LAS VEGAS \u2014 Cameron Boozer watched a lot of the New York Knicks during their run to their first NBA championship in more than 50 years.<\/p>\n
He watched how they moved offensively. He observed how they shared the basketball and how they seemed to know where each other would be at all times. He eyed how they moved as a team defensively, consistently covering for each other. Most importantly, he took notice in how every player on their team possessed multiple skills.<\/p>\n
Boozer, the Memphis Grizzlies\u2019 rookie forward, spoke at length about the Knicks being a leader for positionless basketball. It\u2019s part of what he wants to achieve as a professional. Boozer then went out and turned in one of the best summer-league performances from the 2026 draft class. Over a 10-day period, he averaged 18.5 points, eight rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He also averaged 1.8 steals, helping the Grizzlies reach the Las Vegas Summer League championship game, where they lost a narrow one to the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n
Boozer gave everyone a glimpse into why he\u2019s been a dominant figure in American basketball since early in his high-school days.<\/p>\n
\u201cVersatility is the name of the game. That\u2019s what teams are looking for,\u201d Boozer told The Athletic. \u201cTeams want five guys who can make plays. Look at the Knicks this year. Everyone on that team was capable of doing more than one thing. Everyone was capable of playing on or off the basketball. That\u2019s what I feel like I can do best. I can screen. I can handle it. You can put me in a lot of different scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
What are Memphis Grizzlies getting in Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer?<\/p>\n
Zach Harper and CJ Moore<\/p>\n
Boozer, after a much-discussed pre-draft, ended up being the No. 3 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, after AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, who went to the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, respectively. When asked if he should have gone No. 1, he calmly made eye contact and admitted that he felt like he should have at least been in that conversation. But he\u2019s happy to make the matriculation to Memphis.<\/p>\n
He will likely be a day-one starter in Memphis, which may not have happened in Washington or Utah. He and Cedric Coward, an NBA All-Rookie First Team player last season, will immediately take the reins of what will be a young roster. And the Grizzlies have talent. That run to the Las Vegas Summer League title game was not a fluke. Boozer\u2019s ability to affect basketball games, combined with the talent Memphis had on its roster, unsurprisingly led to a dominant run through both the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas summer leagues.<\/p>\n
If Boozer\u2019s game has shown anything, it\u2019s the ability to translate every time he moves up a level. He was one of the most dominant high schoolers of this era, and he played at a level so high for so long that it became almost boring. He then led Duke to the Elite Eight in his lone year of college. He was named The Associated Press men\u2019s college basketball national player of the year, and he displayed a level of dominance rarely seen from a freshman at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n
His maturation to the pro game, and to Memphis, will likely hold a key to where the Grizzlies go as a franchise. If Memphis is to return to prominence, Boozer\u2019s development would be a big reason why.<\/p>\n
The son of two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer is a franchise-level talent. Most agree to that. If \u2014 and when and how fast \u2014 the younger Boozer reaches that ceiling will likely tell a tale for Memphis as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NBA is for sure very different than college,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be about growing up and figuring it out. But this has been a great transition for me. I have a great group of people around me, with my mother and my father and my family. There are great people in this (Grizzlies) organization, as well. So, it\u2019s really been a great transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been around the game for so long that it definitely helps. I feel like God has a plan for me, and I\u2019m in Memphis for a reason. We can talk about the draft, but at the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t matter where you start, it\u2019s where you finish. In 10 years, it\u2019s not going to matter where I got drafted. It\u2019s going to matter what I\u2019m doing, and it\u2019s going to be about what I can do to help teams win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why Cameron Boozer produces and wins at every level<\/p>\n
Sam Vecenie<\/p>\n
To prepare for the NBA, Boozer worked on multiple areas. He\u2019s tried to hone his jumper, which will be key in opening up his game inside the 3-point arc. He also lost 10 pounds because he wants to be able to chase defensively on the perimeter.<\/p>\n
What became clear, at least at the summer-league level, is that Boozer\u2019s strengths from high school and college will still be strengths going forward. Most talk about the force he plays with, combined with the skill and touch he has away from the basket. His passing, however, has been a real highlight. He dishes the ball like a point guard.<\/p>\n
Add the fact that he\u2019s a 6-foot-10 power forward who makes for a difficult matchup, as he can pick a team apart with things other than scoring. Because he can handle the ball like a guard, he consistently shows the ability to grab rebounds and lead transition opportunities on his own.<\/p>\n
Watch This: 32-2 run helps Grizzles clinch spot in Summer League semis <\/p>\n
His weakness is his lack of vertical explosion around the rim. But he\u2019s been able to carve out space on the interior and finish with efficiency in summer league. His ability to process what a defense is throwing at him is first-rate. And the Grizzlies simply were a better team in Las Vegas whenever he was on the floor.<\/p>\n
Boozer scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists in a win over Caleb Wilson and the Chicago Bulls. He had 21 points and eight rebounds in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He scored 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field in a win over the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n
He adapted to different roles during the 10 days of Vegas, while playing in every game. When Memphis needed him to be aggressive, he went into the paint and created offense. When the Grizzlies needed him to make plays, he created for his teammates.<\/p>\n
In a number of ways, the Knicks provided a blueprint for a championship that doesn\u2019t involve having a heliocentric star. And Boozer projects to be the star who doesn\u2019t need to dominate the ball to be effective. With his pro career in its infancy, he projects to be versatile and unselfish but impactful and dominant at the same time.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s why he became a top-three draft pick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like you can play me at any of the frontcourt spots. It just depends on who is on the roster,\u201d Boozer said. \u201cBut some of that doesn\u2019t really matter. It\u2019s about what teams can do. I saw the Knicks play Josh Hart at center at points during the playoffs, so it\u2019s what you can do on the court that leads to wins. I thought we played solid. I still think I can be a lot better defensively. I just have to sharpen things up going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Cameron Boozer watched a lot of the New York Knicks during their run to their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[7091,7741,355,361,99],"class_list":["post-775910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-duke-blue-devils","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}