Bulls power forward answers criticism by saying that his role is different in his current team where there are five scorers.
The Chicago Bulls fans have had a love hate relationship with Carlos Boozer, the Bulls power forward. Boozer was with the Utah Jazz team before the Bulls, and brought into the Bulls line-up with a huge salary and the expectation of putting in numbers on a consistent basis and giving the Bulls scoring the boost it required.
Two seasons down the line, Boozer has not lived up to his expectations and still remains the weak link in an otherwise great team. Boozer is failing to score for the Bulls, and that is the one area that the Bulls, who have been the best defensive team for the past two seasons, are being defeated.
With Derrick Rose out for much of the next season, the responsibility on Boozer’s shoulders is more than ever before, but he says that the fans should be worried about victories and not his personal stats, as the Bulls are a different team from the other teams he has played with over the years.
“People look at it from the wrong perspective. This isn’t Utah, and this isn’t just a team with me and [former Jazz point guard] Deron Williams on it. We’re playing with five scorers here, so your touches aren’t going to be the same, your looks aren’t going to be the same. It’s a different system. All the people should worry about is if we win. Criticize me if we lose, but if we win, just praise us,” said Boozer while talking to the Sun Times.
Boozer is right with regard to the team philosophy of the Chicago Bulls, who expect everyone to chip in rather than relying on one or two stars. However, the Bulls need Boozer to step his game up a notch when they reach the playoffs, where they are playing against the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. The Bulls need a consistent scorer in the line-up apart from Rose, and someone needs to pick up that responsibility more than ever now that Rose is unavailable for half of the next season.
The Bulls played their first preseason game on Tuesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, and contributions from Luol Deng, Rip Hamilton, Kirk Hinrich, Joakim Noah and Nazr Mohammed helped them edge out a victory. However, Boozer himself had 6 points and 5 rebounds for night, going 3 of 10 from the field. For the Bulls to exceed expectations next season and make a playoff run, Boozer or Deng will need to step up, with the onus on Boozer since Deng is already putting in numbers despite a bad wrist.
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