{"id":180993,"date":"2026-03-31T16:28:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180993\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:28:37","slug":"brooklyn-projected-to-select-duke-star-cam-boozer-in-latest-nba-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/180993\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn projected to select Duke star Cam Boozer in latest NBA mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/brooklyn-nets\/nets-news-joe-tsai-hints-brooklyns-strategy-2025-26-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brooklyn Nets are battling for positioning in a heated tank race<\/a> as the NBA season winds down. If the season ended today, the rebuilding squad would have the third-best odds in May&#8217;s draft lottery. <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25262746-2026-nba-mock-draft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Draft Analyst Jonathan Wasserman projected the<\/a> Nets to select Duke star Cam Boozer with the No. 3 pick in his latest mock.<\/p>\n<p>While Boozer&#8217;s skeptics continue to voice concerns about his grounded athleticism, Wasserman said the freshman star is unlikely to fall past third.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">\u201cThere isn&#8217;t much left Boozer can show to change the minds of scouts who visualize more upside with [A.J.] Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson or [Caleb] Wilson,\u201d Wasserman wrote. \u201cDespite shooting better from three (39.1 percent) on more volume than Dybantsa, posting a 26.0 assist percentage\u2014higher than Peterson&#8217;s, Dybantsa&#8217;s and lottery guards like Keaton Wagler and Brayden Burries, and grading in Synergy Sports&#8217; 90th percentile or better in ball screen and isolation possessions, there is still some lingering fear around his lack of quickness, vertical pop and defensive projection. The 18-year-old with two FIBA MVPs and Gold Medals, four high school state championships and three EYBL Peach Jam titles could have led Duke to a national championship, and there will still be evaluators who&#8217;ll worry that he&#8217;ll lack the height or athleticism to continue creating advantages in the NBA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">\u201cBut there&#8217;s also a bandwagon of Boozer believers who simply buy the results, intangibles, in-game problem-solving and expanding versatility with his ball-handling and shooting. Though it&#8217;s going to take a specific general manager for him to go No. 1, No. 3 still does seem like a worst-case outcome. Boozer could go No. 1, 2 or 3, depending on how each of those teams&#8217; general managers define and prioritize upside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/ncaa-basketball\/nba-news-fans-question-cameron-boozer-draft-stock-duke-tcu-game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">concerns about how Boozer&#8217;s skill set will translate to the NBA persist<\/a>, there&#8217;s no denying his dominance this season.<\/p>\n<p>Where would Cam Boozer stack up among former top Nets draft selections?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3718639\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Cam-Boozer-drive.jpg\" alt=\"Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) drives to the basket as Virginia Cavaliers forward Devin Tillis (11) defends during the second half at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke won 77-51.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\"  \/>Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Boozer averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists on .556\/.391\/.789 shooting splits while leading the Blue Devils to a 35-3 record. The 18-year-old posted a +18.74 box plus\/minus, the second highest among any player in the last 16 years, behind only Zion Williamson (+20.1).<\/p>\n<p>He is the only player in the last 19 years to post a usage rate above 30 percent, a true shooting percentage over 65, and an assist-to-turnover ratio over 1.5, per BartTorvik.com. If not for a shocking turnover and an improbable Braylon Mullins shot, Boozer would be starring in the Final Four on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Boozer would instantly step in as the Nets&#8217; most highly-touted draft pick of the Brooklyn era, if not all-time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/brooklyn-nets\/why-2025-2026-nba-drafts-most-important-nets-franchise-history\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Nets have picked in the top 14 of the draft 24 times<\/a> in their franchise&#8217;s history. Those players\u00a0have combined for\u00a0just seven All-Star appearances.<\/p>\n<p>Buck Williams (drafted in 1981) is the only lottery pick to make multiple All-Star appearances with the team. Derrick Coleman (1994), Kenny Anderson (1994), Kenyon Martin (2004) and Brook Lopez (2013) are the only other lottery picks to earn an All-Star selection with the organization.<\/p>\n<p>The Nets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tankathon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">sit in third place in the draft lottery standings<\/a> with seven games remaining. They have one fewer win than the Sacramento Kings in fourth and one more than the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers, who are tied for first.<\/p>\n<p>The Brooklyn Nets are battling for positioning in a heated tank race as the NBA season winds down.  If the season ended today, the rebuilding squad would have the third-best odds in May&#8217;s draft lottery.  Draft Analyst Jonathan Wasserman projected the Nets to select Duke star Cam Boozer with the No.  3 pick in his latest mock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets are battling for positioning in a heated tank race as the NBA season winds down.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,73036,21,7939,9,24,63,7748],"class_list":["post-180993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-reporting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180993","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=180993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}