A conversation with Carlos Boozer

The Juneau Empire caught up with 1999 Juneau-Douglas High School graduate and NBA star Carlos Boozer on Wednesday at his basketball camp. The 35-year-old arrived in town this week to host the Carlos Boozer Basketball Camp. Approximately 160 youth are practicing for the remainder of the week under Boozer’s watch.

Boozer says he has two more years of professional basketball in him, and is in talks with a handful of NBA teams. Boozer last played in the NBA three years ago for the Los Angeles Lakers. Last season, Boozer helped the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association reach the Finals.

Juneau Empire: I know you were recently married to Anishkah Smith. How was your honeymoon?

Boozer: Our honeymoon was great. We went to Africa, we went to Egypt, to Morocco and then we finished it off in Spain. We love Europe, but we had never been to Africa before. To be able to see Egypt and Morocco and see a little bit of our heritage, it was pretty awesome.

JE: Was there one spot in particular that was your favorite?

Boozer: To me, the pyramids were something special because it’s something I had watched movies about, watched documentaries about, studied them when I was in college. I just couldn’t believe that these kind of structures were built by man using no machines. They had these huge, incredibly heavy stones brought in to the desert and through the Nile River. They made boats out of wood — just basically wood and strings. To see how they were able to make those kind of structures in the desert when it’s like a 100-something degrees, standing tall as skyscrapers, waaay back then. It just showed incredible intelligence man.

JE: Playing in the Chinese Basketball Association for a year, how does the postseason atmosphere of that league compare with the NBA?

Boozer: It was different, man. It was fun, the excitement, the fans are great, they go crazy for basketball in China, they’re huge basketball fans over there. It was also very cool to see stars over there, like Stephon Marbury is over there, other guys like Jimmer Fredette that played in the NBA. So it was cool to be able to see the Chinese playoffs and the CBA playoffs. We did well, we lost in the finals. My point guard got hurt so he wasn’t 100 percent. … We tried, I had a pretty good series. I had a 40-point game. I think I ended up averaging 28 (points) and 15 (rebounds) for the series. As we all know, basketball’s not a one-man sport, it’s a team sport. So you need everybody.

JE: When you touch down in Juneau, what are some of the places to eat or see that you gravitate toward?

Boozer: I know I grew up here and spent my childhood here, but every time I come back from being down in Miami or down south, I get amazed man. It’s like the first time I’ve seen it. I fly in, I’m landing in from Seattle, and I’m looking down the Gastineau Channel and we’ve got beautiful weather this week, so I got a clear view of that beauty. I got in, I went up on the tram and saw the whole view of the city. I went out to the glacier. Me and my family and my wife and my friends went whale watching the other day and got to see a couple different breaches and got to see a bunch of (whale) tails. … There’s just so much beauty here in Juneau and as I’m describing this to some my friends … in Miami, I’m just like, ‘To be honest, the only way you’ll get a chance to appreciate the beauty, is by coming up here and seeing it for yourself.’

JE: Did you almost feel like you didn’t even realize the extreme beauty here when you were growing up here?

Boozer: I definitely did. But it’s different when you leave. Being here from when I was 8 until 17, I got to chance to do everything, and go fishing, go hiking, go camping, go to Eaglecrest, go skiing. All the beauties that my city has to offer, but then when I leave and I go to college at Duke University, and I go to the NBA, and I come back and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ And then I leave again for a couple more years and I come back — it’s like every time I come back, it’s like the first time I saw it. There’s so much here to see. Like right now, everyone’s talking to me about the ice caves, so now I’m thinking about going on a hike up there. I know it’s about a five or six hour hike.

JE: What are your thoughts when you enter this gym and you see your jersey on the wall all those years ago, and you see familiar faces like Coach George Houston, you must just feel a lot of gratitude and amazement?

Boozer: I’m filled with gratitude, man. I was very fortunate to grow up here and to be able to play here at this high school and play for Coach George Houston. He’s one of my best friends. I was fortunate enough to have a coach that taught the fundamentals to a T and so I got a chance to learn basketball from a great basketball mind. My father, obviously, put the ball in my hand and was coaching me at an early age. I walk into this gym and I have so many memories from Southeast championships to state championships. I have some of my friends here working the camp like Robert Casperson, who’s now the head coach of the (JDHS boys basketball) team, Robert Ridgeway who was my point guard for two state championships here.

JE: Can Coach Houston still raise his voice to the level he did when you were playing?

Boozer: Oh he has a commanding voice, man. Coach is a general, he takes no nonsense. He’s very strict, but it’s because he wants the best for you, he wants you to learn the right way. … At the end of the day, if you’re not going to do it right, don’t try it, and I like that attitude. Coach (Krzyzewski) is very much the same way, Jerry Sloan is that way, Tom Thibodeau with the Bulls — he’s in Minnesota now — is that way. So it was great to have had that when I was 14, 15, 16. I didn’t know at the time, but it was preparing me for the coaches that were going to follow.

JE: Since you’re on the tail end of your basketball career, what’s next? How do you now think about that next stage in life?

Boozer: Yeah, I do. I’ve thought about it for maybe the last three or four years. For me, I’m going to play two more years, which are going to be a lot of fun, and then I’m going to move in to either coaching or being a commentator or broadcast for the NBA. But I’m also going to be very happy to be in the community here. I’m talking to some city council members. I’m trying to get acclimated here in the community doing some different things with helping our youth out and making sure the youth are aware of the some of the issues we may have and making it better. I’ll be more active here with the Fastbreak Club here at the high school. I’m getting a house. I’m looking around for a house right now. So I’ll be splitting time between Miami and Juneau and going back and forth a little bit. I’m excited to get back in my community, man.

JE: Are you anxious at all about getting on an NBA roster this fall?

Boozer: Oh no, I’m not worried about it. I’m talking to about eight teams right now. A lot of them are trying to sift through some of their young guys that they just drafted. We just got done with summer league in the NBA a few weeks ago. Now, as they are putting their roster together … they start to implement the veterans that they want around some of the young guys. I’m in negotiations with a couple different teams. In the next three or four weeks, I’m going to find out where I’m going to be at, and then you guys will know.

JE: You just have to been patient.

Boozer: Yeah, just be patient, let my agent keep talking to them. I’ve talked to a couple different GM’s and when they get done evaluating what they want to see out of their team makeup this year then I’ll know.

JE: Who do you think is going to the NBA Finals next year?

Boozer: There’s so much going on right now. There’s guys being traded. There’s guys that are still waiting to be traded like Carmelo Anthony maybe to Houston (Rockets). Kyrie Irving just said he wanted to be traded. So it really depends on where guys up end. Obviously, I think Golden State is probably the favorite and any team with LeBron James has a good chance and you can’t count the Spurs out.

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• Contacts sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.

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