How Grizzlies' Cam Boozer Becomes First Rookie NBA All-Star Since Blake Griffin

Cameron Boozer is going to be a productive NBA Rookie right away; will he be one of the fifteen or so best players in the whole Western Conference, too?

It's not out of the question; Boozer brings high-level feel for the game that has already translated to filling up box scores and racking up winning plays, endless layups, and good decisions for Memphis through Summer League and now Preseason.

Still, it's been sixteen years since the NBA last saw a Rookie All-Star, with Blake Griffin fresh off dunking one everyone in sight at Oklahoma and taking the league by storm in Los Angeles with the Clippers.

What would Boozer's path to being the first Rookie All-Star since Griffin look like? The NBA On SI team deb

Could Cameron Boozer Make NBA All-Star As A Rookie?

Eric Jay Santos

Why not? Cameron Boozer averaged 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game during his lone season at Duke, was widely considered to be the national college basketball player of the year, and is now the biggest hope for a Grizzlies team trying to push itself out of a rebuilding period.

Until he makes his regular-season debut, it’s tough to truly project whether he will be considered one of the top talents in the NBA when All-Star Weekend rolls around. However, he has the opportunity to quickly establish himself as a franchise star in Memphis. If he does get an All-Star selection in his rookie year, it could very well be as a replacement.

Matt Hanifan

There have been only two rookies to make an All-Star team since the turn of the century: Yao Ming and Blake Griffin, who missed the entirety of his first year with a knee injury. So recent precedent suggests that Boozer has a steep climb, especially with how talented the league is.

That’s not taking away how gifted a player Boozer is on either end. He’s noticeably thinner than he was at Duke and I don’t think there’s going to be much of an adjustment period for him. He’s an elite processor and a very good shooter and rebounder. My best guess is he will be a multi-time All-Star, although I think that opportunity will come later, not now.

Ryan Kaminski

While Boozer won't bring those same bouncy highlights as Griffin for the Top-10 plays on SportsCenter, he'll likely affect the game just as positively in many different ways. So much so, that, Boozer could easily wind up the best player on this Memphis squad in Year 1 by overall two-way impact.

If the Grizzlies are more competitive than expected and that reason is primarily due to Boozer's competitive nature on both ends and generational feel for the game, then suddenly the media will feel compelled to consider his All-Star case. In my book, Boozer will impact winning more than any rookie right away, filling up the box score by making winning plays and snappy team-first decisions in every possession he is out on the floor.

Ethan Skolnick

Much of the All-Star process depends on team success, especially with the coaches having some say in the reserves. Boozer is a coach's dream, so he will get their attention should the Grizzlies surprise, and there's a chance they can. The West is top-heavy, but not as deep as it's been in recent years, with a lot of the starpower moving East. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard alone will open two spots. Boozer's primary competition for a spot may be his teammate, Zach Edey, if the Grizzlies are over .500 and Edey's defense plays a major role in that. But Boozer might fill up the boxscore even more, and his freshness will be appealing. So there's a shot, for sure. But the odds remain against it, only because there's a tendency to want players to prove it over a full season or two. Even James didn't make it as a rookie.