Boozer's used to beating the odds
Carlos Boozer was born in Germany, but grew up in Juneau, Alaska. Considering the town is accessible only by boat or plane, it can't be easy to find top-notch basketball competition.
"It's very small, but beautiful, though," he said.
Boozer solved the basketball issue by essentially spending his summers in Fresno, Calif., so he could play on a powerful AAU team.
"We had like 18 (airline) connections to get down there," he said. "One of my teammates was Joe Gill. I'd stay at his house in the summer, so we didn't have to worry about hotels. His mom and my mom were good friends and they took care of a lot of costs.
"We'd travel all over the place. I'm a kid from a small town, I had a chance to travel across the country and play against great competition. I got better and next thing you know, I went from playing ball for fun to realizing I could go to college and get a scholarship."
Boozer went to Duke, won a national championship with ex-Bulls Chris Duhon and Jay Williams, then was drafted by Cleveland in the second round.
When Boozer exceeded expectations, it led to a controversial exit from Cleveland. The Cavaliers agreed not to exercise a third-year contract option, thinking they could sign him to a longer deal. Instead, Boozer accepted a much larger contract from Utah, where he spent the next six seasons.
According to NBA hearsay, Boozer reneged on a verbal agreement with ex-Cleveland owner Gordon Gund to re-sign. But such a deal would have been illegal under league rules. The Cavs general manager back then was Jim Paxson, older brother of the Bulls' vice president of basketball operations and now a Bulls consultant.
The Paxson brothers never let that history get in the way of acquiring Boozer for the Bulls. They'd talked about trading for the 6-9 power forward several times in the past.
Boozer left a successful partnership in Utah with former Illinois point guard Deron Williams. Now he has a chance to mesh with Derrick Rose, who made the all-star team in his second NBA season.
"I think Derrick is extremely athletic, He might be the most athletic point guard I've seen, maybe ever," Boozer said. "Both him and Deron both share a great court vision. At the same time, Derrick can score. He has a great poise about him. I don't think I ever saw him get rattled out there. I'm looking forward to playing with him."
Boozer was also enthusiastic about playing with center Joakim Noah.
"He has a huge, huge desire to win," Boozer said. "It's great to be around guys like him because you don't find guys 7-feet with his motor. I'm looking forward to playing with him. It's going to be fun.
"This team already has a bunch of guys that work hard. I think we can be as good as we want to be. We want to win championships. If we reach our potential, hopefully we'll put another (banner) up there sometime soon."