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Cameron Boozer is the first rookie coming off the board in the average Yahoo draft.<\/p>\n
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Cam Boozer finds himself in an unfamiliar space as he embarks on the NBA career he has prepared for his entire life.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s on his own.<\/p>\n
Sure, father Carlos, a two-time NBA All-Star and 13-year veteran, is just a phone call or text away. The biggest difference on the court and in daily life is twin brother Cayden isn\u2019t in Memphis with him. Cayden stayed in college at Duke when Cam decided to enter the NBA draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing is just not going through the tough moments and the great moments with him,\u201d Boozer said during the Grizzlies\u2019 training camp. \u201cBut I mean me and him are prepared for this. We played with a lot of players over the years, and I think it\u2019s exciting for both of us. Both of us having a new step in our journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
That first step came in June when the Memphis Grizzlies made Cam Boozer the No. 3 overall pick hoping the 6-foot-10, 250-pound forward is the key piece for a franchise rebuilding yet again through the draft. That could be a lot of pressure on someone who just turned 19 with one year of college at Duke.<\/p>\n
Luckily, growing up a Boozer has helped Cam prepare for this moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, man, I definitely think it helped for sure,\u201d Boozer said. \u201cI think at the end of the day, everybody has to get tossed into it, and I think it helps you get prepared hearing your parents give you advice and things like that, but at the end of the day, you\u2019ve got to go through it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grizzlies leaning into Boozer\u2019s versatility<\/p>\n
Boozer slides into a young Grizzlies roster that includes center Zach Edey, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, Scotty Pippen Jr. and G.G. Jackson. Memphis execs rave about all that Boozer brings with his shooting, rebounding, toughness and focus on winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we want him to keep focusing on\u2026,\u201d general manager Zach Kleiman said. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously going to play a significant role. We\u2019ll give him what he\u2019s ready for. I suspect he\u2019ll, as he always has, he\u2019ll find a way to make even more of an impact than people expect of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Grizzlies aren\u2019t ready to define exactly what Boozer will do, giving him some freedom to slide out to the perimeter and shoot from outside. The AP men\u2019s player of the year averaged 22.5 points a game and grabbed 10.2 rebounds a game in his only season at Duke. He also shot 39.1% outside the arc.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot going to put him in a box, not going to say anything that he won\u2019t be able to do,\u201d Kleiman said.<\/p>\n
Coach Tuomas Iisalo expects Boozer to have an adjustment period and that the rookie will play inside as well as in the post. Iisalo likes Boozer\u2019s ball-handling skills giving Memphis versatility in and around the paint. Boozer averaged 4.1 assists at Duke.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis passing already is at a very, very high level, and I think that is something we will definitely utilize whether he\u2019s a handler, whether he\u2019s a receiver in screening situations,\u201d Iisalo said.<\/p>\n
Betting favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n
Boozer at least has a teammate who understands being a second-generation NBA player. Pippen\u2019s father, Scottie, had six championships with Chicago, and the Grizzlies guard has been impressed with how the rookie doesn\u2019t really make mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been someone that, on both ends of the floor, he kind of has it all,\u201d Pippen said. \u201cI think he\u2019s someone that\u2019s going to hopefully change this franchise and do a lot of good things for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boozer joins a Memphis squad that revamped its roster with big trades sending away Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant earlier this year. The rookie sees his young teammates eager and motivated to make their mark on the league.<\/p>\n
The Grizzlies forward already is a betting favorite to be the NBA Rookie of the Year, which would be Memphis\u2019 first since Morant in 2020. Boozer said he knows achieving any goals like Rookie of the Year depend on winning, so that\u2019s what he\u2019s focused on doing.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s part of the advice his father gave him to stay in each moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get caught looking ahead and you want to do this or you want to do that, you kind of lose focus of today,\u201d Boozer said. \u201cThe biggest thing, if you maximize today, you\u2019re going to put yourself in a good position for those things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Boozer is the first rookie coming off the board in the average Yahoo draft. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,22566,87918,17422,1000,85],"class_list":["post-932995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-carlos-boozer","tag-grizzlies","tag-interview","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}