Losing out on Booz

Carlos Boozer bolted Cleveland in the summer of 2004, and the running has yet to stop.
Tonight, for the second straight season, Boozer will be thousands of miles away nursing an injury when his Jazz pay a visit to the Cavaliers.
Last season, it was a foot injury. This year, it is a tender hamstring that has sidelined him all season.
Boozer might have this plotted out so he can duck Cleveland from now until the end of his career. Next season, a stomach virus. The following year, a chipped fingernail. Sure, his injuries are legit, but so is his desire to stay away from the wrath of Cleveland fans.
Boozer could soon be finding ways to duck Utah fans if this season is any indication. He bought a 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in Malibu, Calif. during the off-season, and has reportedly made himself scarce in Salt Lake City, opting to stay in California and rehab with a hand-picked personal staff of trainers and physical therapists.
Rumors have begun to swirl that Boozer would like a trade to the Lakers. Apparently that "next Karl Malone" thing isn't working out so well in Utah, where he has played only 51 games in nearly a season and a half. Perhaps now he's thinking the next James Worthy?
Boozer was called out by Utah owner Larry Miller for a lack of toughness last year. This year, the Jazz had to call a news conference to reassure everyone that, yes, Boozer really is injured, and no, he isn't sandbagging it.
Only Boozer know for sure. What is certain is that Boozer's career is spiraling downward. The Cavaliers, perhaps being naive, trusted him enough to let him out of the final year of his contract with the anticipation he would sign a new deal in Cleveland. To roll the dice on a purported franchise player, the Cavaliers must have gotten some assurance from Boozer's camp that he was staying. But then Adonal Foyle inked a ridiculous five-year deal with the Warriors. Then the Jazz came calling with a six-year, $68 million offer, and Boozer reneged on his Cleveland promise.
It was then Boozer's true colors showed. It was then his career took a bad turn.
Boozer played the part of a nose-to-the-grindstone yeoman basketball player his first two seasons. He looked like the type of guy that put personal gains aside to help his team win.
But underneath that workman exterior was a self-centered, bitter individual, who apparently felt his blood pressure rise every time a reporter reminded him he was a second-round draft pick in 2002. He put up 15 points and 11 rebounds per game in the 2003-04 season. Current Cav Drew Gooden, picked fourth overall in 2002, has yet to have a 15-and-11 season, but made far more money than Boozer his first two years.
Boozer was looking for a payday that would prove he was as good or better than any other power forward picked ahead of him that year, and apparently was willing to step over whomever he needed to so long as he got the money.
Boozer has been branded as selfish since then, and the negative things have kept happening to him.
Bill Simmons of ESPN.com calls it bad karma for "screwing over a blind man," meaning former Cavs majority owner Gordon Gund, who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa at age 21.
Predictably, Boozer's reaction has not been to meet questions or criticism head on, it has been to go into hiding. In the months after he left Cleveland, he spent much of his time in his native Alaska, waiting for the heat to die down. Now, he is hunkered down in Malibu, hiding from two cities.
Boozer is becoming a basketball version of Roberto Alomar without the superlative ability. He is making a habit of quickly wearing out his welcome wherever he goes. It doesn't seem to bother him, so long as he can keep running away.
If and when he does get traded to the Lakers, expect him to buy a house in San Antonio and begin dreaming of becoming Tim Duncan's understudy shortly thereafter.