The Secret NBA Beef!
Carlos Boozer hates the Cavs?!
Video Transcript
Before LeBron James' decision in 2010, the biggest villain Cavs knew was Carlos Boozer.
Yes, the same Carlos Boozer who is the father of rookie Cam Boozer.
Now this beef got pretty ugly.
It involves Boozer stabbing a partially blind man in the back.
Fans retaliated by making a website called carlosloser.com and threw eggs at his home.
Boozer was so scared at Cavs fans that he even refused to show up every time the Jazz played the Cavs, and only faced his fears three years after the beef started.
What exactly did Boozer do or not do to get this kind of hate from a team?
It all started when Boozer got drafted by the Cavs in the second round of the 2002 NBA draft.
As someone initially expected to be a mid-first round pick, Boozer was surprised that he had to wait till the 35th pick to finally hear his name called.
After signing a two-year deal, Boozer said he'd get payback at every team that passed on him.
He would do just that.
Boozer finished seventh in Rookie of The Year voting and averaged a near double double as a rookie.
In year two, Boozer got even better.
He started 75 games and averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Together with a rookie LeBron, fans started to envision championships, then came Boozer's extension.
The Cavs could have easily underpaid Boozer his third year by accepting his 690,000 team option.
But Cav's then owner Gordon Gund wanted to do right by Boozer.
They declined his team option and met with Boozer a day before free agency.
During their meeting, the Cavs offered him a six-year, 40 million deal.
That kinda contract would still make him very underpaid, but it was the most the Cavs could offer at the time.
Boozer himself said during their meeting he had no problems with it because he was willing to give them a discount for drafting him.
The best they could do during the meeting was a handshake deal, since if they made the deal official, the Cavs would be a lock for tampering investigations.
During the first few days of free agency, Cavs kept a low profile, but Boozer kept entertaining other offers and shocked everyone in Cleveland when news broke that he accepted a six-year, 68 million deal to play with the Jazz.
Boozer claims that he got a phone call from the league saying they had word of his secret meeting.
If he were to sign the lesser deal with the Cavs, they'd be investigated.
Boozer chose the bigger bag and avoided any controversy.
By doing so, it made him public enemy number one in Cleveland for years.
It took Cavs six years to stop hating on Boozer, and that's only because they found another villain to hate.
A duo of Boozer and LeBron would've been interesting, especially since we know LeBron could lead a team to the finals by himself just three years later.
So you can understand why Boozer leaving after two years hurt them in ways we can't understand
