Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
That’s the point Boozer tried to hammer home at last month’s NBA Draft combine. Over and over, when asked about his defining traits, he pointed to the one that matters most: winning. “I just think my feel for the game is elite. My competitiveness and my will to win, I think those are things that will translate,” Boozer said.
The bottom line is Boozer wins and, as for why, he believes it all starts with preparation. As the son of a former All-NBA big man, Carlos Boozer, he’s had those habits drilled down since an early age. “I think what I do every day; I show up and do the right things. I think that’s something that kind of just affects people. Once one person starts doing it, everyone starts doing it, especially if it’s the best player,” Boozer said.
Ten of the 13 executives and scouts we spoke with were willing to name the player they think Washington should draft at No. 1. Dybantsa received seven votes. Peterson garnered two votes. One person voted for Boozer. “Take AJ Dybantsa and sleep like a baby,” one of the seven respondents who voted for Dybantsa told us, saying that Dybantsa’s upside and floor are so high that he’s the safest pick in the draft. Dybantsa’s worst possible outcome, that respondent said, would be to have a career similar to Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 pick in 2014, a wing who has made one All-Star team during his 12-year pro career.
So what will the Jazz do at No. 2, especially considering Cameron Boozer's dad, Carlos Boozer, currently works for the organization in a scouting role? Most expect Kansas guard Darryn Peterson to be the Jazz's pick here. While there's more public speculation about other options, sources around the combine speak with almost the same level of confidence that Peterson goes No. 2 as they do Washington taking Dybantsa at No. 1.
Advertisement
Dybantsa has shaped up as the favorite at No. 1, but that's not the consensus, with most around the NBA having seen Peterson as a strong candidate for that spot all season, and varying opinions on Boozer's and even Caleb Wilson's candidacies. The talent gap between that foursome, particularly Dybantsa and Peterson, might not ultimately be wide enough to trade up from No. 2 to 1 in a vacuum, regardless of which teams owned which picks.
AJ Dybantsa is seen as having extremely high upside with a tremendously high floor. He’s a safer pick than Peterson. His offensive game is more well-rounded than Wilson’s. And scouts believe his athletic upside gives him a stronger chance to be a No. 1 option than Boozer.
It’s all about power and explosiveness for Caleb Wilson. He plays with terrific bend and balance as a driver. Combine that with his strength and leaping ability, and you get a special player who can dominate at the rim. The further into the cycle we get, the more I hear from scouts who see Wilson in the same group as Peterson, Dybantsa and Boozer, with some even ranking him as a top-three player in the class. It didn’t hurt Wilson’s case that he outperformed all three of those players when North Carolina played them this season (in Dybantsa’s case, in the preseason, but still).
And while teams continue to stress that next month's lottery will play a major factor, the majority of scouts and executives interviewed see AJ Dybantsa as the favorite. "I guess you'd rather fail with [AJ] and his upside, than not," a Western Conference general manager told ESPN. "And I know Peterson has upside, maybe Boozer's upside is a little bit less. ... I just think that [AJ], because he's 6-9 and he could be like 6-10, 230 [pounds] by the time he's 25 years old, he could just be a monster. I think you've just got to go down swinging with him if you go down." "I think Peterson is the most talented guy," an Eastern Conference executive said, "but the injury stuff is a real question. That's a valid concern, and it's been a weird year. But he's a huge talent, and he was No. 1 at the start of the season for a reason."
Darryn Peterson made his NCAA Tournament debut while Brooklyn was hosting the Knicks on Friday, while Boozer made his Thursday afternoon. Dybantsa put on an all-time performance in BYU’s loss to Texas, looking like a potential No. 1 overall pick. “He’s going to be a great player. People talk about comparisons to [Kevin Durant], Jayson Tatum, and it does look like it to me,” Nets rookie Egor Dëmin told The Post of his BYU successor. “It’s a lot of midrange, really aggressive driver, slasher, the transition game, physicality, crazy athlete. He’s got everything to be able to play on the highest level.”
Advertisement
Carlos Boozer says while his son may not have a “40-inch vertical,” he is an elite worker and leader, and his “skill set, IQ and will to win set him apart.” The 13-year NBA veteran added that teams passing on his son will regret it. “There are not that many guys that can be an 18-year-old on the biggest stage in college basketball like Duke basketball — [and] with what comes with that — and the entire team will follow him,” Carlos Boozer said. “You know why they do that with Cameron? Because he gives so much to the game. He gives so much to his team. Whatever it takes, he’s an unselfish superstar, and that translates to the NBA.
“You look at what Tim Duncan did. I’m not comparing Cameron to Tim Duncan, but he was another guy that wasn’t [athletically] a Kevin Garnett or a Tracy McGrady or a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O’Neal. But you know what he did? He won five championships in that era [against] those players — the Kobes and the Shaqs, because of his IQ, because of his skill set, and because his team would follow him. “That is who Cameron is. He’s a modern-day version of that. People are going to follow him because of what he gives to the team and what he gives to the game. That translates into winning. So. if you want to win, you pick Cameron. And I’m going to tell you this: The GMs that don’t pick Cam, they’re going to regret that 15 years from now.”
The Boozer twins considered Miami and Florida before following in their father’s big footsteps to Duke. Along with the pressure of being a Boozer at Duke, there was even more pressure that came from the high expectations of playing for college basketball’s most followed program. Carlos Boozer says it’s “been a dream come true” and “incredible” to see his sons not only follow him to Duke but overcome the pressure that comes with playing there.
“I’m just proud of them for going through the fire,” Carlos Boozer said. “I know the weight that gets carried when you put on that Duke uniform. The expectations are through the roof, the players that have played in that jersey before you. … And then multiply that times 10 when your dad won a championship there, and he’s in the Hall of Fame there, had a good career in the NBA, and the pressure that comes with that. “They could have chosen a different path. They could have chosen a path that’s just for them that has no history behind it. They’re making their own history. They could have chosen to go to University of Miami. But my boys, one thing I’ll tell you about my boys, they don’t duck no smoke. They want all the smoke. And I know what that’s like because I was the same way. They are cut from this cloth, and it’s in their blood to be that way. So, I’m proud of them.”