Carlos Boozer Player Preview 2009-2010

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Coming off of a tumultuous season in which Carlos Boozer made more headlines off the court than on, many Jazz fans around the world are wondering what to expect from the Duke University product this season. Will it be the All-Star and team leader of two years ago, or will it be the injury prone selfish businessman of a year ago?

In the campaign, Carlos played in only 37 games (all starts) after injuring his leg in November, which eventually led to a mid January surgery. While we can only speculate when Boozer finally became 100% he averaged 16.2 points per game and pulled down 10.4 rebounds. Both are right around his career averages, and his 32.4 minutes per contest were right on par with what he had done in his 7 years as a pro.

Injuries and stats aside, Boozer perhaps made his biggest blunder of the year during the teams annual pre-Christmas road trip in New York City, when he told ESPNs Chris Sheridan that he was "opting out, no matter what, Im going to get a raise regardless".
He went on throughout the summer talking about how much he would like to play in his hometown of Miami, or how he thought that hed end up in Detroit or Chicago, but ultimately he did decide to opt-in, and will be in Jerry Sloans starting five come opening night in Denver.

How much this affected the team will only be known by the players and staff behind closed doors, but I think it is pretty clear to see that Boozer lost the respect of his teammates, and has spent the better part of training camp and the pre-season this year working to get it back. Throw in the big money that Paul Millsap signed for and the competition for minutes at the 4, and you have perhaps the most important year of Boozers NBA career.

For all the Jazz fans who complain that Boozer is only about the money, this could be the biggest benefit to a team who is trying to re-establish itself as a contender in the uber-competitive Western Conference. Regardless of whether or not Boozer is a Jazzman after