For many years, Brendan Haywood was my favorite Wizards player. Many other fans bashed him for his lack of offense, his supposed "softness" and his thorny attitude at times, but I always felt like he was tremendously underrated. Few NBA starting centers were more intelligent post defenders, and for someone who didn't score much, he did a great job knowing his limitations. It's unfortunate Eddie Jordan never saw this and sabotaged the team by playing the inferior Etan Thomas over him.
↵(Also, I will forever love him for this line).
↵So it should come as no surprise that I'm happy that Haywood finally signed a contract that'll pay him what most NBA centers are worth today. Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears is reporting the Mavericks have re-signed Haywood for six years and $55 million. That may seem like a bit much, but consider that the following centers made more money last year than Haywood will next year:
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- Tyson Chandler ↵
- Brad Miller ↵
- Zydrunas Ilgauskas ↵
- Erick Dampier ↵
- Jermaine O'Neal ↵
- Samuel Dalembert ↵
- Andrea Bargnani ↵