Its good to see people finally coming around to see how good Haywood is. Yes is numbers aren't gawdy, but a solid 10 ppg 8 rpg 1.5 bpg. His percentages are great, he's majorly improved his free throw shooting this past offseason. People though really miss what Haywood does because it doesn't show up in the stats and he doesn't get name reconization for is stellar defense, both man-to-man and help.
This is no freak occurance either like just this season, Haywood has been that good for 3-4 seasons now. Wizards fans for the past few years have hated Eddie Jordan because he played favorites and would give more playing time to Etan Thomas. Since Etan has been out all season, Haywood has got to show his true worth, and how good he is as a defender and offensive rebounder. Still even with his great play this year many Wizards fans still think Eddie Jordan doesn't give him enough minutes, just go check out some Wizard board conversation, I'd think he'd be putting up something like 12 pts 10 rebs 2 blks if he was given 30+ per night, but hey woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Haywood no doubt in my mind, homerism set aside is a top 5 post defender in the league right up their with Rasheed and Duncan. I hope people really start to give him the respect he deserves. People look at his numbers and say hey if he's a top 3 East center that really shows the decline in centers. To a degree the center position is very much in decline, but their not really seeing the whole picture with Haywood. First he has not a single offensive play ran for him and he puts up almost 11 pts per game up off an array of dunks, put-backs, tips, a few hooks, and now even has a jumper.
I actually think the Wiz should run a few plays for him, but I think I'm in the minority their even with Wiz fans. I figure since he shoots such a high percentage(14th in the league) and shoots free throws at a good clip why not give him 3-4 more touches per game, quite possibly I think he could average around 14-15 pts per game. His rebound numbers are great on the offensive boards, and okay on the defensive boards, but Jamison does gobble up 11 per game himself. The point I'm trying to make is yeah his numbers aren't the likes of Dwights or Duncans, but don't overlook his contribution. Is he an All-Star this season, eh, you could make the argument either way. As a Wiz fan I would like to see him make him, but I wouldn't be dissapointed if he doesn't, plus at this point Caron and Jamison are more deserving then him. I do think though that he should be given 1st or 2nd All-Defensive team if he keeps his play up, will see though.
Okay I'm done with my rant.