Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Carlos Boozer to Sign with Bulls

Carlos Boozer has become the latest domino to fall in free agency as he agrees to a 5 year deal with the Chicago Bulls for an estimated $75-$80 million.

The Breakdown
Boozer is a great fit for Chicago, who needed a premiere PF to fill out their starting five. With Derrick Rose to take over the assist duties of Deron Williams, Boozer should see his scoring average remain in the same 18-19 ppg range that we've seen from him recently.

What could take a hit is his rebounding. In Utah, he was clearly the dominant rebounding force. Okur and Kirilenko weren't big rebounders and the only other guy who could dominate the glass was Paul Millsap, who played behind Boozer. Rarely did the 2 find themselves on the court at the same time. In Chicago, Joakim Noah has been putting up insane rebounding figures and they could end up hurting each other's rebounding totals since they'll share the court for long stretches.

One concern I have with Boozer is his health, which is what keeps him ranked outside the top 25. Much like Amar'e Stoudemire, Boozer can give you production much higher than his draft position as long as you're willing to gamble on him having a full, healthy season. In 3 of his 8 seasons as a pro, he's missed at least 31 games. If he can stay healthy, he's one of the top PFs in the game. When he gets hurt, like he did 2 years ago, you feel like a fool for drafting him over guys that give you less production per game but make up for it by staying healthy and giving you more total production at the end of the year.

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