Carlos Boozer talked his career, his son Cameron Boozer and more on a Reddit AMA.
Carlos Boozer, a 13-year NBA veteran known for his patented mid-range jumper and post game, answered questions from the NBA Reddit community about his career and his son, Cameron Boozer, who was selected No. 3 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Thank you for doing an AMA! Your time on the Bulls were some of my favorite Bulls teams growing up to root for, especially when you played with Joakim Noah, [Luol] Deng and of course, D-Rose. Any off-court moments that you remember with that team that stand out looking back? Was Joakim as wild off the court as on?
I just think all of it. I think obviously the reason why we had such great chemistry on the court with our group was because we hung out off the court together; we went to movies, dinners, we hung out on the road, we hung out at home, like we spent so much time together. There was a couple of occasions where we went out, and Joakim was shirtless on top of a couple tables, but we had a good time together.
Other than being great at basketball, how do you prove yourself as a second rounder and have such staying power? How much does your approach to playing in the league differ from your son who is such a high draft pick?
Yeah, for me, I thought I was one of the best college players my junior year coming out, and I flipped to the 2nd round, so I had a huge chip on my shoulder. Felt like I had something to prove every single night in the NBA, and that turned into a 13-year career. I was very blessed to play with some great players, and also at the same time for my son, he’s had an incredible early start to his career. He’s only 18 years old still, but was College Player of the Year last year and swept all the awards in that regard, dominated high school basketball, Peach Jam, all the things. Very fortunate, very excited for him to be the 3rd pick in the NBA Draft to a great organization, the Grizzlies, and looking forward to his career.
You were one of the last masters of the high-percentage mid-range post-up. How do you reconcile your signature ‘grind-it-out’ style with the modern ‘pace-and-space’ era? Do you feel like you would have adjusted your game to shoot more threes, or would you have stayed true to your post-game dominance?
That’s a great question. I think that the game has changed so much where there’s so much pace. They’re playing with way more possessions nowadays than we had back then. When I played, it was more of a half-court type of offense, and you obviously ran in transition opportunistically. Now, even if you’re in the half-court, you’re trying to get shots up within 7-8 seconds, so very different. I think I would have tried, but I would have been a combo. I would have been able to still do my style of playing down low, hitting the 17-foot middy, but also would have stretched out a little bit further to the 3-point line out of necessity for spacing. And played more up tempo as well.
Who was toughest to guard during your career? Were you assigned anyone that gave you a run for your money?
Two guys that were nightmares for me matchup-wise were Kevin Garnett in his Minnesota years. I mean, Big Ticket was 7-foot-1 and could do everything. The post-up game, mid-range game, play defense. He was the best defensive big I ever played against. He can guard 1 through 5, and guess what? He let you know about it the whole game, so you had to hear about it. So, he was the first guy. The second guy would be Dirk Nowitzki. I mean, I know it’s not like the sexy Kobe Bryants and LeBrons. That wasn’t my matchup. My matchup was the power forward, so I went against, like, Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace. And I’m telling you, Dirk Nowitzki was just as good as all of them. He could shoot a 3, he could go by you. You saw him carry the Dallas Mavericks past the loaded Miami Heat team with the Big 3 in the Finals. Dirk Nowitzki, if you don’t know who he is, go look him up.
Which franchise did you feel the most comfortable playing for?
I’ll be honest with you, it’s an honor and a blessing to have made the NBA, getting drafted by Cleveland, going to Utah, having a chance to learn from Jerry Sloan and be a star, going to Chicago and playing with an incredible team with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, and having a chance to possibly win a championship. Ended my career in Los Angeles and playing with the late great Kobe Bryant, one of my big brothers and favorite players of all time. All four of those teams, to me, was an honor to play for those four franchises. There wasn’t a team that I wish I would have played for, but there was a player. I wish I could have played with Big Shaq. He just seems like one of those great teammates that would have made everything fun, and we would have won a lot of games.
What is your favorite memory or story you’d be willing to share from the Redeem Team?
The Redeem team, we had so many stories. I mean, to be in Vegas obviously for Summer League, we spent 3 weeks here in Vegas training, getting ready for the Beijing Olympics, and the one that I’ve told on the Redeem team documentary, I’ll tell it to you real quick right now. We’re in Vegas, so we get done with our practice day. 12 of us on the Olympic team, 11 of us went out, had a great time. We get back to the Wynn, the hotel, at like 3:45 in the morning. We’re coming through the lobby, and here comes Kobe walking through with his security. And I’m over here like “Kobe, where you going?” And he’s like, “I’m going to the gym, I got goals.” And so we go on the elevator, and I’m self-reflecting. I’m looking down to my right, and I see D-Wade, and I’m looking over to my left, and I see Dwight, I see Bron, and I look at myself, and I’m like, “Damn, I got goals. Y’all got goals?” Next thing you know we’re all on Kobe’s schedule, and it was just his work ethic. 5 a.m. workouts. 7 p.m., getting up more shots, going hard, super hard during practice for those 3 or 4 hours, and we did everything that Kobe did moving on from that day, and we got ourselves a gold medal in Beijing.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you gave to your son, that most kids who go the league won’t end up hearing until they make it?
The biggest advice I gave my son was to enjoy the moment. I know he’s had a lot of great moments, a lot of success early in life. Again, he’s only 18 years old, turns 19 next week, and my biggest advice was don’t let the moments pass you by. That’s one of the mistakes that I made. I would win the ACC championship, and I’m looking forward to the National Championship, so my mind’s going to that. Won the National Championship. I’m getting ready to get drafted. I never really celebrated the small victory. So I told my son, just be where your feet are. Conquer today if you have practice today, if you have a film session, if you have a Summer League game out here in Vegas. Conquer each moment, conquer each day, and enjoy each moment because you may never play Summer League again. You’re never going to get drafted again. All those moments have happened, so make sure you soak in that moment as you continue to plan for your future.
What do you see as Cam’s potential ceiling in the league?
He can be as good as he wants to be. I mean, that kid has all the skills. He’s so versatile on both sides of the ball. Some of these guys only play on one side of the ball. Cam is a dominant player on offense and defense. I think one of his most awesome attributes is his passing ability, I think it’s underrated. He has great vision. He sees everything a play ahead. He’s obviously a dominant post-up player. His 3-point shot is getting better and better. He gets to his middy. The biggest skill set that he has is winning. He figures out ways to win, and that’s the biggest asset that he has that’s gonna make him a great player for a long time.
Carlos Boozer, Cameron Boozer and CeCe Boozer pose together after Cameron was named the recipient of the 2025-26 Wooden Award.
Did you train Cam yourself or did you have other coaches involved? Was there a daily routine or a clear plan outlined on a regular schedule?
Yeah, me and Mom, trained them, but we had trainers that came in that were elite. We had different guys at different stages of their careers that would implement different things for them. Obviously, at some point, 6th or 7th grade, we got them with Coach George and Coach Andrew, who were their AAU coaches at Knight Riders and also their high school coaches at Columbus High School, where they had so much success. They also train them still to this day. And the reason why is because they train NBA players. They train Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo and Immanuel Quickley and they train guys that are playing at the elite level today, and that’s what I wanted around my kids to be able to learn the nuances of the game, today’s game, not the game I played 15 years ago. So it’s important to always be innovative. It’s also important to be open-minded, and it’s extremely important to find the coaches that can help your players and help your sons get to that level. That’s what we did. We found the right coaches so they can take them to the next level.
What part of Cam’s game is something that you didn’t particularly excel in or didn’t feature that you are proudest of the most?
I think Cam is just so versatile on both sides, but he can guard the 1, the 2, the 3, the 4, even some 5s, and that’s something I really didn’t excel at. I was pretty much a power forward. So if you were a power forward, I got you. But if he was a 2, 3 and a 5, you know what I mean? So I’m impressed by how he’s able to move his feet, use his length and his IQ to be in the right position. I’m very impressed by his defense.
Is there anything you have taught Cam to not do like you did and made him learn from any of your mistakes?
No, I think he’s such a student. He figures stuff out very quickly. He’s one of the rare players in this draft that’s able to make adjustments in real time. A lot of guys have to go back at halftime to get a talk about the coach or watch some film. Cam is able to read it during the game and can make an adjustment, which is very rare.
When you were playing I remember reading about some unorthodox training strategies your dad had. Specifically I remember he taught you to eat breakfast with your off-hand. Did you carry over any of those techniques to Cam and Cayden?
Yeah that’s very old-school type of training my dad did. He didn’t want to be one-dimensional. He wanted me to be able to use both hands, be ambidextrous, on the basketball court. So, he would have to tie my hand behind my back, have me eat my cereal, so I could make sure I use my left hand and be just as left-handed. If you watch my NBA highlights, a lot of my dunks, when I dunked on people, I dunked it with my left hand because I was almost more comfortable with that side because he was so focused on me being able to go left and right. But no, today we just train, we do the same moves, we going right, we do the same moves going left, and somehow it’s worked out.
What was it like playing with Kobe Bryant in the 2014-2015 season? And are there any qualities or similarities in the Black Mamba that you can see in your son Cameron Boozer’s game?
Yeah, Kobe was unbelievable. He was one of the most studious athletes I’ve ever been around. His IQ was through the roof, the way he thought the game, the way he saw the game. I’ll tell you a quick story. Kobe was like 37 years old in 2014 or whatever he was, and you’re like 19-20, whatever it might have been, and we had training camp, so we’re going through sprints, and we drafted Jordan Clarkson. He was our rookie. Julius Randle was one of our rookies, so we’re going through sprints, and guess who’s winning the sprints? A 37-year-old black mamba, Kobe Bean Bryant. After practice I’m like, “Kobe, what you doing?” Like this is year number 20-whatever for you. I don’t want you to get hurt before we get started, and he goes, “Booz, I want them to know this is the kind of work ethic it takes to have a career like we had. A long career, not a short career.” That’s the mentality that he had, and similarities between him and my son Cam, they’re both relentless at studying the game. They both have extremely high IQs, and they both have a relentless effort to wanna win. They care about winning above everything else, and those are the similarities that Kobe Bryant has in my son.
Do you have any advice for a high schooler trying to become something after high school?
I think you’ve got to do the same thing you did in high school. You got to study, you got to do your research, whatever it might be. If it’s a career that you really have a passion for, do your research. Don’t be afraid to ask the question. I think a lot of people don’t actually reach out to someone who could be their mentor and have the humility enough to ask somebody who may be smarter than them, “How do I get where you are?” It’s a very humbling type of question, and most times out of 10, you’ll be surprised the person will help you. So I think you do your research, you study, you reach out to people who you admire, and you ask the question, “How do I get to where you are?” And then you write that down and you make it your goal and don’t stop till you get it.
On-court, the story of the 2010s was the 3-point shooting revolution. Now that we’re more than half a decade in, what is the story of the 2020s?
Man, I just think the versatility and how great these players are so young. Look at the draft last year, ‘25 draft. You got guys that are balling. Coop wins the Rookie of the Year, throws up a 50 ball. Dylan Harper takes over the playoffs. I’m not gonna say he would have won the Finals MVP because Wemby would have got that if the Spurs had won, but he would have been a big reason why they would have won. I think he cemented himself as a playoff player. You got guys like VJ Edgecombe. Kon Knueppel may have been the surprise of the whole draft last year. I just think guys are so talented now. They’re so versatile. I think they can do multiple things on both sides of the ball. I think that’s the main thing about this era is the versatility of the player, no matter what size you are.
We know that Duke, Kentucky and Kansas always produce quality athletes. Which programs do you feel don’t get the recognition they deserve?
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, think about Gonzaga. Gonzaga had some really good pros over the years. A sleeper team could be like Ohio State. They had some really good players over the decades, different guys. Georgetown back in the day, UConn, and obviously UConn has championships, but they also have really good players that came out of that program. I mean, I don’t know why they’re not considered a blue blood at this point, honestly, I would say those.
Carlos, you’ve said music helped you unlock your basketball alter ego, what song instantly turns daily Carlos into beast mode BOOOOOZER?
It’s a great question. I would probably say “Lose Yourself” by Eminem is an immediate one. Any song by Jay-Z in those early 2000s. “The Ruler’s Back” is one of my favorites from Jay. The whole 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, that album goes bananas. If you haven’t heard it because you’re young, go play it. Lil Wayne, anything that he had. Nas, anything that Nas had. Even J-Cole now, you know, the Kendrick’s now, Drake’s got some stuff. Some of his stuff is kind of lovey-dovey, but if you go back, like Jadakiss, or if you don’t know who Jadakiss is, Google Jadakiss.
Who wins in a 1v1, you or your son both rookie season?
It’s a good question. He’s got way more versatility, can handle the ball. I’d probably go with my son, man, to be honest with you. I just think his IQ’s a little bit higher than mine was at that time. I think his skill set was a lot more than I had at that time. He can do a lot more with the ball than I could at that time. He’s a nice kid. He’s a good kid, but I’m going to go with Cam.
***
What’s up guys, this is Carlos Boozer. I wanna give a huge shout-out to Reddit, man. Thank you for having me on. You guys have outstanding questions. Hopefully I gave you some food for thought on some good answers. I appreciate y’all.
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