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Would you bring back Haywood?

No...not for his price. He's old and will start declining. Time to MOVE ON.

Negatory, not for the $8-10 million some desperate team is going to pay him in a 3-4 year deal.

Yes.

His style of play -- placing a value and premium on defense -- is much needed to change the culture of this team. A Haywood-Blatche tandem would be a formidable combo in the east. The key is structuring the deal smartly. Take advantage of all our cap room by slightly overpaying Brendan in year one and have annual decreases. Brendan certainly wins due to the time value of money, the Wizlets win because by the time his play production does markedly decrease, his salary is far from onerous.

Haywood-Blatche-Wes Johnson-Rudy-Arenas would be an excellent step in the right direction.

No from me. The team is moving in a different direction. I love me some BWood but he deserves to be on a contending team. He's so much more valuable to a contending team who needs defensive help than a rebuilding team with a young, talented, and promising player who plays his same position.

While Wood could help the Wiz he's not going to make them substantially better and his cap space would be better used on Noah, Gasol, Perkins, or Melo in 2011 as their ages are more agreeable with the current Wiz line-up.

No, the house is sold, he ain't never coming back.

As one of Haywood's biggest supporters over his tenure with the Wizards, I've gotta say no.

As a rebuilding team, its a guaranteed FAIL to sign a player, any player over 30 to an expensive long term deal. We simply aren't ready to compete for title as currently constructed.

Now if we somehow can magically do a Dwyane Wade S&T for Al Thornton & Nick Young and free up enough money to sign Haywood too, then I'll glady revisit this question.

If we don't get Cousins, Favors or Aldrich, then yes if its for the right price on a declining contract. I think OKC will have us beat... though he might enjoy the DC area more than Oklahoma. Otherwise in that same scenario we will NEED a stopgap C. McG just isnt ready to go yet, he needs at least another year imo.

dangermouse wrote:If we don't get Cousins, Favors or Aldrich, then yes if its for the right price on a declining contract. I think OKC will have us beat... though he might enjoy the DC area more than Oklahoma. Otherwise in that same scenario we will NEED a stopgap C. McG just isnt ready to go yet, he needs at least another year imo.

I voted a qualified yes, and your post well summarizes it. I still like Haywood's game, so it would depend on what the long term plan was and how well he could be integrated, roster-wise (what picks did we get?) and salary-wise.

No- I doubt he'll available for the right price for this team, especially since the Wizards are rebuilding. The Wizards will have to overpay to get Haywood, since he'll choose Dallas or a better team over Washington if they both offered the same money.

Yes Haywood brings defense but he is pretty selfish offensively. Haywood was exposed as a limited offensive player in the Spurs series even with someone who commands a double team like Dirk Nowtizki. Age is likely to take a toll on him over the next few years which will effect his mobility. That being said, I would love to have Haywood back but not at the price he'll likely command as a free agent.

I thought Haywood was untouchable before we started moving players. Haywood, Blatche and McGee should have been keep together to build around. That was my thinking. At this point, I have to see what we draw in the draft first before taking a position. Just to early to call but the idea should remain an option.

Dat2U wrote:As one of Haywood's biggest supporters over his tenure with the Wizards, I've gotta say no.

As a rebuilding team, its a guaranteed FAIL to sign a player, any player over 30 to an expensive long term deal. We simply aren't ready to compete for title as currently constructed.

I don't know. I think the Sonics are the exception and not the rule in terms of rebuilding teams; that is to say, you can indeed have too much youth. Someone has to steer the ship, set expectations, demonstrate work ethic and professionalism. The Baby Bulls never panned out b/c they had no leadership.

I think a lot of the disagreement on Haywood has to do with expectations for the rebuild. In general, I think most here expect the Wizards to transform into a contender in an unrealistically short time frame. I think it's going to take a long time and I'm OK with it. In the interim, I want to see progress, specifically by way of a culture change. The Wiz might never be a contender with Haywood here, but I think his legacy would actually pave the way.

Haywood's not even 31 yet. He has some serious production left in him. I'd try to sign him to a declining contract with a non (or at worst, partial) guaranteed fourth year, and in exchange for doing so give him a pretty big payday up front.

I think it's foolhardy to plan for signing Perkins, Noah or Gasol is a free agent. Who is that last above average starting center to switch teams via free agency?

It's not a yes or no question yet imo, because we don't know who we'll draft or who we've really got a shot at in free agency.

fishercob wrote:I don't know. I think the Sonics are the exception and not the rule in terms of rebuilding teams; that is to say, you can indeed have too much youth. Someone has to steer the ship, set expectations, demonstrate work ethic and professionalism. The Baby Bulls never panned out b/c they had no leadership.

I think a lot of the disagreement on Haywood has to do with expectations for the rebuild. In general, I think most here expect the Wizards to transform into a contender in an unrealistically short time frame. I think it's going to take a long time and I'm OK with it. In the interim, I want to see progress, specifically by way of a culture change. The Wiz might never be a contender with Haywood here, but I think his legacy would actually pave the way.

Haywood's not even 31 yet. He has some serious production left in him. I'd try to sign him to a declining contract with a non (or at worst, partial) guaranteed fourth year, and in exchange for doing so give him a pretty big payday up front.

I think it's foolhardy to plan for signing Perkins, Noah or Gasol is a free agent. Who is that last above average starting center to switch teams via free agency?

As most of you have probably guessed, I agree with fishercob. I'd definitely make an attempt to sign Haywood to a 4 year contract (I like the idea of having the 4th year a team option or partially guaranteed, but that may not be feasible). I'd pay as much as $32M over 4 years for him (with max front-loading). I wouldn't go higher than that though.

I have no misgivings whatsoever about the concept of adding a 30-year-old vet to a team full of 23-year-olds. All that matters to me is that Haywood must remain productive throughout the entire 4 years he is under contract here. Given his age, mileage, and type of game, I think he will. At worst, there might be a slight dropoff in Year 4.

I think it works out perfectly on paper. Haywood provides the one skill that our young bigs lack the most: defense. He'll handle the post defense against the behemoth centers in this league while we wait for McGee to fill out; and he'll mentor both Blatche and McGee on the subtleties of help defense. As McGee improves, he'll take more minutes from Haywood, which is fine because as Haywood ages, he'll probably be better off scaling down to 25-28 minutes per game rather than playing 34.

All that said, I agree with the general sentiment that other teams are probably in more need of Haywood and would be likely to outbid us. But even so, it can't hurt to make the phone call to Haywood's agent.

Ruzious wrote:It's not a yes or no question yet imo, because we don't know who we'll draft or who we've really got a shot at in free agency.

True. If we draft Cousins or Aldrich, then signing Haywood wouldn't make sense.

Ruzious wrote:It's not a yes or no question yet imo, because we don't know who we'll draft or who we've really got a shot at in free agency.

I think the question presupposes that we're not drafting Cousins. If that's the case, I don't see many better options than Haywood.

fishercob wrote:

Ruzious wrote:It's not a yes or no question yet imo, because we don't know who we'll draft or who we've really got a shot at in free agency.

I think the question presupposes that we're not drafting Cousins. If that's the case, I don't see many better options than Haywood.

There are still too many unknowns. Basically for me, it would come down to - would his acquisition make us... a contender for top 3 or 4 in the East. A bunch of things would have to happen before I could make a guess on that.

Ruzious wrote:

fishercob wrote:

Ruzious wrote:It's not a yes or no question yet imo, because we don't know who we'll draft or who we've really got a shot at in free agency.

I think the question presupposes that we're not drafting Cousins. If that's the case, I don't see many better options than Haywood.

There are still too many unknowns. Basically for me, it would come down to - would his acquisition make us... a contender for top 3 or 4 in the East. A bunch of things would have to happen before I could make a guess on that.

Why is that the litmus test? There's basically no realistic way that the WIzards are going to become a top 4 team in the East this summer. I think the goal should be setting the team on course to become a consistent contender. Haywood can produce and set the tone for the younger guys.

What I like about the idea of signing Haywood is that he gives the Wizards a solid PF/C rotation.

However the price will likely be higher than what the Wizards should pay him.

fishercob wrote:Why is that the litmus test? There's basically no realistic way that the WIzards are going to become a top 4 team in the East this summer. I think the goal should be setting the team on course to become a consistent contender. Haywood can produce and set the tone for the younger guys.

Haywood was on the Wiz for how many years? And when did he ever set a tone for anyone?

It was just a few years ago that Boston went from worst to best in 1 year mainly by making 2 trades. So, yes it is possible for the Wiz to be top 4 in the East next season.