Cleveland beefed so hard with Carlos Boozer coaches had to apologize and fans egged his house

Cleveland beefed so hard with Carlos Boozer coaches had to apologize and fans egged his house

(fast tense music playing) – [Clara] This is Carlos Boozer. This is a sampling of
Cleveland Cavalier fans. These two parties got along great for two years. What about the rest of time? Well, tell your cardiologist to beat it. We’re eating beef. (static whirring)
By the by, wanted to let you know we have a Patreon that has new stuff every week, some experimental, some tried
and true, some in-between. All very fun, in my personal opinion. Now, where were we? (upbeat bright classical music) Carlos Boozer had a
wonderful experience at Duke, declared for the draft as a junior, and expected to go in the
middle of the first round. But, instead, the undersized big man
spent the night sweating, and making a list of
whom to get revenge upon, as one does when humiliated. Boozer was eventually
chosen in the second round, 35th overall, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. And thanks to being drafted by a team, that was hoping to soon be up and coming, the second-round rookie got
the opportunity for revenge, which he seized, and squeezed even tighter
his sophomore season. Alongside a promising young rookie, Boozer blossomed into the
league’s fifth best re-bounder and a double-double machine. I’ll stop playing coy, it was LeBron. The rookie was LeBron James. (fast classical music playing) And he and Boozer seemed like a match made in heaven university’s
science department. Fans loved boozer as much
as they reasonably could. He was polite to stadium
staff, and media members, and played with a toughness
that made the city proud. People envisioned multiple championships, for the burgundy and gold, with LeBron as the Michael Jordan, and Boozer as the Dennis
Rodman/Horace Grant. He was almost as important
to Cleveland’s bright future as LeBron himself, but he wasn’t paid like it. He was stuck in his second-round-of-the-draft
level contract. There was an option to let him
out of his contract, however. And, after his breakout ’04 season, Boozer and his agent asked
Cleveland for a meeting to discuss the whole grossly-underpaid-rising-star-
who-everyone-likes-situation. Management granted him a meeting. Let’s set the stage. (fast tense music)
The meeting took place on June 30th, 2004. The timing was delicate. According to collective
bargaining agreement rules, the Cavs had to decide what to do with Boozer’s
contract before midnight, but they could not make a new verbal deal until after midnight. They also could not sign
anything until July 14th. In the room, on one side of the table, you had Boozer, his wife, and his agent. On the other side you had GM
Jim Paxson, owner Gordon Gund, and other Cavalier staff. This side of the table liked
this side of the table, and vice versa. So, what did everyone want
to get out of this meeting? This side wanted a long-term fair contract as soon as possible. This side wanted Boozer to be
with them for the long haul. Great. Seems like everyone’s pretty aligned. Paxson laid out the options
to get what everyone wanted. The team could let Carlos
out of his contract, and then sign him to a new contract for 40 million over six years. Sounds good, let’s do it. Hold on. 40 million over six years
is still underpaying Boozer. (tense classical music)
It’s just the most the Cavs could give him with the salary cap bearing down on them. And it gets trickier. If they let him out of his contract, he becomes a free agent. He doesn’t have to sign
with the Cavs again. He could sign with a team that doesn’t have salary cap restrictions, and could pay him more than 40 million. So the Cavs really had to trust that Boozer wanted to
stay with them enough to give up tens of millions. I wanna take a minute here, and just collectively wonder why the Cavs would be
interested in taking this risk. Why they were even volunteering to pay him more money than they had to for the 2005 season. Just to be nice and do their guy a solid? Wow.
(tense music continuing) Oh, looks like the Cavs would
actually be saving money in the long run if they did this. Hmm. So then the question was, could the Cavs trust
Carlos Boozer wouldn’t sign with another team for more money? And there were reasons to say yes. The Cavs were clearly a fit for Boozer. LeBron James was on the Cavs. Boozer had just gone house hunting in a wealthy area of Cleveland. His agent was in the meeting,
which lends credibility. And, here’s a big one, in the meeting itself, a source
later revealed, Boozer said, “If you respect me by not
picking up the option,” in other words, by letting
him out of his contract, “I’ll show trust and loyalty
to you by signing with you.” (classical music building)
So, Paxson and Gunn grabbed each other’s hands, nodded once, and took the leap. On July 1st, 2004, it was official. Boozer was a free agent. (fast classical music)
Boozer released a statement, saying he wanted to stay in Cleveland, and he was grateful to the team that took a chance on him in the draft, and gave him minutes early on. So seemed like there
wasn’t gonna be any drama. There were rumors other teams
weren’t even talking to Boozer ’cause it was a waste of time. He wasn’t moving. And if you can’t trust a
rumor, what can you trust? One day, after those
statements of loyalty, Boozer disconnected a
phone he had been using to communicate with Cavs management. The next day, Boozer
reportedly told people there was no deal with the Cavs in place. Over the July 4th weekend, big men, not as good as
Boozer, got contracts that were better than 40
million over six years. July 5th, Boozer told Paxson he was
going to test the market. Three days after that, Boozer accepted an offer of
68 million from the Jazz. And, just like that, the
Cavs lost Carlos Boozer, and possibly their future? Everyone took heat from every angle. Boozer was a greedy
back-stabber who deserved… Well, comments ranged in intensity. Cavs management was a bunch of morons. Boozers agent also felt fans wrath, the intense kind. Not loving the backlash, Boozers agency dropped him,
and his agent resigned. So, wait, did the fans
have beef with Boozer, or the front office, or
the agent, or everybody? That will be cleared up shortly. Because, on July 13th, Boozer
told his side of the story. (tense classical music)
He said, he was surprised and confused when the Cavs let him out of his contract. He insisted there was no deal because that would’ve
been against the rules. The Cavaliers must have gotten mixed up. Saying he wants to be in Cleveland doesn’t mean he’s going
to do what he wants. He also claimed that,
over the July 4th weekend, the Cavs told him he’d never
be an All-Star with them. He’d always be a role player. Because that’s how you talk to a player you’re
actively trying to convince to sign with you for below market-value. Nobody bought what Boozer was saying. In fact, his defense produced a “he thinks we’re stupid”
response from fans. The same day Boozer’s side
of the story hit the press, Gund, the Cavs owner, known as a benevolent
man who was also blind, wrote a letter to fans. In it, he took full responsibility. He trusted Boozer, and the team lost out. Very different approaches to criticism. Defensive versus owning up. Owning up won. (fast tense music)
The narrative became Boozer deceived a blind man. And the city of Cleveland unleashed beef upon Carlos Boozer and his family. They didn’t literally throw beef. They opted for tomatoes and eggs. The Boozers had suspicions
FedEx was purposely not delivering their packages. His wife was pulled over, for basically no reason, other than her license
plates reading “C Booze.” And it’s probably a good rule of thumb that if your name rhymes with an insult, you should avoid angering an
entire region of the country. Two Cleveland designers made
the website carlosloozer.com. It got about 20 to 30,000 hits a month, and answered the age old
question, can beef be art, with a resounding yes. The website creators attempted to laugh through their pain with drawings, like this one, where Boozer is buddying
up to Benedict Arnold, and this one where he’s gobbling up money like a fat, fat Turkey. There was an overall
summary of the Boozer saga presented as an animated
“Star Wars” parody in which Boozer was Darth Vader, but a Darth Vader motivated
by money, instead of power, as you can see here, while he uses the force to rob Yoda. The effort involved in
this site is impressive, and staggering, and perhaps a window into how much pain the
fans had to laugh through. Did Boozer ruin their team? Or maybe it was just fun to punch back when you’re otherwise helpless? Probably a little of both. They sold T-shirts with their drawings. And I know this is
Cleveland versus Boozer, but it seems worth noting that T-shirt sales were international. The website also included a countdown until Boozer visited Cleveland again. The designers planned
a Loozer-pa-Looza party at a nearby bar, but Boozer didn’t show. To the game. Or Loozer-pa-Looza either for that matter, though, I don’t know if he was invited. (tense music playing)
He was injured and didn’t travel with the team. Fans booed him during the game anyway. (fast classical music)
After the game, Cavs coach Paul Silas was
asked about Boozer’s absence. His response wasn’t
immediately publicized, but an apology for his response was. He also called Boozer to apologize and was fined 10K. Geez, what’d he say? A radio show eventually revealed Silas referred to Boozer
as “a see you next…” not Monday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday, or over the weekend. Look, I’m not gonna say it. I know everybody wants me
to, but I’m not gonna say it. Due to more and more injuries, Boozer didn’t come back to Cleveland until nearly three years later. Time had not eroded the beef. Carlosloozer.com, which was still running, called his return, in 2007,
“The Day of Reckoning.” The crowd booed and chanted
until their voices gave out. They called his jersey a car rag. After the game, Boozer stuck to his story, insisting he never had
to deal with the Cavs because it would’ve been illegal. Convincing no one. The following season he
met a similar reception in the Forest City. Same with the season after that. This is five years
removed from his leaving. (tense music building)
Why is this beef so potent? Why doesn’t time erode it? I mean, the relationship, between Boozer and the
Cavs, started out so good, so maybe it just had far to fall? That makes sense, but there’s more. (fast tense music playing)
This beef is lodged in the arteries of Cavs fans, not just because Carlos
Boozer betrayed them, not just because his defense
was annoying, and disingenuous, not just because Cleveland
is good at holding a grudge, but because of the what-if factor. Boozer had been a great
compliment to LeBron. Then he blossomed into an All-Star power
forward with the Jazz. He was called one of the best
20 players in the league. What if this guy was beside LeBron? Would the Cavs have won a title or two? Would LeBron have taken
his talents to South Beach? These questions keep
the beef alive and well. Although, to be fair, Boozer playing badly also fed the beef. Boozer’s career didn’t
continue on that All-Star path. And Cleveland delighted in his struggles. They even rewrote history a bit, claiming they never liked
him in the first place. There was no mention of
him being polite to staff, or being the second
favorite, or the Horace Grant. Instead, they said he was a
stat-chaser with the Cavs, always putting himself
first, classic loser. It shouldn’t be lost over that the city of Cleveland is really good at holding a grudge. (cello groaning)
19 years later, in 2023, Boozer said there was even
more to his side of the story. (tense classical music)
He claimed that during free agency, in 2004, the NBA called him, and said that if he
resigned with the Cavs, they were going to investigate him for tampering and making an illegal deal. Cleveland fans were unmoved. The narrative of conning a blind man, of costing a city LeBron, and multiple championships, is a tough one to come back from. There is nothing Carlos Boozer
could do, or say, or reveal that would change the mind
of the Cleveland fan base. As evidenced by the top comment on a Reddit post of Boozer’s 2023 they-would’ve-called-tampering article, the commenter says, “Not
even gonna read the article. He done them wrong when
they tried to do right by him. My opinion of him will never change.” (bright classical music)
Thank you so much for watching. Thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Thank you to my dad. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes and in front of them. Oh, looks like they’re playing me off, so, let me just say, like, subscribe, hit up Patreon, and keep watching. For “Secret Base,” I’m Clara Morris. Goodnight and good-game. (bright music continuing)

Carlos Boozer had the opportunity to be LeBron James’ co-star, to potentially bring glory and titles and celebratory revelling to the streets of Cleveland. But instead he brought spiteful revelling to Cleveland — which, turns out, they city was really good at.

When Carlos Boozer allegedly went back on his word in 2004, screwing over a Cavaliers team that had tried to increase his salary, the fans showed no mercy. Eggs were thrown. Forbidden words were thrown. And carlosloozer.com received tens of thousands of hits every month.

Your beef is served, please enjoy.

Written and produced by Clara Morris
Directed and edited by: Jeremy Ray Smolik

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