Carlos Boozer could be headed to Utah in a deal that has caused controversy. Jennifer Pottheiser NBAE/Getty Images

Yet, it will be 15 days before Boozer officially will be a member of the Utah Jazz as the Cavaliers can attempt in those 15 days to clear enough salary cap space to match the Jazz's offer.

Until then, Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor won't breathe easy.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, have yet to take a breath since it was announced on July 8 that Boozer would sign an offer sheet to make him a member of the Jazz.

The Cavaliers did not pick up the option on the third year of Boozer's contract. If they would have, Boozer would be a Cavalier in 2004-05 with the possibility the Cavaliers would sign Boozer to a long-term deal after the season's end. But the Cavaliers' decision not to pick up the option made Boozer a restricted free agent.

And because Boozer hadn't been in the league for three seasons, a team with enough room under the salary cap could conceivably swoop in and offer Boozer a huge contract that the Cavaliers wouldn't be able to match unless they cleared considerable cap space to re-sign him.

And one team, the Jazz, did. Some questioned why the Cavaliers wouldn't pick up Boozer's option for a third season.

"Our actions have been based upon what Carlos told us he wanted," Cavaliers GM Jim Paxson and Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund said in a written statement to the press. "We are both very surprised and very disappointed."

In a report published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Tuesday, Boozer said he never had anything place with the Cavaliers.

"I didn't make a prior agreement. And if I did, I would've stayed here," Boozer told the Plain Dealer. "For them [Cavaliers] taking shots at my character is incredibly wrong, and I don't understand that.

"I thought I had a great relationship with them. Maybe they're trying to save face or trying to make up stuff and kill my character. And if that's the road they want to take, that's OK."

We caught up with Boozer and here's what he had to say.

Why Utah?
Boozer: "Why not Utah? They have a great coach, a great first-class organization and they're going to present me with an opportunity to be who I want to be individually as a player and at the same time be part of a winning franchise that contends for a championship and in the playoffs every year."

How do you fit in there?
Boozer: "I think I fit right in. We have Andrei Kirilenko, we [will] have Mehmet [Okur], Carlos Arroyo, Gordan Giricek, Matt Harpring and I fit right in at the power forward position. We'll move forward with a great coach in Jerry Sloan and I'm looking forward to the whole situation."

What would you say to those who think you're crazy not to play with LeBron James for the next five years?
Boozer: "Well, it was great playing with LeBron. We both helped each other a lot. I was more of a big brother to him and we got almost everything we could have. We almost made the playoffs together. Stuff like that happens. It's a business decision and at the same time it's a individual decision. I've been talking to him off and on, and he's happy for me that I want to be successful, and it's the same from me to him."

So it was a business decision?
Boozer: "Everything was included. The business side of it, individually, with the coach and the whole atmosphere they have [in Utah] it seems to be a perfect fit for me. All sorts of things went into it -- family, business, the opportunity to be their power forward for the future. Just all of it. Winning, everything."

So, you don't see any problems developing with you and LeBron on the Olympic team?
Boozer: "Oh, no. We're fine. We're like brothers. I'm looking forward to it."

What can you say to people as to why didn't you stay in Cleveland?
Boozer: "They have to look at the situation. They're not inside the circle of those who know what's going on, but I'd like to thank the fans for supporting me. I loved my time in Cleveland, I enjoyed it to the fullest. Thanks for everything, I appreciated it."

Does this deal validate you?
Boozer: "I don't know. I think that's for the people who make those decisions and judge things like that. But I thought I was a first-round talent. I think I proved I was first-round talent not by this [the new contract], but with how I played."