I was never a huge Carlos Boozer guy, and his best days as an NBA player are well behind him. However, recent reports that the Toronto Raptors are interested in signing the veteran big man shouldn’t be laughed off.

Trot out all the Los Angeles Lakers memes you want – Boozer is still a passable scorer in this league. He averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes this season with the Lakers, shooting a respectable 50 percent from the field. He didn’t do much else on the court and was a particularly suspect defender, but the guy can still get his shot against bench units.

With the way this Raptors offseason is playing out, Boozer might be the perfect signing to round out the roster. GM Masai Ujiri has gone so extreme in his bid to purge the Raptors of bad defenders and replace them with good ones that he risks fielding a team of players who can’t score. Anytime Bismack Biyombo is on the court, you really need to pair him with someone like Boozer, because the guy just has no offensive game. On the flip side, a stellar defender like Biyombo would hide some of Boozer’s shortcomings on that end.

The Raptors don’t have much in the way of cap space left, but Boozer’s time as a big-money player has well gone by. Ujiri can get him for cheap, much like he did with Biyombo, so if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out. No harm, no foul.

It’s time for the Raptors to forget defense for a moment, pony up a few million dollars and reserve their tickets to the Booze Cruise.

Casey Sherman is the Toronto Raptors Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @shermham