Carlos Boozer to undergo surgery

[layupdrill]

(http://layupdrill.com/2008/12/carlos-boozer-to-have-surgery/#) Jazz forward Carlos Boozer won’t be on the court for a while. Boozer, who has not played since injuring his knee November 17th, has missed 21 games in a row. The team stated that there has been no date set as of yet on the surgery, but it would not be sooner than January 9th. Before he was injured, Boozer was averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds a game.

http://layupdrill.com/2008/12/carlos-boozer-to-have-surgery/

[duncan228]

Jazz F Boozer to undergo knee surgery (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txjazzboozer&prov=st&type=lgns)

Already struggling to stay afloat in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz will be without their top scorer for the foreseeable future.

The Jazz announced Tuesday that All-Star forward Carlos Boozer will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his ailing left knee, which has failed to heal over the last five weeks.

Boozer originally suffered a strained quadriceps tendon and a bone bruise on November 19 as he went up for a rebound and landed awkwardly late in the fourth quarter of a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The injury was not expected to be serious, and Boozer initially was listed as day-to-day. However, he has missed 21 consecutive games, further depleting a Jazz lineup that has been plagued by injuries all season long. Boozer has undergone three separate MRIs, with doctors finally confirming that he would need surgery on his left knee joint.

The Jazz have not set a timetable for Boozer’s return. But according to a report Tuesday in The Salt Lake Tribune, general manager Kevin O’Connor has said the two-time All-Star will be sidelined for at least another month.

Setting things back even further is a laceration “very near the scope site” that hasn’t yet healed, pushing the date of surgery back to January 9.

That is troublesome news for the Jazz, who are also without Boozer’s replacement - rising star Paul Millsap - for the next week with a sprained left knee. The team has already lost some ground in the playoff race due to star point guard Deron Williams’ ankle injury that sidelined him 13 games and recurring back trouble for All-Star center Mehmet Okur.

Prior to going down, Boozer was averaging a team-best 20.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per contest. He has repeatedly stated his desire to get back on the court as soon as possible, but has admitted that he is still feeling too much pain in the knee to perform effectively.

However, Boozer has made more headlines over the last month talking about his contract situation - publicly announcing that he will opt out of his current contract next summer - than he has for anything basketball-related.

The Jazz have gone 11-10 in Boozer’s absence. At 19-14, they are 1 1/2 games behind the Denver Nuggets in the Northwest Division, which the Jazz have won in each of the last two seasons.

As Boozer’s injury problems lingered and the timing for his potential return remained consistently ambiguous, his star dimmed somewhat as Millsap rattled off 15 consecutive double-doubles.

Boozer’s toughness has been publicly and repeatedly called into question both locally and nationally - especially when Millsap went down hard with what appeared to be a serious knee injury on December 23, then returned to the court after halftime despite the injury.

This is not the first time that such concerns have come up for Boozer. He missed 80 games over his first two seasons with the Jazz - once again with injuries that seemed to take an inordinate or unexpected amount of time to heal. In 2004-05, it was his foot that kept him out for 31 games as the Jazz slipped to 26-56, leading team owner Larry Miller to publicly question his heart.

The following campaign, Boozer suffered a strained hamstring that sidelined him for 49 games. The Utah fan base may have been spoiled by nearly two decades of Karl Malone, who missed only a handful of games his entire career while battling the typical nicks and bruises of an NBA power forward.

[Trainwreck2100]

Will they be able to remove the dbag part of him?

[benefactor]

Will they be able to remove the dbag part of him?
Nah...that would be like trying to separate Siamese twins that shared multiple vital organs.

[jack sommerset]

Utah will be hurting with him out.

[Roxsfan]

Fuck Utah and Fuck Boozer.

[DANILO DRASKOVIC]

sure you still want to opt out booz?

[Chieflion]

Now we know which teams are in the playoffs in the West. See ya next year Jazz.

[peskypesky]

tough break. hate to see the jazz lose one of their two best players. i know a lot of people dislike boozer and the jazz, but i don't. i like his game, i like deron williams, and i like jerry sloan. class acts in my book.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Does this mean they would trade Boozer 4 Amare???? GET IT DONE KERR!!!

[Chieflion]

The playoffs officially starts in the West.

[Girasuck]

Fuck Utah

Fuck Houston.


and Fuck Boozer.

Fuck Boozer.

[Girasuck]

Now we know which teams are in the playoffs in the West. See ya next year Jazz.

I guarantee you we still make the playoffs. With or without Loozer.

[sribb43]

Milsap > Booz

[Chieflion]

I guarantee you we still make the playoffs. With or without Loozer.

Depends. Your team is 9th in the West.

[Girasuck]

Depends. Your team is 9th in the West.

And do the playoffs start today? I don't recall the playoffs ever starting in December.

[Chieflion]

And do the playoffs start today? I don't recall the playoffs ever starting in December.

No offense, but the Jazz have been quite unlucky this season. Hope they get some good luck for the year, but not at the expense of the Spurs though.

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

means the Jazz will have to fork out big bucks for Millsap........could have had him for cheap as a backup but now everyone knows he is starter material.....

[Girasuck]

No offense, but the Jazz have been quite unlucky this season. Hope they get some good luck for the year, but not at the expense of the Spurs though.

We've been very unlucky, but I have the mindset of the glass being half full. We've missed more man games due to injury/illness so far this season than all of the past two seasons combined. We haven't played a game yet with our intended starting 5, and the majority of the injuries have hit our star players.

BUT...

With all of that we're only 1.5 games out of first place in our division. We only have one extended east coast trip left, which the eastern conference has been a killer for us this year. Deron is coming around and in a few days we get Millsap back, which will give us our healthiest roster since the season started.

Don't forget that we were 16-16 last year before we made a big run and ended the season with 54 wins. We're 2 games ahead of that pace this season despite being ass raped by injuries. I won't lie and say I'm happy with where we stand, but I'm not in panic mode.

[Chieflion]

I can remember almost nothing about the Jazz last season cause I thought that their 1st playoff appearance with Deron was like a one year wonder, you know what I am saying?
I remembered that the team had an excellent start then fell to that record. Mostly due to their terrible road games. They were excellent at home but sucked on the road. Must be the altitude.

[Girasuck]

I can remember almost nothing about the Jazz last season cause I thought that their 1st playoff appearance with Deron was like a one year wonder, you know what I am saying?
I remembered that the team had an excellent start then fell to that record. Mostly due to their terrible road games. They were excellent at home but sucked on the road. Must be the altitude.

The 12-1 start you're talking about was two years ago, the year the Spurs beat us in the WCF. Last year we started out ok but stunk it up in December and were at 16-16 before we made our run.

Our road record is fools gold. We don't play pathetic lottery teams in the playoffs. For the most part we bring it against good teams on the road. I don't like it when others say we have a terrible road record or that we're a terrible road team. Terrible road teams don't win games in Boston, Phoenix, Houston, Denver, Detroit, Orlando, and so on. We have a problem getting up for pathetic lottery teams on the road. Fortunately we don't play any of them in the playoffs.