I said he had a bad playoffs if you read my previous posts. Still not a bum, but he definitely didn't play a lick. If almost every other team wants the guy I'm pretty sure that qualifies him as a pretty good player. I'll go ahead and trust the NBA brain trusts over an obviously bitter bulls fan. ;)
However, your salary has no basis on whether or not you are a "bum". Did he underachieve from his salary? You have a lot better argument for that, but go tell me how many other guys are getting 17.5/10 a game. There is a short list. Is Kobe a bum because he is the highest paid player in the league but didn't win the MVP? Absolutely not because salary doesn't define you. You can say a guy is overpaid or underpaid but salary should not be the basis of whether or not a guy is good or bad. Taj Gibson does not have an offensive game so don't compare him to Boozer. He can dunk. Defensively he is better than Boozer though, but overall he is great in his role as the first big off the bench. He brings energy, athleticism, and defense. Perfect for what he does.
PS Nick Collison was the highest paid player on the Thunder this season. Does this mean since he isn't their best player or their 2nd best player that he is a bum too? Absolutely not.
Do I think you guys overpaid for Boozer? Yep. Do I think the Hawks overpaid for Joe Johnson? Absolutely. What about the Heat for Bosh? Definitely. However none of those guys played like bums this year. People did the same thing with Boozer as they did Bosh and Johnson...they overrated his skills with his previous team and then grouped him with the top tier of FA's. Sure Boozer's averages over the last 4 years in Utah were slightly better than this season, but look at the offense he was in. It's the same offense that Karl Malone become the 2nd all-time leading scorer (could be 3rd). What position does Boozer play? Yep same as Malone. So of course his numbers are going to be better in an offense tailor made for him. If any GM didn't realize that then they are crazy. Just look at his numbers in Cleveland before the trade if you want confirmation that the system helped. Honestly if people would look at things like that then they would realize that there is a reason for things that happen. Just try to look at it from a non bulls fan point of view. 17.5/10/51% fg's. That's a great stat line. He had 30 double doubles without playing the first part of the season. Nobody in the final 4 in the playoffs had a big man that put up those numbers in the regular season. You want to know why? Because that's dang good. Was he the best PF in the league. No, of course not. That's not my argument though.
As for the playoffs, 12.6pts is terrible out of Boozer...especially 43% from the field. However the guy still pulled down 10 boards a game. Not bad.