Carlos Boozer Jr. inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
- Klas Stolpe
- 22 hours ago
- 15 min read
Elite hoops club welcomes former JDHS Crimson Bears legend who became a two-time NBA All-Star, member of 2008 USA Olympic team
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The halls of fame for Carlos Boozer Jr., 43, a 1999 Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé graduate, keep getting grander.
On Saturday, the former Crimson Bears four-year impact player was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, joining the ranks of the best basketball players on the planet and the greatest moments in the game’s history.
“Oh man, this means everything,” Boozer said Wednesday from his Miami home. “From where I came from, to be in the hall of fame, I am still at a loss for words. I mean, obviously I’m giving an interview and want to give you some good sound bites, but to be honest I’m just lost for words, man."
"It just takes me back to the beginning, like coming home from school, telling my mom and dad I wanted to go to the NBA when I was like 12 years old. My mom and dad sacrificed, my brothers and sisters sacrificed, my dad taking me out to practice at Auke Bay Gym after school every day, working on my game…My mom made sure my homework was right, always encouraging me."
"Obviously, this is the biggest award or the biggest compliment of your game that you could ever get as a basketball player to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. For me, that was just incredible, it takes me back to the beginning…I am in awe, from Juneau, Alaska to the basketball hall of fame. I'm still living the dream that I had when I was a kid, you know?”
The two-time NBA All-Star was inducted as a member of the undefeated 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal-winning squad famously referred to as the “Redeem Team,” comprised of Boozer (then age 26), LeBron James (23), Carmelo Anthony (24), Dwyane Wade (26), Kobe Bryant (29), Jason Kidd (35), Deron Williams (24), Dwight Howard (22), Chris Bosh (24), Chris Paul (23), Michael Redd (28) and Tayshaun Prince (28).
Standing on stage with his fellow inductees in front of a capacity crowd, Boozer locked eyes with parents, Carlos Sr. and Renée, who were both in attendance at Saturday’s induction ceremony in Springfield.
“I’m just proud,” Boozer said. “My parents poured so much into me, and that's what I tell people. I know I'm up here standing with my fellow teammates and my fellow class. I got inducted into the hall of fame. They're all terrific, incredible people, awesome, obviously great basketball minds and basketball players, but they're even better people. But I didn't get up there alone. It took a village."
"I talk about (JDHS) Coach Houston quite a bit. George was the first person outside of my immediate family that believed in my dream to be in the NBA, to make it all the way to the mountaintop. And then I get a chance to play for Coach K (Mike Krzysewski) at Duke, and he sharpened my game up…And I get to the NBA and I'm playing for Jerry Sloan and Tom Thibodeau, these hall of fame coaches and teammates."
"If it wasn't for, as a freshman, Coach Houston believing in me. I was a 14-year-old kid and there's barely been a guy on varsity as a freshman, maybe only one or two guys in the history of the Crimson Bear program. I'm the next guy. He put me on the varsity and I’m in the class of Robert Casperson, James Johnson, Chad Cary and Josh Lockhart. Those four guys taught me what it meant to be a Crimson Bear. Coach Houston made me a Crimson Bear by putting me on the basketball team, and those four captains instilled in me what it took to be a Crimson Bear."
"And then I go on to Duke and play for Coach K and learn the ways of being a Blue Devil and the brotherhood. Those two programs I took with me everywhere I played, in the NBA, in the Olympic games…What I learned from George Houston, the Crimson Bear program and what I learned from Coach K and the brotherhood at Duke with Duke basketball, I took those lessons with me throughout the rest of my career. And that foundation started with my mom and my dad and my brother and my sisters right at home. And so to see them in the crowd, being able to come all the way from Juneau to be there to support me, it meant everything in the world to me, to have my parents there.”
Renée Boozer said, “We were the first people he called when he found out he was going to be inducted…and all this week he kept saying he could not believe it.”
Said Carlos Boozer Sr., “I just kept telling him, ‘Believe it, son, believe it. You are in!’ To us it was everything. A kid that grew up in Juneau to go all the way to play for Duke, to the NBA, to the Olympics, becomes an All-Star and now inducted…What more can you ask for? And for Alaska, too, this is huge!”
The Redeem Team
Boozer noted many highlights from the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal team, but one stood out and was on the minds of his fellow inductees Saturday.
“Let me be honest with you, this is kind of a sad thing, but it's just the truth. The entire weekend, all we could think about was Kobe," Boozer said. Bryant died in a 2020 helicopter crash along with eight others, including his daughter Gianna,13.
"Kobe really was the best player in the world at that time, and he put us on his back," Boozer said. "He put us over the top with that team. Me, Dwight, Carmelo, Bron, D. Wade, while at the induction we were just reminiscing on the moments we had with Kobe…Getting back late in Vegas, from having a night out after training camp, we get back at like five in the morning, and Kobe's walking through the lobby with his security, and he's on his way to the gym. I'm like, ‘Where you going, bro?’ He's like, ‘I’m going to the gym.’ I said, ’It’s five in the morning,’ and he goes, ‘I got goals.’"
"And so we get in the elevator, and I stand next to the Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd, and I look around and I ask, it's almost a rhetorical question, I'm looking at them like, ‘Dwight, like dang, I got goals, you got goals?’ You know what I mean? Kobe’s sacrificing a night out in Vegas to go get ready for the next day. Even though Kobe was supremely talented, you mix that supreme talent with supreme work ethic. Kobe would get up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, go lift weights, have breakfast, and then he would go have practice with us from like 10 a.m. to 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and he would come back at night and get up more shots."
"Those are the memories that I remember about our 2008 Olympic team, Kobe. His mentality, that ‘Mamba Mentality.’ Like, one of the first plays of the championship game against Spain, who also had the two Gasol (Pau and Marc) brothers and the young Ricky Rubio, they were loaded. They had seven or eight pros on their team. And one of his teammates (Pau) that he's won NBA championships with the Lakers and Kobe runs through his chest. Not a basketball play. It's almost like a football play to send a message not only to Spain and to Pau, but to us. Like, this is about the USA. This isn't about the Lakers. This is about restoring pride for basketball in our country. I don't mean to be long-winded, but I'm just being honest with you. The memories that we all talked about Saturday were memories that were surrounding Kobe Bryant because he wasn't able to be there with us.”
The “Redeem Team” avenged USA’s 2004 bronze medal performance in Athens, Greece, of which Boozer (then 22) had played alongside James (19), Anthony (20), Wade (22), Emeka Okafor (21), Amar’e Stoudemire (21), Lamar Odom (24), Richard Jefferson (24), Shawn Marion (26), Stephon Marbury (27), Tim Duncan (28) and Allen Iverson (29).
That squad took a largely undeserved backlash from the public. Many thought they fell short of the dominant USA Olympic and world play on both the men’s and women’s sides. In reality, the top young players on that roster did not get the anticipated court time.
"In 2004, we had Larry Brown who was our head coach, and we fell short,” Boozer said. “That team was as divided of a team that I've ever been on, because Coach Larry only played the older guys. So myself, Amari, LeBron, Carmelo, DeWayne, we didn't get to play that much — I think we averaged like two minutes a game. He only played the older guys, not really us younger guys. So we didn't really have a hand in whether we won or lost from a playing standpoint. Now I thought we were great teammates. We were cheering each other on. But we got all the negativity by being a part of that team. And when they called us to come back and play for the 2008 team, signing a three-year contract to be a part of it, we jumped at the opportunity to really redeem ourselves…to redeem USA Basketball because we knew what it felt like to fail and not win a gold medal. We were more than excited to be a part of moving on to the future.”
Also inducted into the hall of fame Saturday were Anthony (as a player), Howard (player), Sue Bird (player), Maya Moore (player), Sylvia Fowles (player), Danny Crawford (referee), Billy Donovan (coach) and Micky Arison (contributor/executive).
From the Bears’ den to the mountaintop
Boozer has been inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame (2023), Duke Athletics Hall of Fame (2022), Alaska High School Hall of Fame (2010) and the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame (2007).
Carlos Sr. and Renée brought the family (Carlos Jr., Natasha, Nakeisha, Charles and Natanya) to Juneau in May 1988, leaving in July 2000. Carlos Sr. (retired Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development) and Renée (retired U.S. Forest Service) now live back in Juneau.
“We were just happy that he knew what he wanted to do,” Carlos Sr., said. “He wanted to play ball. We had five kids and we gave each one 150% support in whatever they needed and wanted to do. It just depends on how passionate they feel about it to see how far they rise up and whatever occupation is going to be…We just wanted each of them to be very happy in what they do and be good citizens, that was about it.”
Carlos Sr., from a military family, played high school basketball at Atwater High School in California and Central High School in Washington, D.C. (where he was a 1973 graduate), intramural ball at the University of Maryland, and for the Army.
“I was a six-foot-three post,” he said. “Back in the day that was pretty tall. So with Carlos we taught a lot of fundamentals…but now with the grandkids, well, everything that I do now is outdated and old news because the way they play now has changed so much from what I was teaching Carlos. But they are very respectful and good grandkids and they take the advice and don’t roll their eyes…You know, Carlos was actually a very good three-point shooter.”
At JDHS, Boozer Jr. led his squads to a 95-12 total record and back-to-back state titles (1997-98) and earned three All-State Tournament selections. He was a three-time Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year and two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year, twice named to the PARADE All-American high school basketball team and garnered 22 points and 11 rebounds in the 1999 McDonald’s All-American game.
“The moment that Coach Houston put me on as a Crimson Bear is a big moment in my mind,” Carlos Boozer Jr. said. “It started something pretty great in my life — winning back-to-back championships, player of the year, being named to the McDonald's All-American game as a Crimson Bear, that's a huge honor. That's the biggest high school honor you could have and then just, honestly, being good enough to be recruited by a school like Duke and get a chance to play for Coach K. I loved all my moments at JDHS, man. It shaped the young man I was turning into...Even having to duck under some of the door jams, that place is sacred to me.”
At Duke he won an NCAA championship (2001) and in 2002 he, Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy Jr. each scored over 600 points for the season. He averaged over 16 points and nine rebounds per game during his NBA career with Cleveland (2002-04), Utah (2004-10), Chicago (2010-14) and the L.A. Lakers (2014-15). He last played for China’s Guangdong Southern Tigers (2016-17) before announcing his retirement in December 2017.
One of his highlights was returning to Duke for a degree 19 years after leaving the school early for the NBA draft.
“I obviously wanted to finish something I started and during COVID they opened up online education,” he said. “It’s very hard when you get married and you have kids, to get back to campus, actually go to classes, and effectively be there, but having online opportunities I was able to be right in my living room and knock out the last three classes. So I was very proud of that. I'm happy I got a chance to do that. My mom and dad knew that their son graduated from Duke University.”
Family
Although twice divorced, Boozer is very close to his ex-wives and four children.
"Very close,” he said. “We're best friends. We live two miles away from each other. Me and Cece, the boys' mom, are very close. I talk to her every single day. She's literally like one of my favorite people. And we grew up and went through adulthood together. I met her when I was 17 years old at Duke. I've known her for more than half my life. So we're very close, we're like best friends...I wouldn't be the parent that I am without being raised by my mom and my dad. They raised me to be a dreamer, hard worker and a good teammate. We all had responsibilities in the house, so we all had to do what we had to at home and be a good student. Their principles and how they raised me to build up my character are the same stuff that I use with teaching my kids how to build their character.”
Twin sons Cameron and Cayden, 18, are freshmen at Duke, and Carlos Jr. taught them much like Carlos Sr. taught him.
“I taught my kids to play the right way,” he said. “You know, be efficient. If you don't need 35 moves to get by your defender, then don't use 35 moves, be efficient. And also you can be a winner without telling everybody you're a winner, right? Trust me, I was a guy who was very emotional, liked to scream and yell, liked to celebrate and all of that, but I think for me I’m probably old school, I just try to get on to the next play, get on to the next thing and get ready to make another play to help the team win. It’s about being part of a team."
"No one player is bigger than the team and I learned that early and they've learned that early and that's why they’ve had success — they’ve won four state championships, a national championship, two gold medals in the summertime with Team USA. They're two of the top players in the country and they have a really bright future ahead of them, but they've done it the right way because they're humble, they're hardworking, and they're great teammates...(he laughs)…They have some new fly gear that came out, but they have been wearing Duke gear since they were kids."
"I'm gonna be honest, there probably hasn't been any other basketball players that were more perfect to be Blue Devils than them. I'm a Blue Devil and won a championship. I met their mom when I was in college — she went to NC State when I went to Duke — and now the boys are at Duke. So they probably have the best right of passage to be Blue Devils.”
Son Carmani, 19, is a starting pitcher at the University of Fort Lauderdale and grew up playing football, basketball and baseball.
“His heart was always in baseball,” said Boozer, who also played in the Gastineau Channel Little League. “We would go into his room and see posters for Jackie Robinson, David Ortiz, Derek Jeter and Barry Bonds…He’s happy at college and is going to hit the portal and then see where his talents might take him. I love it. I grew up playing baseball in Juneau until I was about 13. For me to see him playing it, I can live it a little bit through him. The biggest thing as a parent is I know my kids are happy.”
Perhaps the family's biggest athlete, at least in Carlos Jr.’s eyes, is Bloom, 6.
“She is amazing,” he said. “She's so different. She just started first grade and she's into everything. She plays golf with me, she's into tennis and ballet and gymnastics. She loves to draw, paint and she does yoga. She likes to build Legos. She's very different from my boys, but has that same competitive spirit and they all love each other. So it's fun when they're all together.”
Retirement: Speeding up, not slowing down
Boozer has not slowed down in retirement. Aside from being a son, father and humanitarian — he has historically supported charitable causes, most notably Boozer’s Buddies established with CeCe and highlighted in a documentary about son Carmani’s battle with sickle cell disease — Boozer published “Every Shot Counts: A Memoir of Resilience” in 2023. The book notes a traumatic incident from his childhood before the Boozer family moved to Alaska. It also includes Alaska experiences, college recruitment details, stories and portraits of famous teammates, his friendship with Bryant, and his own activism.
Boozer is currently working in the Utah Jazz organization and on ESPN.
“I’ll be 44 in a couple of months and I have a lot of interests,” Boozer said. “I’ve been through a lot of stuff and I am very humbled to be in the hall of fame.”
Of ESPN he said, “I still cover NBA basketball every now and then with Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg. We tell some stories from back in the day. We want to give the viewers and listeners a chance to be able to compare eras. I love talking about basketball. I talk basketball every day with my friends anyway, but I feel like I'm stealing money working at ESPN talking basketball on TV…One of the cool things about working at ESPN and working with ACC Network is I get a chance to stay really close to the game, meet some of these kids when they're in college before they become NBA stars, and get a relationship and a friendship with them. And some of the guys reach out to my kids and work out with my kids, engaging in good advice along their journey. So it'll be interesting covering the boys this year. And that's what means the most to me, it's just a relationship. I've made some great relationships everywhere I’ve been so I'm very fortunate in that regard.”
Speaking of relationships, Boozer is also a television personality, currently headlining “Kings Court,” a reality dating show.
Boozer intimated that he has found a serious someone.
“The finale comes out on Sunday,” he said. “I met an amazing woman…I met somebody special on the show for sure. You have to watch the finale to see if I leave the show with her…”
The show’s finale is at 5 p.m. Sunday Eastern time on Bravo or streaming Monday on Peacock.
Another priority is the Utah Jazz.
“I started last January in the front office for the Jazz,” he said. “I go around to high school, college and overseas and look for talent. Guys that I think that we can draft or sign and bring to our team and have the potential of getting better. We brought Ace Bailey in from Rutgers and we brought in Walter Clayton Jr. from University of Florida (M.O.P. of the Final Four), A great young shooter and we've brought in some other guys too. I love it and my goal in that regard is to be a general manager, be a GM of a team and be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and help grow a championship caliber team.”
Boozer is the most prominent Alaskan in the hall. Alissa Pili, of Dimond High School and University of Utah fame, had her Utah jersey enshrined in the hall’s “opportunity gallery” this summer — a distinct honor from a full induction — for being an icon for Indigenous athletes and her impact on basketball.
Boozer’s individual career numbers are enough to receive another possible induction at a later date.
“Like I said before, it took a village for me to get from where I came from to where I got to,” he said. “And being able to do my basketball camp every August, back in my hometown, in my home gym, it means the world to me to give back to the community. And sometimes I bring up some friends of mine who also impart some knowledge onto these kids, but I just want to be able to pour into the general community. I'm looking forward to doing a whole lot more in the future.”
Inductees into the hall of fame are given an orange suit jacket and asked what they want in the lining.
“I said I wanted, in this order, I want a Crimson Bear logo,” Boozer said. “Because being a Crimson Bear means everything in the world to me. A Duke logo for my days there and what that taught me…obviously our Olympic USA team, because that's the reason why we got into the hall of fame and our incredible team. And then all the teams I played for…Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers. But for me, if I wasn't a Crimson Bear, I wouldn't have made it all the way to the hall of fame.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
