Cameron Boozer is a lot of things. He’s an elite playmaker, a knockdown shooter, and a physical rebounder. He’s also the National Player of the Year, the son of an NBA All-Star, and as of Tuesday night, the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft and a Memphis Grizzly. Most of all, though, he is and always has been a winner.
For a franchise that’s never made the NBA Finals, that last part is most important. While he didn’t win it all at Duke, Boozer won at every level before that with four consecutive Florida state championships and a high school national championship. That’s not just because of his ability; it’s also a testament to his mentality, and that will be a breath of fresh air in Memphis with Boozer replacing Ja Morant as the face of the franchise.
Cameron Boozer is the winner Ja Morant never was as the face of Memphis
Morant is still technically with the Grizzlies, but he played just 20 games last season and hasn’t played more than 50 games since the 2022-23 campaign. Injuries aren’t the only reason he’s missed time, however. He was suspended eight games in that 2022-23 season for brandishing firearms on social media, and this past season, he was suspended one game by Memphis for “conduct detrimental to the team.”
Never say never, but it feels safe to say that will never be a problem with Boozer. He proved through his one year at Duke that his character is as big a selling point for his NBA future as his skill set. Boozer immediately stepped into a role as a leader for Duke as a freshman and shouldered a massive load for one of the best teams in the country, leading the Blue Devils in points, rebounds, and assists.
It’s not just off-the-court intangibles that will be the major difference between Boozer and Morant. It’s the on-court approach to the game as well. Morant led Murray State to unprecedented heights as a college sophomore, but in the NBA, he’s largely been a high-usage ball-dominant guard with an inefficient outside shot.
That’s rarely been a recipe to win at a high-level in the NBA, and while he’s led Memphis to a 56-win season and a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference in 2022, he’s never made it beyond the second round of the playoffs.
Boozer may not be the electric athlete Morant is. He may not get to the rim with ease or fly down the floor before throwing down a thunderous dunk or tossing in an acrobatic layup, but he always makes the right play. Whether that’s setting a screen in transition to spring a three-point shooter, spraying a pass out of the short-roll to a three-point shooter, tossing a lob to the dunker-spot, or getting his own shot out of the post, Boozer is going to make the winning play. That’s why he’s won so much in his career, and why he’ll give Memphis a better chance to win than Morant ever did.
The identity in Memphis is grit and grind. Boozer is too highly-touted to fully embrace that underdog mentality, but he’ll fit the culture seamlessly and be the perfect palate-cleansing star for a franchise and a fanbase that desperately needs to rinse a bad taste out of its mouth.
Add us as a preferred source on Google