Carlos Boozer's coming back.
Go ahead and boo him, Jazz fans. Right or wrong, let him know how you feel about all those games he missed with "phantom" injuries. Vent your frustrations with him flirting with other teams while still under contract with the Jazz.
Razz because he once said "I'm going to get a raise."
Go ahead, do it all. The problem is, he won't really know what you're doing.
Seriously, even in print it's hard to tell.
Booooooooooooo.
Booooooooooooz.
Boozer and his Chicago Bulls teammates were in town on Tuesday and tonight they'll face the Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena in the most anticipated game there since LeBron James and the Miami Heat came to town in early December.
Boozer is coming back, and so are ex-Jazzmen Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.
All three are now critical components on a Bulls team that is dominating the NBA's Central Division.
Before Tuesday morning's Jazz practice session, the hot topic was Boozer's return to Salt Lake City, a place where he never really seemed to feel comfortable.
"He's going to get booed, but it's going to sound like Booz," point guard Deron Williams said. "I don't know. I'm sure there's going to be some mixed reactions. Some people loved Booz, some people hated him."
True words, there.
DWill also spoke the truth when he smiled and said Korver "is going to get the loudest cheer."
Brewer will get some love, too.
But Boozer? No way. He may think fans are calling his name like they used to, but he'll be wrong.
Fans tonight will let him have it. Just my own personal feeling, but the reaction fans had when Derek Fisher returned with the Lakers will be nothing compared to what they'll have for Boozer.
Fisher was only here for one season. But Boozer? He was here for six and he missed 138 games, including last year's highly-important regular-season finale.
Sure, he averaged 19.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game during those six seasons. And sure, he was a beast on the boards and could score in the paint using either hand. But he missed all those games and, well, he never really seemed to endear himself to the fans.
He never really opened himself up, not like Karl Malone did ... or Fisher did, for that matter.
But on Tuesday, right or wrong, his former coach and teammates kept it proper and professional.
Williams said Boozer was a great teammate and that all the criticism he received was unfair.
Jerry Sloan agreed with Williams about the unfair criticism and said there's nothing anyone can do about injuries; they happen.
"He was a good guy to coach," Sloan said.
And then there was Paul Millsap, the guy who replaced Boozer as Utah's starting power forward. Perhaps he tipped his hand a little when he said, "Booz is about business. He's going to come in, he's going to do his job and get out and go back to his locker."
See, it never felt like Boozer was one of the guys.
Worse still, was that nagging health issue. When he was at 100 percent, he was phenomenal ... unstoppable. The problem was, there were those prolonged stretches of "not quite there yet" and "we'll just have to take it one day at a time."
To outsiders he always seemed indifferent about the games he missed.
For right or wrong, that was the perception. And that's why when the Jazz and Bulls play tonight, fans are going to boo.
Problem is, it'll sound like Booz.
Jim Burton is the Standard-Examiner's sports columnist. He also covers the Utah Jazz and the NBA. He can reached at (801) 625-4265 or at jburton@standard.net. He Tweets at http://twitter.com/jmb247
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