Former Duke Basketball star Cameron Boozer is earning praise from a current teammate early in his career.
Former Duke Blue Devils star Cameron Boozer will have the spotlight on him right away in his NBA career. But it's nothing he's not used to.
Boozer was a top prospect in his recruiting class and was a star at Duke, winning the Naismith National Player of the Year award as a freshman. He then went on to the NBA and was selected No. 3 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies are now building their future around Boozer after moving on from the Ja Morant era. So the pressure is on Boozer to deliver.
However, one of his new teammates is already giving him praise and believes he's 'going to be a problem' right away.
“I got a chance to watch him in Summer League and see how he operates, how he practices, and I think he’s tough man," Isaiah Stewart said. "He’s very versatile, and he has a frame as a 18-year-old. He’s going to be a problem.”
Stewart was traded to Memphis in the offseason from Detroit, hoping to get a fresh start in the Western Conference. He's a physical big man who can provide some much-needed help in the Grizzlies' frontcourt along with Boozer. Stewart is also a really good shot-blocker, something that he can help Boozer with at the next stage of his career.
Having a veteran presence can also make things a little easier for Boozer as well as he kick-starts his NBA career.
Boozer will have a lot of pressure on him and Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report believes he's a player with "the most to prove" this season.
"There's a scenario where the lack of lift and quickness that overshadowed Boozer's elite statistical profile and college production manifest exactly the way his detractors imagined," Hughes wrote. "In that hypothetical, he could look like a massive bust."
If there's anything we learned about Boozer while at Duke, it's that the lights were never too bright for him. Even in losses, he showed up big time and he doesn't fall to the pressure.
It's hard picturing a scenario in which Boozer fails right away in the NBA.
