7 players the Cleveland Cavaliers gave up on too soon

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Carlos Boozer, Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images /

3. The Cleveland Cavaliers gave up on Carlos Boozer too soon

We discussed how the Cleveland Cavaliers under the leadership of Jim Paxson weren’t exactly nailing every personnel decision, and they stumbled yet again when it came to a young power forward out of Duke University named Carlos Boozer.

“Booz” was drafted 35th overall in the 2002 NBA Draft, and he was featured prominently on a team that won only 17 games and was awarded the No. 1 pick in the draft the next season. That is hardly his fault, and by his second season, he was averaging a double-double with 15.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

After his second season, Paxson and the Cavaliers decided to make Boozer a restricted free agent, only for him to promptly sign an offer sheet with the Utah Jazz worth twice what the Cavs had reportedly offered. After low-balling him, they compounded the mistake by not matching the salary, letting him walk to the Jazz for nothing just as they were looking to build a young core around LeBron James.

Boozer was a beast with the Jazz, averaging a double-double across six seasons there, including two All-Star appearances in 2007 and 2008; it sure would have been nice for LeBron to have such a running mate around that time. Paxson certainly didn’t make better use of the “salary cap flexibility” afforded by not matching on Boozer, and he was out of Cleveland a year later.