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Revision as of 03:19, 10 February 2006 by Mwelch (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Carlos Austin Boozer, Jr. (born November 20, 1981 in Juneau, Alaska) currently plays professional basketball for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. He played collegiately for Duke University, helping the team win the 2001 NCAA basketball tournament. He declared for the 2002 NBA Draft, relinquishing his final year of NCAA eligibility. Boozer was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA draft. He signed with the Utah Jazz in 2004 as a restricted free agent for roughly six years and a total of $70 million. Boozer's signing with the Jazz was highly controversial because it was perceived that his doing so betrayed a trust placed in him by the Cavaliers' organization.
After the 2003-04 NBA season, the Cavaliers had the option of allowing Boozer to become a restricted free agent, or keeping him under contract for one more year at a $695,000 salary, which was clearly much lower than he would earn on the free agent market. If the Cavaliers chose that latter option, Boozer would becomae would enter the free agent market unrestricted after that one year expired. Boozer's high level of play meant that he almost certainly had a big pay raise in his future; the question was just whether it would come immediately, of after one more year, depending on what the Cavaliers chose to do.
The Cavaliers reached what they felt was a verbal agreement with Boozer. They would forgotheir right to keep him for an extra year at relatively low pay, and instead allow him to become a restricted free agent. In exchange, he was expected to negotiate his new, lucrative long-term contract only with the Cavaliers, and not sign an offer with any other team. The advantage for Boozer would be that he would get his large salary increase immediately, rather than having to wait another year for it. The advantage for the Cavaliers would be that they would lock in Boozer's services long-term, rather than risk losing him on the free agent after the one extra year was up.
With that understanding, the Cavaliers allowed Boozer to become a restricted free agent. Shortly thereafter, the Utah Jazz made Boozer an offer more lucrative than any the Cavaliers could match. In defiance of the understanding the Cavaliers thought they had when the allowed him to become a restricted free agent in the first place, Boozer signed the offer with Utah, and the Cavaliers were forced to let him go.
For his part, Boozer has acknowledged that his original intent with regard to free agency was to remain with the Cavaliers. But he has steadfastly denied that he made any explicit verbal promise to the team to do so. Boozer's denials are not widely believed, however, simply because the Cavaliers actions, allowing him to be a free agent when they had every contractual right to keep his services at very low pay, are completely inexplicable in the absence of such an agreement. Cavaliers fans in partcular, were outraged at the perceived betrayal, and two fans used the Internet to lampoon the event, creating a cartoon likeness called "Carlos Loozer".
In his first season with the Jazz, Boozer was criticized for his lack of toughness by his new team's owner, Larry Miller, and suffered an injury, missing almost half the season. He has yet to play a game in his second season with the Jazz, this time due to a strained hamstring.
Boozer was selected as a member of the 2004 USA Olympics basketball team.
He wore #4 at Duke and #1 with the Cavaliers, and currently wears #5 for the Jazz.