the author just leaves out that major tidbit of information. Not to mention that if the "author" was right, and that "every contract can be bartered", why would anyone ever get amnestied? The whole entire reason the amnesty clause was included in the CBA was so teams could get rid of a contract that couldn't be reasonably traded, and it wouldn't count against their cap figure. Even non-PROFIT!!!! teams don't say "well, we could dump this guy's contract without having to give up any other assets, but screw it, let's just pay him to not play for us and pay most of his salary to play for another team." Can someone help me, did I fall and concuss myself and accidently stumble onto the RealGM Bulls board?
I guess I don't follow what the writer is really getting at. The Bulls weren't making announcements they were going to amnesty. Their stated stance was a preference for a trade. Everyone who follows the NBA at all, including, of course, the other front offices knew that amnesty was a possibility. What was our org supposed to do? Somehow fool the entire league about Carlos while making significant signings? Were the Bulls foolishly shooting themselves in the foot and undermining the chance for a trade? I have no doubt they tried to move the contract but could't find a taker that would not hinder the roster improvements or limit their options by taking back someone else's bad contract. The FO is eating $16M to make this the most productive offseason possible after the non-surprise that Melo could not leave $50M on the table.
See the article yesterday where PJax says that Bargani is going to be fine in the Knicks offense? Quite a different approach.
I'm pretty sure nobody was waiting for Bargani to get amnestied. Billups made sure of that. He tried to move him and like the Bulls and Boozer there were no takers so he puts a nice face on the situation for pr reasons. You think the GM's around the league are swayed or re-evaluating worth by a puffed up PJax sound bite? They are stuck with him until a suiter comes a callin'
Someone traded for Bargnani and his awful contract. Not only did Toronto get rid of a worse player than Boozer on a bad contract, they got 3 players, a 1st round pick, and two 2nd round picks. You don't make an asset more valuable by talking it down. That's the point. PJax isn't talking down his player. He may be able to trade him at the trade deadline.
Did the front office talk Boozer down? He lost minutes and it was clear he wasn't happy about it but playing time is a basketball decision -- except in some discipline cases which don't seem too apply.
Oh come on TB#1, how comical is it that the one guy who insisted beyond belief that there was no way in hell that the Bulls would ever, ever, ever amnesty Boozer is now saying that the entire league knew the Bulls were going to amnesty Boozer. He just blatantly admitted that he's either: here just to cause trouble and disrupt threads or he's the only person in the world who was foolish enough to think the Bulls weren't going to amnesty Boozer
I thought when I joined this board I was just getting all my intelligent Bulls fan friends from 15 years ago back, I had no clue there would also be some of the best comic relief on the internet. PROFITS!!!!!!!