Every Shot Counts. Carlos Boozer.
A Memoir of Resilience.
It is not that unusual for an accomplished professional athlete to write a story about their life after they finish playing their respective sport. What might be extraordinary, though, is when that athlete possesses a unique background and has experienced as many challenges as has Carlos Boozer in his forty some years. In his book, Every Shot Counts, Boozer talks about his distinctive upbringing, his attraction to the sport of basketball and how it led to being a prep, college and ultimately a professional all-star.
Early on in the story Boozer reveals some personal thoughts of what happened in his early childhood while living in Washington D. C. It became a driving force of motivation and inspiration to eventually play basketball at the highest level, that being the National Basketball Association. The experience was evidently one Boozer kept mostly to himself for many years until unleashing it in this manuscript. Because of this early childhood trauma, this prompted the Boozer family to move out of the area. They ended up settling in the not so common destination of Juneau, Alaska. This is where the author learned about the outdoors of the great northwest and eventually his basketball chops, too.
Boozer writes about how he became a state champion and high school All-American during his prep days in Juneau. He tells some stories of how he participated in show case camps to attract the attention of college recruiters and coaches. Of course, growing to the attractive height of 6 foot 9 inches did not hurt his cause. There was no shortage of suitors as he approached his senior year of high school. In the end, the Duke Blue Devils, and coach Mike Krzyzewski, were the lucky recipients of Boozer's massive basketball talents and abilities.
Success at the highest level in college led to a professional career. Although not drafted as high as he wanted, Boozer still fell into a good spot in Cleveland where he became a key player for the Cavaliers during his stay there. He eventually played for two other franchises including the Jazz and Lakers where he achieved much personal and team success. He also writes about unimaginable contracts that he signed during his playing days. This enabled him to procure homes in southern California, Miami and places in between when he was stationed in Salt Lake City.
While Boozer was building his professional career, he also experienced marriage, starting a family, acquiring property, medical challenges connected to his first born and even marital separation leading to divorce. He wrote about brushes with interesting acquaintances such as Prince and Queen Latifah but also forging strong bonds with basketball peers such as Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
There is no doubt that Carlos Boozer has led an interesting life in such a short time on this planet. It was a good idea that he documented his experiences in a neatly arranged opus. While the book is well written and easy to read, something felt like it was missing, though. Perhaps some additional humor would have mixed up the story line a little. Boozer’s writing prose is straight forward but easy flowing. He attempted many analogies that attempted humor. Even with that, though, the book seems to lack the explosiveness that fans saw in his abilities on the court during his illustrious hardwood career. For the many Duke basketball fans that enjoy following the famous basketball playing alum this is a good choice. Outside of that, though, the 277 pages were interesting enough to read but not at an overly compelling level.
· You might to read this book if you are a Duke basketball fan.
· You might like to read this book if you are a college or pro basketball fan.
· You might like to read this book if you enjoy reading about successful athletes.
· You might like to read this book if you seek stories about interesting and accomplished people.
Read more about the author on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MisterCBooz
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