Quote:
Originally Posted by mac222b
Let's not go overboard on the Haywood love.
Especially since it usually boils down to heaps of praise for the guy doing what he's paid very well to do. Rebound and play defense slightly above average(ly)
All while missing tons and tons of free throws.
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Haywood deserves praise for the season he's had so far. He's been criticized a lot in the last two years, partly because of unreasonable expectations that might be based on what some fans consider a huge contract. Cuban and Donnie got a lot of flak for re-signing Haywood to his current deal, although his salary is completely understandable in today's league. There's a whole lot of centers making a whole lot more money than Haywood, e.g. Okur, Tyson, Noah, Varejao, Bogut, Howard, Horford, Gasol, Kaman, Okafor, Nene, Camby, Jefferson, Biedrins or Jordan. With the exception of Camby and Biedrins, all of the aforementioned players make $10+ million per season and thus significantly more than Haywood.
Then there are guys like Diop ($6.9m per year) or O'Neal ($6.2m per year) that are worse than Haywood and still get decent money. Or Gooden ($32m, 5 years) and Frye ($30m, 5 years) that got big contracts in 2010 as well.
In comparison, Haywood's $8.3 million per year honestly don't look too bad. That money doesn't get you a center averaging 10/10--unless you're lucky, sign a guy like Gortat for the MLE and, unlike Diop, see him turn into a a bargain.