Duke Recruiting Profile: Cayden Boozer
He gets less attention than his brother but Cayden is a heck of a player too.
Cayden Boozer hasn't gotten the same level of attention as his twin brother Cameron but make no mistake: he’s a very talented player.
There are two types of talent we’re talking about here: physical and intellectual. For people who aren’t trained observers, it’s hard to project how most high school players will develop. When Chris Burgess came to Duke for instance, expectations were really high, but he was almost immediately outplayed by Elton Brand, who started from Day One and also by Shane Battier, who was in the same class as Burgess and Brand.
Consider Zach Edey. He was always going to be tall but who knew he could become such a dominant force?
So it’s really hard to understand that part. You might see Boozer and think well, he’s a really good athlete, and then other guys come out of left field and just blow past him. And that could still happen.
But what impresses us is his grasp of the game. He has a feel for it that is really impressive. He knows exactly how to probe the defense for a mid-range jumper or how - and when - to get the ball to a teammate for an easier shot.
Some guys can outrun everyone on a fast break and that’s great. Some guys can run the break and more or less be in the middle of traffic..but still be in complete control. They’re smart enough to get the ball exactly where it needs to be when it needs to be there. Boozer appears to have that knack. We’re not knocking his speed. He’s a solid athlete.
What we’re talking about is his intelligence, his sense of spatial awareness, of understanding where nine other guys are as he moves around, even when he does a full circle. He still knows where the other players are.
He has of course learned stuff from his father, Duke great Carlos Boozer, who spent 15 years in the NBA. That gives him a major head start over kids his age.
But he has some gifts that cannot really be taught. That innate understanding of physics is an immense gift for a basketball player. But understanding that, say, Cameron is going this direction at this speed and you can get him the ball at Point A if you pass it in three seconds at a certain velocity can’t explain everything.
You also have to have psychological insight and, at least at this level, Boozer appears to have that too.
Suffice it to say we’re impressed. You can never know for sure how someone will turn out, but Boozer seems well positioned for success in college and possibly beyond. We’ll go this far: he’s the sort of point guard you can see leading a team to a national championship.