Boozer pays a visit to appreciative Bulls

Season's greetings will be a noteworthy sidebar Thursday at the United Center.

But as Joakim Noah pointed out, we'll never have an accurate read on what the Christmas Night crowd really thinks of ex-Bull Carlos Boozer, who returns to the arena with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"We won't really know because we won't know if it's 'Boooz' or if it's boo," Noah said, according to espn.com. "It's Booz to me."

Boozer spent the past four seasons with the Bulls and often drew criticism from fans for questionable defensive effort and tendency to disappear offensively in big games.

On the other hand, Boozer stayed relatively healthy after a broken hand delayed his Bulls debut in 2010, was a full-time starter on some very good teams and rarely uttered a negative word in the locker room.

"As far as myself and the relationship that we had, he's a great, great dude, great teammate," Derrick Rose told reporters after Tuesday's victory in Washington. "The way that Chicago looked at him is that he didn't hustle hard and all that in the way that he played, but to each his own. He's somewhere else right now."

In a long-anticipated move, the Bulls used the amnesty clause last summer to remove Boozer's $16.8 million salary from their salary cap and luxury tax. The money saved was used to sign former Lakers power forward Pau Gasol.

Looking at the two players, it seems obvious the swap worked well for the Bulls. Gasol is averaging 18.0 points, a career-high 11.5 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Bulls.

Boozer is averaging 12.8 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Lakers, lower numbers than he ever produced in Chicago.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was asked Tuesday how Boozer should be treated by Bulls fans during his return to town. Boozer started for the Lakers early this season but has been coming off the bench lately.

"(He should be treated) well," Thibodeau told reporters. "When you look at what he did in his time here, we won a lot of games.

"I've said this many times, he was a lightning rod for us. But he was very productive, almost a double-double every night, and we won. That's the biggest thing. The guy's had a great career, and we wish him well. I think he should be received well."

Thibodeau has a point. For all his faults, Boozer played a key role on a team that was at the top of the league in defense and rebounding for four years. He was doing some things right.

Back in the summer of 2010, when the Bulls struck out on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in free agency, Boozer was the consolation prize. He ended up being overpaid, which is a reason fans often were frustrated.

"I have great respect for him, because the situation we were in. The first year, we had the best record (in the league) and we got to the Eastern Conference finals," Thibodeau said. "Second year was the lockout year, same thing, and then we took the two injuries (to Rose and Noah) on in the playoffs.

"Then we had to battle like crazy for two years just to keep it afloat and he was in the middle of that and he wouldn't let it sink. So I've got great respect for what he did and what he meant for our team."

In 2013, the Bulls beat Brooklyn in the playoffs without Rose or Luol Deng, and Boozer contributed to that victory. So go ahead and remember the good times when Boozer checks into Thursday's game.

Meanwhile, Gasol will play against his former team for the first time.

"Emotional, weird, hard to focus," Gasol said, according to espn.com. "But at the same time, I kind of look forward to it in a way. To see some of the people that I've been through a lot with."

The Bulls have won four in a row and are taking the Christmas assignment as a privilege, since the league tries to feature it's main attractions for the holiday television audience.

Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who passed Michael Jordan last week for third place on the all-time scoring list, sat out Tuesday against Golden State but is expected to play against the Bulls.

The Bulls and Lakers met in Los Angeles on Christmas three years ago to open the lockout season. This is just the second time in the post-championship era the Bulls will play at home on Dec. 25.

"For Kobe to travel out of L.A. on Christmas Day, it just shows how far we came," Rose joked.

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