Cameron Boozer offers blunt reminder of his most overlooked skill during Summer League

You can tell who has and hasn't actually watched Cameron Boozer play basketball by how they talk about the former Duke star.

In the lead-up to the NBA Draft, too many folks acted like his offensive game was predicated on "bully ball", something that wouldn't translate as well against bigger, stronger, and faster professional talent.

But the truth is, however, that while Boozer can certainly bully his opponents at times, his overall offensive game is much more advanced than many wanted to credit. From his court vision and point-forward ability to an even more underrated skill: his three-point shooting.

For whatever reason, it was largely ignored by many during the pre-draft process that Boozer shot 39.1% from three during his freshman season.

Despite that, his ability to translate as a shooter has been questioned because of the NBA's three-point line being nearly two feet further back. That question was proposed by ESPN's Dave McMenamin during the Grizzlies' Summer League matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night in Las Vegas.

When asked if he felt like he needed to adjust to the NBA three-point line, Boozer seemed perplexed by the question:

"No...I don't," Boozer said. ..."I shot 40% at Duke; I don't think it's an adjustment."

Cameron Boozer is confident in his three-point shot translating to the NBA

In fairness to McMenamin, he presented the question during a game in which Boozer was just 1-of-7 from three-point range to that point. He finished the game 2-of-8, while still managing 21 points and 8 rebounds in 29 minutes.

But even after struggling with his shot against Dallas, Boozer is still off to a strong start as a shooter from NBA range. He's now 8-of-17 (47.1%) across four games, two in Salt Lake City and two more in Las Vegas.

That's still a small sample size, but there's little doubt that Boozer is going to be a good NBA shooter. He won't shoot 47% in the regular season, but he'll hover around the 40% mark just like he did at Duke. That ability continues to be underrated, despite his shot being excellent in Durham and despite showing off his NBA range during the Combine in Chicago back in May.

Boozer has looked every bit like the player his supporters thought he would be in Summer League. He's going to make an instant impact for the Grizzlies as a rookie, and his three-point shooting will be a big reason why.

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