{"id":151248,"date":"2026-03-03T17:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/151248\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:22:10","slug":"essay-is-cameron-boozer-the-best-fit-for-brooklyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/151248\/","title":{"rendered":"ESSAY: Is Cameron Boozer the best fit for Brooklyn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

As the Brooklyn Nets inch closer to finishing their season with one of their season objectives \u2014 top-three NBA Draft lottery odds \u2014 it\u2019s time to put on our wishful-thinking cap and look ahead.<\/p>\n

Assuming Brooklyn lands near the top of the board, there will be no shortage of intriguing prospects.<\/p>\n

But the Nets already have intriguing prospects.<\/p>\n

What they need is a franchise changer, someone who can lead them out of the league\u2019s bottom tier and make becoming a Net feel appealing to an available star for the first time since the Big Three era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdentity\u201d is a common clich\u00e9 tossed around when discussing young teams trying to establish themselves. But even if teams don\u2019t formally sit down and define it, having a strong organizational culture has an impact on everything.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, depending on where the Nets land, the highest-rated player available might not automatically be the best fit for a rebuilding team still figuring itself out. Sean Marks & co. take high character very, very seriously when assessing prospects.<\/p>\n

An unhappy star can derail a takeoff before the seatbelt sign even turns off. And after the time this franchise has invested in starting over, Marks cannot afford to miss.<\/p>\n

At this stage of the process, you\u2019d have to think Brooklyn\u2019s guy has to be Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer, a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year who is having one of the best analytical collegiate seasons of all time and checks other boxes as well.<\/p>\n

He leads the country in Player Efficiency Rating<\/a>, Offensive Box Plus\/Minus, Box Plus\/Minus, Win Shares per 40 minutes and total Win Shares. His 19.82 BPM and 13.31 OBPM are the second-highest marks posted since 2010-11, trailing only Zion Williamson\u2019s 2018-19 run, which is about as elite a comparison as it gets.<\/p>\n

Through 29 games, the freshman power forward is averaging 22.5 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and 1.8 steals.<\/p>\n

Drafting four guards and a forward who operates like one in the 2025 NBA Draft doesn\u2019t lock Brooklyn into targeting the frontcourt. The Nets will tell you it\u2019s always about BPA, best player available. But it does matter when you\u2019re sketching out the future.<\/p>\n

At 6\u201910\u201d and 250 pounds, with an uncanny playmaking ability from the 4, the 18-year-old offers size that creates offense instead of slowing it down.<\/p>\n

He plays advanced for his age, physically and mentally, like someone who already knows exactly what he\u2019s good at and how to lean into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cCam is never satisfied, I think that\u2019s the great thing about him,\u201d Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019ll find something from tonight\u2019s game, I\u2019m sure, where he\u2019s pissed at, he didn\u2019t do as well, even though he had 32 (points), nine (rebounds) and four (assists). That\u2019s what makes him special. I think when your best player is that way, it becomes contagious and have a big effect on the rest of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his skillset should translate quickly to the NBA, some of the bully-ball stuff, lowering a shoulder into a defender\u2019s chest and carving out space at the rim, probably won\u2019t be as easy against grown men.<\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s limited. He\u2019s just taking what\u2019s easiest right now. He can get downhill and finish with either hand, score on the block, face up and knock down a jumper, and even slide into catch-and-shoot threes off movement. The foundation is all there.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s the intangible: Boozer is the son of Carlos Boozer who played for four teams in a 15-year NBA career, twice being named to the NBA All-Star team and once to an All-NBA berth. He also won gold as part of the 2008 USA dream team in the Olympics and an NCAA championship. That has to matter. Cameron has a unique resource in pursuing his NBA dream.<\/p>\n

What about the others at the top of everyone\u2019s draft board. Darryn Peterson has seen his stock drop because of concerns related to nagging injuries and reliability and one decision-maker told ND this week that A.J. Dybantsa may not be the guy to \u201cset your culture\u201d because of maturity issues. As has been reported, the player the Nets take in the draft will likely be a big part of the draw for a superstar.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s two most promising young pieces this season have come from backcourt backgrounds \u2014 Egor Demin and Nolan Traor\u00e9. Demin has already emerged as one of the top young 3-point shooters in the NBA, while Traor\u00e9 is learning how to properly channel his explosiveness and use his speed to control tempo instead of just playing fast.<\/p>\n

With two rising young talents in their backcourt, Boozer can slide in and form a dynamic two-man game with either to carve up defenses for the near future.<\/p>\n

Whether lottery luck puts Brooklyn in a chance to immediately draft him, the Nets have options.<\/p>\n

They control 10 first-round picks over the next five years, the second-largest asset pool in the league, 13 over the next seven. If they decide to move up, unlike last year, they have enough draft capital to make another rebuilding team at least pick up the phone.<\/p>\n

Sitting around and waiting for a player of his caliber to fall into their lap isn\u2019t a safe bet by any means.<\/p>\n

If this rebuild is really about getting the plane off the ground and keeping it there, then this is the pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Icon Sportswire via Getty Images As the Brooklyn Nets inch closer to finishing their season with one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,8027,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-151248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-nets-draft","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}