Grizzlies rookie Cameron Boozer becomes second youngest player in NBA history to record triple-double

Heading into Thursday’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers, the main focus was on the past, namely the Grizzlies’ first meeting with former franchise superstar Ja Morant, after trading the former primary point guard to Portland over the summer. Coming out of the contest, however, the conversation focused on the future — and the teenage phenom who could make it terrifyingly bright in Memphis, sooner rather than later.

The book on Cameron Boozer coming out of Duke was that he was a top player who could do a little bit of everything well – someone who might not have been able to do it well. enough the superstar ceiling of potential dominant scorers like AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, but who seemed likely to enter the NBA as someone who could contribute to winning immediately. He had shown it in the first four games of the season, playing a solid ground game in the starting minutes at power forward for a pleasant surprise of a Grizzlies team that won its first four games; Memphis turned the ball over less, grabbed a higher share of available offensive and defensive rebounds, and sent opponents to the foul line less frequently with Boozer on the floor.

But even as Memphis earned his minutes, Boozer came out of the slide struggling with his shooting, going just 11-for-35 inside the 3-point arc and 7-for-26 beyond it in those first four games — a difficult acclimation to the highest level of the game.

“I would just say I felt a little off,” Boozer said of his play early in the season. “Obviously getting the win is the most important thing. For me, I had an impact on winning in all those games, but I wanted to play better.”

On Thursday, that’s exactly what he did:

Boozer was brilliant in Portland, going 6 of 10 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point land en route to 18 points in the Grizzlies’ 124-103 win over the previously undefeated Blazers. The rookie added 12 rebounds and 12 assists in just 28 minutes of work, notching the first triple-double of his NBA career in just his fifth professional game.

“It took him long enough,” Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo joked.

At 19 years and 103 days old, Boozer is the second youngest player in NBA history to have a triple-double, just behind Josh Giddey, who did it at 19 years and 84 days old as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022. Boozer is also only the second player to have a triple-double before ever. losing an NBA game, according to Opta, joining Oscar Robertson, who did so in his very first NBA competition. (Naturally.)

Boozer showed the breadth of his skills in Thursday’s win, from his ability to face and drive defenders from the perimeter to his comfort in initiating the attack from above and acting as a playmaking center in the middle of the field against zone defenses. He showed a soft touch on high-low lobs to his frontcourt partners, and a smooth shooting stroke as he knocked down one-time jumpers; he even confidently went for triples when Portland’s bigs hung on him, whether he pulled back to block the drive or hid under the screen when Boozer handled the ball in a reverse pick-and-roll.

Of course, the fact that Boozer can executing reverse pick-and-rolls with control over the Grizzlies’ guards is perhaps evidence of the most advanced part of his game: his ability to facilitate, process the play at lightning speed and send the ball where it needs to go on any given possession.

He can work on both ends of the two-man game, demonstrating the ability to quickly read the court in the short roll and deliver jump passes to waiting shooters. He can work with his back to the basket, set up smaller defenders, map the court, draw help and instantly return it to an open man on the weak side. When he clears the defensive glass, he immediately looks up at the floor and throws outlet passes that allow the Grizzlies to attack early in transition.

Gn sports

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