The Chicago Bulls 2012-2013 campaign has officially come to a close. Now that we are weeks removed from the end of the season and have had time to be reflective, it’s time to take a look back at the performances of the members of this Bulls squad and brief look ahead at the future. The following is the second part of a series of nine posts detailing this year’s squad. Each player is assigned a season grade based off of their performance on general preseason expectations.
Previous player capsules can be found here: Joakim Noah
Name: Carlos Boozer
Height/Weight: 6’9″ / 258 lbs
Age: 31
NBA Seasons: 11
Regular Season Stats: 79 games, 16.2 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.4 bpg, 47.7 FG%, 73.1 FT%
Post-Season Stats: 12 games, 16.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.1 bpg, 49.4 FG%, 68.9 FT%
Season Grade: B+
Recap:
For the most part Carlos Boozer’s year wasn’t too bad. Based on the averages he almost averaged the double-double he was originally signed to produce for Chicago on a respectable shooting percentage. Boozer also had the fifth most double-double games in the league with 44, was top 10 for both total rebounds and rebounds per game, and, very shockingly, Boozer was also 19th in the league for defensive rating and 13th with defensive win shares. It’s safe to say that Boozer had a good season especially relative to the expectations he had in the preseason and that he probably deserves a higher grade than given. Unfortunately there are a few things that just cannot be overlooked:
- Boozer’s defense still just wasn’t that good. While Boozer did rank in the top 20 for both defensive rating and win shares, both of those statistics are heavily determined by team play. Individually, Boozer’s defense continued to be porous as he has repeatedly allowed opponents to blow by him into the paint and/or rotated too slowly onto an opponent, if at all. Boozer has proved to be the beneficiary of Tom Thibodeau’s system and the steller defensive play of his teammates, especially Joakim Noah.
- Boozer failed to play consistently in the playoffs yet again. A big gripe fans have had over the past three years with Boozer is his knack for “disappearing.” Boozer did play well in the playoffs this time around, especially the first round against the Brooklyn Nets. But once again when Chicago needed him to step up in an important series against the Miami Heat, Boozer’s game was nowhere to be found. The result was another 4-1 exit against Miami.
Future:
While some fans are calling for the organization to use the amnesty clause on Boozer it looks like he’ll still be around for at least another season. Aside from improved play and the fact that he’s one of the few Bulls players to be able to play without injuries for extended periods of time, Boozer’s game is would be fairly hard to replace this offseason given Chicago’s salary cap situation. As things stands, it seems as if the rumored “2014 plan” is still in full effect for Chicago.
I think they should try some way to part what’s with him we need a big man in the middole and we need to keep N.R
Yeah, let’s place the blame on Boozer for the 4-1 series loss to the Heat. Injuries had nothing to do with it. Forget about Rose, who was not and should not have been a part of this season.
The Bulls were playing without two key starters from this season, Deng and Hinrich. Hinrich was the most effective PG the Bulls had this past season. Deng is a 2 time All-Star. Without those two guys the Bulls didn’t have a chance. Instead they still managed to make the Heat work hard to close out the series in 5 games.
There is no way I ever see the Bulls using the Amnesty Clause on anyone. The Amnesty Clause is a financially irresponsible move. The team still has to pay the player who ends up playing for someone else for practically nothing in addition to what the amnestying team pays him. lease tell me who the Bulls could afford to bring in that would replace Boozer’s production in their current cap situation in the next two seasons?
126866 574399very good post. Ne?er knew this, thanks for letting me know. 710373
Kobe might no longer? be the best pyealr in the world due to age and injuries but he sure is the most skilled and fundamentally sound pyealr to ever suit up for basketball.. Plus he’s got the killer instinct