Cam Boozer has heard the criticism. The creation needs work. The 3-point shot isn’t there yet. For a prospect who has won at every level he’s ever played, there have always been people waiting for the part where he falls short.
He’s not particularly bothered by it.
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“Whoever says my 3-point shot needs to improve clearly just didn’t watch me,” Boozer said. “My senior year of high school I shot 47% from 3. Right now I’m shooting 40%. So that would just be incorrect.”
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Boozer is having one of the better freshman seasons anyone has seen in college basketball in years. The son of Carlos Boozer, a two-time All-Star who spent 13 seasons in the NBA, Cam has basketball in his DNA. But he’s carving out something else entirely. He’s played center when Duke has needed him to, slid next to a traditional big when they haven’t, and been a problem either way. When asked about the one nitpick that scouts keep bringing up — defense — he stays confident.
“You can plug me in anywhere on defense and I’ll be fine for sure,” Boozer said. “We’ve been one of the best defensive teams in the country all year long.”
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Recent NBA champions have had versatility built in, which will be an asset for the 6-foot-9 Boozer entering the next level no matter where he’s drafted. But March Madness will be a different type of test. Starting center Patrick Ngongba has been sidelined by root foot soreness and is questionable to play this month. The Blue Devils may need him to win it all.
“He’s obviously one of the best rim protectors in the country, one of the best passers as a big. I think when he’s aggressive, he’s the best big in the country,” Cam Boozer said. “And I feel like he’s shown that night in and night out playing against really good bigs and winning that matchup every time.”
Playing beside a rim protector and passer of that quality has made Cam’s job easier with more space, cleaner reads, and more room to do damage.
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So does playing with his brother. Cam’s twin brother, Cayden Boozer, has come off the bench the majority of the year until Caleb Foster fractured his foot on March 7. With Foster’s hopes of playing in March in doubt, Cayden has a much bigger responsibility on his plate.
Duke has a 129.3 offensive rating in minutes that Cam and Cayden share the floor, one of the highest combinations on the team, per CBB Analytics. The twins unsurprisingly have a natural chemistry on the floor.
“He’s a true point guard, getting guys in the right spots, touching the paint, creating,” Cam said. But the year hasn’t been as smooth for the 6-4 twin as his taller brother, especially given how often Cayden needs to play without the ball in his hands.
In high school, Cayden shot 39.3% on spot-up 3s, per Synergy. At Duke, that number fell to 29.1%. There’s a chance defenses will sag off him, clogging the lane for Cam.
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“It’s been a smaller sample. I feel like I’ve been a really good shooter,” Cayden said of his 55 spot-up attempts. “At the end of the day, I trust in my work and I just have to continue to find my moments and be aggressive in those moments.”
Cayden emerging this March would be a boon for Duke’s national title chances, and it would even increase the odds that he test the waters in this year’s draft. Some executives project Cayden as an early second-round pick but think he has lottery potential as soon as next year.
Cam has a chance to raise his stock even more. Some executives already have him going first overall, and a dominant March run could only cement that. The player he’s been building toward his whole life is Anthony Davis — specifically the early New Orleans version, when Davis was essentially a big guard. Stretching the floor, driving defenders, posting up, guarding all five positions on a given night. That’s always been the model.
Teams are tanking hard for the chance to draft Boozer or one of the other projected top picks, including BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. When asked about it, he smirked: “I’m just focused on what we’re doing right here this season at Duke.”
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I joked and said he has received some strong media training.
“You can call it a media-trained answer,” he said without a smile this time. “But it’s really the truth.”
For athletes who have been told since they were children that the NBA is their destiny, that’s harder than it sounds. The offers come in. The rankings get published. The mock drafts start. The temptation to live five years ahead of yourself is constant.
“When you have your dreams and your aspirations, you can’t overly focus on it because then you ruin what you’re doing in the present,” Cayden said.
Then Cam chimed in: “We still talk about it to this day. Just be where your feet are, be present, don’t look ahead, just really enjoy where you are. Because especially with college, you’re only going to be here one time.”
For Cam and Cayden, the draft will come. But right now, there’s a tournament to win. That’s all either of them will say about it.