Cam Boozer hears the criticism. Creation requires work. The three-pointer hasn’t arrived yet. For a prospect who has won at every level he’s played, there’s always someone waiting in the wings for his inadequacies.
It didn’t particularly bother him.
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“Whoever said my 3-point shooting needed to improve significantly wasn’t looking at me,” Boozer said. “My senior year in high school, I shot 47 percent from three. Now I’m shooting 40 percent. So that’s not true.”
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Boozer is having one of the best freshman seasons in college basketball in years. The son of two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer who played 13 seasons in the NBA, Cam has basketball in his DNA. But he was creating something completely different. When Duke needs him, he plays center; when Duke doesn’t need him, he slides next to a traditional big man, and either way, he’s a problem. He remained confident when asked about a nitpick that scouts keep bringing up: defense.
“You can put me anywhere on defense and I’ll be fine,” Boozer said. “We’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the country all year long.”
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Recent NBA champions have been blessed with versatility, which will be an asset for the 6-foot-9 Boozer to advance to the next level no matter where he is drafted. But March Madness will be a different kind of test. Starting center Patrick Ngomba is out with foot soreness and is questionable to play this month. The Blue Devils may need him to win it all.
“He’s obviously one of the best rim protectors in the country and one of the best big man passers. I think when he’s aggressive, he’s the best big man in the country,” Boozer said. “I feel like he’s playing against really good big men every night and winning every time.”
Playing next to such a rim protector and passer makes Cam’s job easier because he has more space, clearer reads and more room to do damage.
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The same goes for playing with my brother. Cam’s twin brother, Caden Boozer, spent most of the year on the bench until Caleb Foster suffered a broken foot on March 7. With Foster’s hopes of playing in March in doubt, Caden has a greater responsibility.
According to CBB Analytics, Duke has an offensive rating of 129.3 in the minutes Cam and Caiden share the floor, one of the highest on the team. Not surprisingly, the twins have natural chemistry on the floor.
“He’s a true point guard, getting guys in the right spots, touching the paint, creating opportunities,” Cam said. But the year hasn’t been as smooth for the 6-foot-4 twin as it has been for his taller brother, especially considering that Caiden often has to play without the ball in his hands.
In high school, Caiden shot 39.3 percent from spot-up three-point range, according to Synergy. At Duke, that number dropped to 29.1%. Defenses have the potential to wear him down and clog Cam’s offensive line.
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“It’s a smaller sample size. I feel like I’m a pretty good shooter,” Caden said of his 55 spot-up attempts. “At the end of the day, I believe in my job and I just have to continue to find my moments and stay positive in those moments.”
Caiden’s emergence this March would benefit Duke’s national championship chances and even increase the likelihood that he’ll test the waters in this year’s draft. Some executives project Caiden to be an early second-round pick but believe he has lottery potential as early as next year.
Cam has a chance to further improve his stock. Some executives already had him at No. 1, and a strong performance in March only solidified that. The player he’s been developing his entire life is Anthony Davis — especially the early New Orleans version, when Davis was essentially a big guard. On a given night, stretch out, drive defenders away, defend down low, guard all five positions. This has always been the model.
Teams are vying for the chance to draft Boozer or one of the other projected No. 1 picks, including BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darin Peterson. When asked about it, he smirked: “I’m just focused on what we’re doing at Duke this season.”
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I joked that he had some strong media training.
“You could call it a media-trained answer,” he said without smiling this time. “But it’s true.”
For athletes who grew up being told the NBA was their destiny, it’s harder than it sounds. The offer came in. The rankings were also announced. Mock draft begins. The temptation to live five years ahead of yourself is always there.
“When you have dreams and ambitions, you can’t focus too much on it because then you’ll ruin what you’re doing,” Kayden said.
Then Cam chimed in: “We still talk about it to this day. Just stay where your feet are, stay in the moment, don’t look ahead and just really enjoy where you are. Because especially in college, you’re only here once.”
For Cam and Caiden, the draft is coming up. But now, there’s a game to win. That’s all they both would say.