Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  196 responses

Carlos Boozer: Bulls ‘Can Accomplish a Championship’


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Injuries and postseason failure may have ruined his first year in the Windy City, but Carlos Boozer sounds like he’s all fired up for this upcoming season.

Boozer promises Chicago Bulls fans and media that he’ll be a much better player this time around, going so far as to claim that the team will be good enough to win a title.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Boozer, maligned throughout the Bulls’ run to the Eastern Conference finals last season as he battled turf toe, has heard the criticism. And in a phone conversation from his offseason home in Miami on Tuesday, the former All-Star basically said bring it on. “It motivates me,” Boozer said. “First of all, I have high expectations for myself. I’m going to play a lot better than I played last season. The injury with the hand (in training camp) set me back. Then I thought I played well for a month or two. And then I had more injuries. A lot of things happened … I don’t look at criticism as a down thing or negative thing. I look at it as a challenge. That’s what athletes do: We challenge ourselves. I look forward to quieting the haters and helping my team win. That’s the most important thing.”

“I think we can accomplish a championship,” Boozer said. “I think we have the talent and the leadership in place. The experience of last year’s playoff run and the season we had has prepared us. A championship is the next step in our progression. Don’t get me wrong: There’s a lot of work to be done. We need to get in the lab and get to work. But if you ask anybody in that locker room, we have a championship-caliber team.”

Despite their bravado, no one outside of the Bulls’ locker room considers Chicago to be a true title contender.

Without a respectable option at the shooting guard spot, they don’t have enough offensive firepower to compliment Derrick Rose and truly challenge the League’s superpowers.

But, hey, what do I know? The players in Chicago seem to believe otherwise. And they’ll have plenty of opportunities this season to prove us all wrong.

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  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    The Amnesty is a buy-out basically. Players that get amnestied get a huge paycheck in one lump sum.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    I miss Lang’s 15 lbs of Muscle Watch. I know Bosh has put some weight back on and doesn’t look like the gangly b*tch he looked like all throughout last season. Now maybe he can wear the Predator dread wig and live up to his RuPaul nickname.

  • fish sticks

    ^thanks nbk. that makes sense.

  • Brahsef

    Lol at Enigmatic quoting the Big Ghostface blog. Funniest blog on the internets

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    E – Bulls crumbled in the ECF, Heat crumbled in the finals. They both crumbled. We root for some cookie-a** teams, yo.
    I think they’ll both be better. A full season of Haslem will no doubt make the Heat better, but a less injury-riddled Bulls team will also make them better.
    I’m not saying the Bulls are gonna improve on their 60 wins, but they should be a better team as well.
    And they are capable of beating the Heat.
    If Boozer can hide his skirt for a full series, and Rose can overcome the 6’8”, “20-pounds shy of Shaq’s weight” monster that is LeBron when he Ds him up, and the rest of the supporting cast can step up, we’ll be aight.
    We’ll see tho.
    And I agree with Booz, they can contend for a title, regardless of what Mutoni thinks (does anyone besides Lakers fans think THEY’RE a threat?)
    But I don’t like how he’s talking about how he’s gonna do this or that.
    I’ll believe it when I see it.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    No problem.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I fully think Chicago adds a 2-guard that can score from the perimeter before the trade deadline (who is going to get Amnestied?) if not before the season. But until that happens I don’t see them beating the Heat.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    I mean, the Laker stans are always going to be ignorant, so there’s that.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    I don’t know. The Heat are still unknowns. We don’t know how they will play. We don’t know how much better D-Rose will be. Deng is a great defender on Bron. Bulls defense is better than the Heats.
    A scoring 2 guard is what they need to be much more solid scoring wise, but if Rose is improved he might be able to find his groove and learn how to beat the Heats defense. If I had to put money on today’s teams playing each other… Heat edges out bulls in 6 or 7. BUT, in no way would I be surprised to see the Bulls beat anyone in the East.

  • http://www.twitter.com/nflem41 Nicolas Fleming

    Kobe has robot legs, he’s practically in the Matrix.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    I gotta give props where props are due, I thought the Bulls were the best defensive team in the L last season, but during the ECF, I thought the Heat’s defense was a thing of beauty.
    As a fan of great defense, I couldn’t help but say “damn, that’s some good a** D!”
    I wouldn’t even be surprised if Thibs got a hard on after watching game tape of that Miami defense in that series.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    ^ lmao

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Good to have you back, Matic.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys6VpgI9BHA datkid

    lmao at enigmatic ^^ I think the heat will have improved also btw… this extended lockout has given d.wade a nice long rest that his body sorely needs

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    I’m semi-back. Using my iPhone to comment. Seems to have a higher success rate than my work computer

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    If you google search “Popcorn Muscles Carlos Boozer”, the first four links are all SLAM.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Just posted saying I’m using my iPhone so my comments are coming through, but that last one didn’t. Will this one?
    Also, very random but I seen on nbadraft.net they have James McAdoo compared to James Worthy.
    Lol, word???

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I had better luck with my iphone at work a yearish ago. We had a bunch of firewalls and site blockers here that made commenting impossible.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Man, I’m taking credit for the Popcorn Muscles thing!

  • LA Huey

    Hey, Bulls fans. Afflalo or J-Rich? I think Afflalo would be better for you. Better defender and younger legs.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Nuggets going to resign Afflalo probably. Caron Butler is likely going to be had for the Mid-Level though. He is looking like a real possibility in Chi.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Afflalo has long been my top choice but Nuggets lost Smith, K-Mart, Chandler and bout to lose Nene.
    Don’t know if they’d give up Afflalo that easily.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    They cancelled Mario Chalmers Charity Game.

  • fish sticks

    Honestly i think Mayo would be the best fit… Grizz aren’t gonna be able to afford him, and honestly I think he’s a decent defender/offensive player who can create for himself, and would also thrive playing with Rose

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    I knew about that since Monday. Sucks. Was looking forward to see Rio, Boozer, Bosh and… Oh, who am I kidding?
    I’m mostly upset I won’t get to see John Wall and James Harden.
    But I’d much rather have an NBA season an I can always catch some NBA action when I go back home to the Chi.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I feel that. Still though, I was pulling for you to get something exciting out there after I read your article on the GAS. Which was great, anyone who didn’t read it probably should.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    do the Bulls have a shot at signing Dwight Howard or what? Should we all just concede he’s going to L.A. ?

  • http://www.twitter.com/nflem41 Nicolas Fleming

    They cancelled the one out here in Waco, Tx, too. Bummed, but I’m not in 8 feet of snow. Things could be worse.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    i should say acquire

  • http://bulls.com airs

    i think the bulls can contend. i wonder how many in dallas honestly thought they could contend.
    any talks yet for a 2 guard? im out of the loop.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Caron Butler, Jason Richardson, Vince Carter, & Aaron Afflalo are the three names I’ve seen most often connected to the Bulls.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Four*

  • Red

    Eboy how about how the Heat with 3 superstars lost to an old Dallas
    team? How about the comeback they made against a Heat team with 2 top
    5 players which was a failure of epic proportion? So easy to forget
    that though huh? And cohesive? Did you have a dream & wake up declare
    them to be cohesive out of nowhere? Lol and Bulls fans never liked the
    idea of boozer, we all knew he was the free agent nobody really
    wanted.

  • http://bulls.com airs

    Eboy how about how the Heat with 3 superstars lost to an old Dallas
    team? How about the comeback they made against a Heat team with 2 top
    5 players which was a failure of epic proportion? So easy to forget
    that though huh? And cohesive? Did you have a dream & wake up declare
    them to be cohesive out of nowhere? Lol and Bulls fans never liked the
    idea of boozer, we all knew he was the free agent nobody really
    wanted.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    Bulls are contenders Tom Thibideau gives them a defensive mindset I’m just wondering how they are going to take the pressure off Rose offensively. He’s strong but honestly he can’t get through another season like last year without some help, especially with more games in a week.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    The Heats loss to the Mavericks after beating the Bulls can’t possibly be used as evidence that the Bulls are going to be better off than the Heat next season. Not logically at least.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    Boozer was a free agent nobody wanted? hmmm okay guess nobody wanted (all injuries aside) a career double double machine. Why is he such a cancer again?

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Nicolas I’ve been living in 8 inch snow my whole life, but I’d rather be shot at by the ATF Branch Davidian style than be stuck in Waco, Texas.

  • http://bulls.com airs

    Wasn’t evidence to say the Bulls are going to be better, it was to fire back at saying the Bulls were embarrassed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    if its because of the injuries I understand, but when he’s healthy he’s productive to say the least

  • shutupallenp

    @bulls22 the mavs were running their mouth b4 they won Jason Terry had that Tat and I was praying they would lose so he would look like a dumba$$, the Bulls will never win a championship with the team they have, Rose needs to slide over to the 2 and let a real point guard run the offense but even with that theyre not close to being a contender

  • blakos

    @Caveman, didn’t the Bulls have success against top ranked teams last year? I wouldn’t call their rfecord fake. I do however agree an upgrade at SG is needed. Love to see Mayo there.
    Go the Wiz!!!

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    My bad Airs. The Bulls and Heat were both “embarrassed” if they were both supposed to legitimately compete for the title. Or neither were and both went through a learning experience. I prefer the latter but Either way’s fine.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Career double-double machine.
    Career horrible defense machine.
    Career injury prone machine.
    Career shrink in the playoffs machine.
    Career demand a trade machine.
    Career LOUD NOISES (!!!!!!!!) machine.
    Dude’s a machine, alright.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Do people realize how stupid they sound when they say Rose isn’t a PG and should play the 2?
    Holy sh*t, really?

  • http://bulls.com airs

    who is this guy?! thats not me

  • http://bulls.com airs

    all time leader in rebounds stolen from teammates
    all time leader in yells per possession
    all time leader in defensive blow-bys

  • http://www.twitter.com/nflem41 Nicolas Fleming

    Rigo, I feel ya, Central Texas sucks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/gametimeweezy Gametimeweezy

    lol loud noises whats that about homie? he’s not a piece to the puzzle? he bangs man i’m not too convinced Taj Gibson will be that much more productive for them right now.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I’m confused.

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