March 7, 2007 - When Carlos Boozer looks back at the 2002 draft, I hope he sits back and gets a good laugh. Players like Marcus Haislip, Melvin Ely, and Curtis Borchardt were selected ahead of Boozer, a bruiser inside the paint who helped Duke win a National Championship in 2001 then watched as his name wasn't called until the second round just a year later. Teams like the Warriors, Bulls, and Grizzlies even let Boozer slip by a second time before the Cavs finally made the call.
Five years and one team later and Boozer isn't just an All-Star, but early in the season they were saying his name and those three little letters - MVP - in the same sentence.
Boozer has helped the Jazz come out of nowhere in the West, and while some were talking about another rebuilding year, the Jazz instead sit firmly in first while more hyped teams like the Nuggets have been stuck from the jump playing catch-up.
The Jazz team is filled with young blood, ballers like Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, and Paul Millsap, and one of the ways the team has bonded off the court is through the trash-talking competition of videogames.
"We battle on the plane (big screen TV and plush chairs with the loser rotating out and playing PSP), and one of my teammates, Dee Brown, he always brings his PlayStation on the road, so we end up playing a lot in his room just to wind down at night."
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And since these guys live the NBA experience 24/7, when it comes to gaming, they're looking for other sports to conquer, from Madden football to Top Spin tennis.
"We get Madden Bowls going every two weeks. I'm an Eagles fan so I get Donovan McNabb and Westbrook and we just get busy. Jevon Kearse and Trotter get the stops and the team is stacked. I'm kind of salty about losing Jeff Garcia, but trust me, we get our wins. "
But as great of a tight end Boozer might make in real life, he sticks with the real lineups in Madden, never creating himself on the Eagles. "I'd be a beast of a tight end, it would be tough to get me down, but if I played football I'd rather play defense. I want to hit somebody."
Instead, Boozer's been using those muscles to shove opponents around the paint, and even though an injury forced him to miss the Vegas All-Star game, Boozer's return, not to mention his recent man-handling of the Grizzlies (24 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists), has Utah fans hyped about hoops again as the Jazz push their way into the playoffs.
"I look at missing the All-Star game as a blessing," says Boozer, "because it makes me so hungry to play better so I can get back to the game next year. The whole environment was great, the atmosphere was terrific, and to be able to be around that aura of the guys, I'm looking forward to being there next year and being able to suit up."
When Boozer talked about the terrific atmosphere in Vegas, though, I paused and asked what I've been dying to know from an NBA player's perspective.
Aren't you guys mad that the league is taking a bad rap for what an NFL player allegedly did in Vegas?
"I'm going to tell you, it's tough because it was obviously our event," Boozer tells me, "and I feel bad for us being in a bad light, but at the end of the day, it's that individual's responsibility and it's all going to come back to where it's supposed to be at. So I'm not worried about it like some of the guys are."
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While out in Vegas, not only was there a lot of ballin' going on, but videogames were everywhere. Sony was even giving custom PS3's to all of the athletes and celebrities who visited their suite at the Palms. And while Boozer wasn't able to get to the suite in time for the custom rig, he still walked away with a new PS3 (to go along with the one his wife bought him at Christmas. One is just never enough these days).
The thing is, Boozer's teammate D-Will was lucky enough to get a custom system, and now the point guard is afraid to bring it on the road. "He keeps it at his crib," laughs Boozer. "He won't bring it out because he thinks someone is going to jack him for it."
And while I've heard teams like the Spurs are betting at least $300 a game on titles like NBA Live on their team plane, according to Boozer, the Jazz tournaments are more for bragging rights.
"We just bet $20's because we have some young guys who don't have that much cheese, but when they get those next bills, it will probably go up a lot."
Adding another reason D-Will refuses to bring his custom PS3 out his front door.
"On the road, you have to put up what you can put up," says Boozer, "he might have to put up his game system one day, and if he loses that system, he'll get salty about that."
And when it comes to those high stakes match-ups, Boozer is always at the top of his game (and glad to throw down some loot).
"I'm playing games, not every day, but four-to-five days a week. It's probably more than most. I've been playing since I was young, since Bo Jackson was running Tecmo Bowl, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon."
Or at least until he can pry that custom PS3 out of D-Will's hands.
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