Basketball Player, America

Introduction

Carlos Austin Boozer Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who was born on November 20, 1981. The two-time NBA All-Star played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Utah Jazz. His accomplishments earned him a spot on the US Olympic Team for the Summer Games, where he won an Olympic gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Personal Life

Boozer was raised in Juneau, Alaska, even though he was born on a military base in Aschaffenburg, West Germany. Boozer and his ex-wife CeCe have three children together: Carmani and the twins, Cameron and Cayden. Basketball was a curious topic for Boozer from a very young age. Apart from sports, he was also keen on education. Boozer needed three more classes to complete his degree. He received his diploma from Duke in 2020.

High School Life and career

Carlos Boozer attended the Juneau-Douglas in Juneau, Alaska, where he led the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears to achieve various titles. Boozer has also played high school basketball for two PARADE All-American teams. He was considered as a hardworking player by his coaches during his high school days.

College Career

Boozer was pursued by numerous elite university basketball teams, including St. John's and UCLA, but he decided to play for Duke University under coach Mike Krzyzewski instead. Boozer pushed the team and won the 2001 NCAA championship as well. Due to his accomplishments, he was also drafted in the final year of the NBA.

Professional career

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Boozer with the 35th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. In his rookie season, Boozer averaged 10.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. The following year, he increased those numbers to 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. He always had a passion for improvement during his career which yielded him a lot of respect in the field.

Utah Jazz

On July 30, 2004, Boozer signed up with the Utah Jazz for the NBA. Boozer averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds per game in his first season with the Jazz in 2004–05. He missed the latter part of the season due to an injury, which led to the Jazz missing the playoffs for the second time in 22 years. Even though there was a big disappointment in him, Boozer continued to work hard. For a long period, he was suffering from the injury. He was reinserted into the starting lineup in the middle of March of the 2005–2006 season. After that, he put together a strong season, averaging over 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game, and re-establishing himself as the Jazz's starting power forward.

In the 2006-2007 season, jazz won 11 games out of the 12 first games they played which also honored Boozer with the title of Western Conference Player of the Week Award. Boozer scored his career-high 41 points on April 23, 2007, against the Houston Rockets. In game 7 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs, he also helped the Jazz defeat the Rockets by scoring 35 points, pulling down 14 rebounds, and making two crucial free throws to secure the win in Boozer's first postseason series. He was among the top five players in the league in terms of scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage by mid-December.