Best Potential Landing Spots for Carlos Boozer in 2015 NBA Free Agency

Carlos Boozer obviously isn't the same player he once was. 

We're nearly eight years removed from his All-Star appearances for the Utah Jazz, and the soon-to-be 34-year-old big man wasn't even able to earn heavy minutes on a Los Angeles Lakers squad riddled by injuries and boasting plenty of young, inexperienced contributors during the 2014-15 campaign. 

But in the right situation, Boozer can still provide value to an NBA squad. He may be a shell of his old self, but his high-arcing mid-range jumper often finds the bottom of the net, he's a pick-and-pop threat and he can help aid the glass-crashing efforts for limited stretches. 

As of now, he's drawing interest from some teams who still need frontcourt depth in the worst way. According to ESPN.com's Chris Broussard, the Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors have all engaged in conversations with the veteran power forward.

But here, we're not interested in where he'll actually end up. Instead, we're looking at this from the free agent's perspective, breaking down the best landing spots for him, based on how he'd fit into the system and where he could actually earn some playing time. 

Three of the four teams Broussard mentioned will show up, as will two he didn't report. 

Dallas Mavericks

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The Dallas Mavericks need some quality depth in the frontcourt, especially because Dirk Nowitzki may not be able to play quite so many minutes during the 2015-16 campaign. The 37-year-old power forward averaged 29.6 minutes per contest last year, which marked the first time since his rookie season back in 1998-99 that he'd failed to break the 30-minute barrier. 

There's an opportunity for Carlos Boozer to earn plenty of run in Dallas, if for no other reason than the lack of established options in their prime.

Even with Richard Jefferson back in the fold and Charlie Villanueva returning for one more season, per ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon, the frontcourt is rather thin. Despite his declined state, Boozer should jump the two aforementioned veterans in the rotation, leaving him free to serve as Nowitzki's primary—and often relied upon—backup. 

Beyond that, this is a sensible fit from a basketball standpoint. 

"An average defender in his prime, Boozer regressed into liability mode years ago," Tyler Conway wrote for Bleacher Report this summer. "The Lakers allowed three more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor last season, and opposing players shot 6 percent better when defended by Boozer inside of six feet, per NBA.com."

Boozer doesn't offer much on the defensive end at this point, but he can still contribute on offense. That makes him an ideal running mate with DeAndre Jordan, who can protect the rim with aplomb but still isn't a reliable scoring option. Of course, this changes if the big man reneges on his agreement to join the Mavs, which could possibly happen after ESPN.com's Marc Stein's latest report. 

Indiana Pacers

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The fit may not be quite as strong with the Indiana Pacers. 

After the departures of David West (signed with the San Antonio Spurs) and Roy Hibbert (traded to the Los Angeles Lakers), there aren't any true defensive stalwarts remaining in the frontcourt rotation. Ian Mahinmi can hold his own, and Myles Turner should eventually develop into a rim-protecting stud, but there's no DeAndre Jordan calling Indiana home. 

Still, potential playing time abounds. 

"It's the land of opportunity," Shayne Whittington recently said about the Pacers frontcourt rotation, per Blake Schuster of IndyStar.com. He's not wrong, considering the dearth of established high-quality pieces this organization currently rosters at the biggest positions.

After all, this is what the depth chart is looking like right about now: 

Role	Power Forward	Center
Starter	Luis Scola	Myles Turner
Primary Backup	Lavoy Allen	Ian Mahinmi
Secondary Backup		Shayne Whittington

That's it. 

Those pieces can switch around, especially if Turner's early excellence in summer league proves to be a misleading mirage against low-level competition. But the point still stands that there aren't many players head coach Frank Vogel can rely upon while trying to make a playoff push in the Eastern Conference. 

Boozer may even be able to carve out a starting spot in this rotation. 

Los Angeles Clippers

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Where can Carlos Boozer avoid leaving the city of Los Angeles and play on a team that's rather shallow in the frontcourt? 

Why, with the Los Angeles Clippers, of course. 

Following the departure of DeAndre Jordan—which somehow may not be completely official, per ESPN.com's Marc Stein—the Clippers don't exactly have a stable of bigs. Blake Griffin may have to play center in small-ball lineups out of sheer necessity, with only Glen Davis currently joining him in the LAC frontcourt. Ekpe Udoh could be brought back, but he's not under contract yet.

Boozer probably won't change J.J. Redick's evaluation of the franchise's offseason work, but he'd at least be able to play significant minutes and help mitigate the offensive decline when Griffin is catching a breather on the bench. This would also change if Jordan changes his mind. 

"The Clippers could hand out as many as seven more minimum contracts to fill their roster," Dan Woike reports for the Orange County Register. " They’ll look at players such as Amar’e Stoudemire, JaVale McGee or Carlos Boozer to fill their barren frontcourt."

If head coach Doc Rivers can convince either Stoudemire or McGee to take a minimum deal, Boozer would immediately become less appealing. The former is simply a better player at this stage of his career (so long as he's healthy), and the latter has far more upside, even if he's usually failed to live up to that lofty wingspan-driven potential. 

But Boozer is still an option, if for no other reason than the extreme dearth of feasible options. 

Phoenix Suns

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The Phoenix Suns aren't going to offer nearly as many opportunities to play as some of these other potential landing spots. However, they're a strong stylistic fit, thanks to Carlos Boozer's enduring ability to knock down mid-range jumpers. 

Even if he finds himself firmly behind Markieff Morris in the rotation, he can provide some offense without his defense wreaking too much havoc in the desert. Alex Len improved significantly as a rim-protecting presence during his sophomore season, and Tyson Chandler, the team's prized offseason addition, per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, is obviously a terrific interior defender who can clean up Boozer's mistakes. 

During the 2014-15 campaign, the veteran power forward still managed to hit 47.2 percent of his jumpers from between 10 and 16 feet, and those shots accounted for 21.4 percent of his offense. It's hard to complain about that, especially because his overall scoring profile was still pretty solid. 

Sure, Boozer added just 11.8 points per game last season, and that was his worst mark since playing out his rookie campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002-03. Nonetheless, he had a 49.9 field-goal percentage and kept his per-minute scoring output right in line with his career numbers. 

Meanwhile, the Suns were actually one of the league's better teams from the aforementioned zone, hitting 42.9 percent of their looks and trailing only the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers in that category. 

On top of that, they had many players who were comfortable pulling up from between 10 and 16 feet. Only the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies took more looks, which means Boozer would be building upon a preexisting strength. 

Toronto Raptors

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The Toronto Raptors have plenty of impressive pieces in the frontcourt, but not many of them are capable of playing power forward in a traditional lineup. 

Jonas Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo and Lucas Nogueira are all true centers, and they'd likely be quite uncomfortable if they were asked to slide down to a smaller spot in the rotation for any substantial amount of time. On the flip side, DeMarre Carroll should be able to play the 4 in a pinch, but he's too small to hold his own against traditional power forwards over the course of a longer time frame. 

That leaves just one incumbent—Patrick Patterson. 

Everyone else has flown south of the border during the free-agency period, though it's still possible Tyler Hansbrough could return to his old stomping grounds on a new contract. That means finding a primary backup is necessary for general manager Masai Ujiri. 

As Zarar Siddiqi writes for Raptors Republic, Boozer is definitely not a perfect fit, due to his defensive ability, or lack thereof: 

"

Boozer could be a serviceable presence off the bench, but it’s hard to see him being the starting answer at PF in any sort of configuration. Don’t get me wrong, he’s had a useful career and could still probably contribute on the offensive end. The question you have to ask is that given all the defensive efforts the Raptors have made this off-season, does it really make sense to inject a poor defender like Boozer in the middle?

"

But those improvements make it a little easier for the Raptors to swallow Boozer's matador impressions. 

With strong defenders at virtually every other position, they can afford to have one liability, especially when he'll serve as a floor-spacing offensive contributor. Toronto has tried to boast a lineup filled with suffocating players, but it's not as if Boozer would be starting on this team. 

Instead, he'd be a situational big asked to provide offense in the right spots. When you're making such a push to incorporate point-preventing players, you need some offensive specialists as well. Balance is a commodity in the NBA, even when it involves rostering a player who runs counter to the desired identity of the key pieces. 

Note: All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com. 

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.