He should lose the condescension and aloofness with the media and, by extension, fans. The media is his conduit to the fans, who are paying the $70 million salary he hasn't earned. Before giving a quote to reporters, he should try actually thinking about a meaningful reply instead of reciting coach speak — We just gotta execute the offense.

If Duke grads are going to have a superiority complex, they ought to at least offer an original thought occasionally.

 He's got to find a way to stay on the court. Boozer missed 45 games this season. He missed 49 games three seasons ago. In five years, he's sat out 134 games with various injuries — an average of 26.4 per season. Karl Malone, he's not. OK, sore subject (so to speak); let's move on.

 Lose the mercenary image. We all know that players play in large part to earn those fat paychecks because even though they make lots of money they spend lots of money, too, or whatever it is Pat Ewing said. Somewhere in the mix there also should be a desire to win, perform and make his team better, especially considering the paycheck the franchise has paid him.

No matter how you view Boozer's controversial exit from Cleveland years ago, the bottom line is that he fled a rising young team to take a big pay raise from a rebuilding Jazz team years ago and left behind a lot of bad feelings. Now he seems ready to do the same thing to the Jazz, depending on which side of his mouth he is talking.

 When Boozer finally does have an original thought to express, if it's about fleeing the Jazz so he can take a bigger paycheck, and he is sitting on the bench with an injury at the time, then he should keep his yapper shut and go back to talking about executing the offense.

Last December, while sidelined with yet another injury that would bench him almost half the season, he had the nerve to tell ESPN.com, "No matter what, I'm going to get a raise regardless. I am going to opt out (of his contract). I don't see why I wouldn't. I think it's a very good business decision for me and my family, but I'd also like to see what happens with the Jazz and stay here."

Glad he cleared that up. Look, even if he thinks he wants to opt out, talking about seeking a raise from another team when he can't even suit up for the team that is paying him an eight-figure salary is just bad manners, if nothing else. This week Boozer said he wants to stay with the Jazz but he "doesn't know" if he will.

Any takers?

E-MAIL: drob@desnews.com