Money doesn't buy wins, Larry Miller knows by now. Paychecks purchase players, not guarantees of success, or the Knicks and Blazers would be in the NBA Finals every year.
But the Jazz owner figures million-dollar salaries ought to at least purchase an honest effort every night. And Miller doesn't believe he's getting it - notably from, though hardly limited to, the player whose paychecks are biggest.
Carlos Boozer "has been terrific some nights. [But] some nights, he has looked like he didn't care that much," Miller said Wednesday of the most expensive free-agent purchase in franchise history. "I like Carlos a lot. I try to remember he's only 23. But he's here because we need a big presence at power forward, and I just hope he will play the way he ought to 82 games a [year]."
That means, with hustle and heart, attributes sometimes lacking from this season's 16-32 Jazz team. Miller was careful to emphasize that "a lot of players are culpable. I don't think it's just him." Yet the $10.97 million Boozer is earning this season, the first of a $68 million, six-year contract, makes the third-year forward a conspicuous offender when his game lags behind expectations.
In other words, Miller admitted, Boozer hasn't delivered what the Jazz figured they were paying for - though "I think there's a lot of players I could say that about," he added.
"If you go just on his performance, season to date, there's an argument that we overpaid a little bit, from what we expected," Miller said.
Miller cited half-speed efforts to run hard up and down the court, failing to muster energy on defense, just standing up to the rigors of an NBA schedule. "He's a talented player, [but] I don't know how tough he is," the owner said. ". . . It's hard for me [to tolerate] anybody who doesn't play up to his physical capability, especially defensively."
Miller, who has committed his franchise to nearly a quarter-billion dollars in long-term contracts (counting Andrei Kirilenko's upcoming extension) in the past seven months, seemed to be challenging Boozer to reassert himself on the court, rather than simply criticize his forward's play. His tone was impatience and annoyance, not condemnation.
That's as opposed to his tone Monday night, when the owner stalked into the Jazz's locker room after an overtime loss to the Knicks and blasted his players to their faces with a 30-second scream.
"I've been embarrassed by a lot of what I've seen this season, and I was pretty hot that night," Miller said. No player said a word as he shouted his critique. "I had been in the locker room, wanting to say things a few times, but I said, 'I won't, I won't, I won't. The heck I won't.' . . . I just figured I'm going to tell them how I feel. If they like it, fine, if they don't like it, that's OK, too."
Same goes with Boozer, though Miller believes he will respond positively to the challenge.
"There's definitely enough good things there that I don't have any sense of despair at all," Miller said, adding that other teams have expressed willingness to trade for Boozer, something he doesn't plan on doing. "Knowing what I know now, I think I would sign him again for the same money."
But if he did, Miller said, he would make it more clear to Boozer what sort of effort the Jazz expected, and "see if he couldn't commit himself more consistently."
Boozer was not available for comment on Wednesday, the Jazz's day off. The team, which has lost five of its past six games, will practice again today before meeting the Timberwolves on Friday in the Delta Center.
Boozer's game has clearly suffered lately. Though still the Jazz's leading scorer at 17.8 points per game and the leading rebounder at 8.9, the power forward has slumped to 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds since Jan. 10. Boozer averaged 20.2 points in November and December, but the last time he scored that many points in a game was on Jan. 8.
The team has been no better, falling to sub-.500 opponents New Jersey, New York and Charlotte in the past 10 days alone.
Boozer and the other Jazz players had adapted to not having Andrei Kirilenko around, and when the Russian's knee injury healed, Miller wondered, "Are we going to go through an adjustment period?" he said. "We're going through something. I mean, we suck, we really do."
But part of the reason for Boozer's slump may be pressure to live up to that enormous contract, the owner reasoned. "It thrust him into a position where it certainly would suggest he should be a leader on the team, both as a basketball player and an emotional leader, and that was a role he wasn't used to being in," Miller said. "We're still expecting him to step up and be at least one of the leaders we hope would come forward."
Can he do it? Can he be more than a role player, a characterization Miller agreed with thus far in Boozer's Jazz tenure? "I think he'll learn how to do that," Miller said. "I think his attitude is fine. He's had some great games, [and] he's also had some tough nights. He's in the process of trying to figure out how to do that every night."
tisk tisk, guess money doesn't pay. I'm sure Cavalier fans are happy about this after he left for more $$
