Brendan Haywood's Trade Exception

[Redzone]

For the record, haywood had THREE blocked shots against Indiana. I repeat: THREE.

In 19 minutes, Haywood shot 2 of 3 for 6 pts, had 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks. Hibbert in 23 minutes was 3 of 9, 5 rebounds, 0 blocks.

For tonight, Haywood outplayed Hibbert. Haywood started off shaky, but quickly got his instincts in the right direction. If he stays healthy, Haywood definitely will be helpful to this team and may be the shot blocker/center stopgap we need until we get a premium one during the winter or next summer.

 

[shoes22]

Tonight, Haywood played almost 20 minutes, which is more than I thought we would see in 2014, and I thought his minutes in the 3rd quarter were very effective. I thought he pretty much neutralized Hibbert, especially in the 2nd half, which is the exact role the Cavs would want him to play. Yeah, he was sloppy on offense, especially in the first half, but I thought tonight's game was a very solid step for Haywood. Seemed like he started to trust himself more after halftime.

I'm not saying he solves the Cavs issues at defensive center, but his performance showed some positive signs. He doesn't look like a limping disaster out there. I think Indiana should be more worried about Hibbert, to be honest, considering what they're paying him.

You know what's sad? I think Haywood gave us more on the defensive end tonight than Bynum did during his entire tenure here last year...

 

[Redzone]

Fun facts about Haywood: He was picked in the first round (20th) by the Cavs in 2001. He also is the same age as David West (34), so it's more his injury history, than his age, which is the concern.

I still remember Haywood standing over LeBron during Lebron's first playoffs while LeBron was on the ground and LeBron gave an incredulous look while pushing Haywood away.

For those who have not seen the Cavs in person yet this year, Haywood is huge. In the Shaq and Bynum category of huge-ness.

 

[shoefly]

Haywood can be useful against a guy like Hibbert, but against a center with any footspeed he'll have trouble. They had him hedging at the three point line in the Milwaukee game and that's just never going to work.

 

[Andrew]

He looked aggressive on defense out there against the Pacers, a good thing to see.

 

[Simmy]

Here's a question for you:

Brendan Haywood or big, bad JJ Hickson?

Don't know why but Haywood's brightest "spots" remind me a little of JJs.

 

[CleveRocks]

Haywood has already exceeded expectations by playing any minutes at all. Also Kirk is playing better than some other center stiffs we have had in recent history (excluding Zeller). I think Andy and TT will man most of the center minutes, but if we get constructive minutes from Brenda and Kirk, that will go a long way to keep our better guys healthy.. We are going to play more than a few blowouts this year, and that means we can use these guys to eat garbage minutes through the season...

 

[iamacavalier]

I really thought he played his role great last night. At first the front line was struggling against hibbert but he really played we'll against hibbert. I could see him sitting out whole series in the playoffs against teams like the wizards then playing 15+ minutes a game in others like against the pacers depending on opponents.

 

[Douglar]

I don't think Haywood is an all purpose defensive mistake eraser, which is what some people are talking about when they say "rim protector", but he does look like he's got enough left in the tank to be an effective low post defender. Sometimes teams need to have the ability to play big centers (Hibbert, Howard, Bogut) man to man for periods of time when the opponent has tuned their offense to attack the double team. It's the reason why Perkins was so valuable to the Celtics, back when you had to go through Howard, Duncan & Gasol to win a title. Wait, you still have to go through those guys. Let's keep Haywood.

Haywood is big, btw. Just about 7' w/o shoes, 7'6.5" wing span. That's in the same ball park as Bynum.

 

[Ocelot]

Agree with Douglar's comment. I would expect his minutes to be all over the place this season (if he can provide actual minutes). There will probably be some match-ups where he'll only get a few minutes or maybe even a DNP-CD depending on how the rotations shake out, then other nights where he's out there for 20 minutes just to check a guy like Hibbert. Against teams like the Heat, who are unlikely to be looking to create much in the way of traditional post looks, there's probably not a whole lot of need for Haywood.

 

[Cavatt]

I think it's hard to criticize his play when they were t talking about a possible return on opening night. He is rusty for sure, and he is slow. Tristan didn't get bullied by Hibbert last night either, so Haywood really is a situational player. It looks like he can handle the backup role especially against large brute force. Try Tristan and Andy for everyone else.

 

[MRMsix6]

Really? I thought he looked pretty decent. He's obviously a little rusty, but had a nice little turnaround, blocked a shot (or maybe 2?), and was in good rebounding position on both ends (I admittedly didn't see a portion of the game, but from the time I saw, he was in good position).

Defensively, it doesn't look like he's quite at full strength yet.

The important thing to remember is that it's gonna take time for him to get back in game shape & produce like he's capable of. Not that he'd produce a ton, but you get what I'm saying. I think today he looked pretty decent, all things considered.

For the record, the Cavs are very confident they'll get good production out of him this season.

I guess if the bar is low enough. I'm not expecting a lot, but he can't move on defense in space at all. Against bigs like Hibbert who are statues out there he doesn't look as bad. But teams will kill him in the PnR.

He has been better than Amundson, who's like a giant hyper toddler with poor motor skills out there, so that's something .

The fact that he's able to play and contribute at all is a positive, and hopefully he continues to get into better shape. I just hope we don't have to rely on him for meaningful minutes in big moments. When Varejao inevitably goes down for a period of time, we're going to need someone back there who isn't going to be a major liability. I'm not convinced Haywood can be that guy.

 

[Cavatt]

Amundson totally stinks on O, but did you see the way he stayed with the guard(CJ Watson?) during the final out of bounds play where they needed the 3? He was awesome and was right on him contesting. Again, I think he is situational player, and not one that will be asked to do much offensively. I don't think he is useless.

Yeah, Haywood's mobility is not great, but that is not what we want him for. We want him for the heavy post players. Even against a guy like Howard, I would go with AV or TT. Gortat, Hibbert, maybe Pek you would go with Haywood.

 

[mhi]

I don't think Haywood is an all purpose defensive mistake eraser, which is what some people are talking about when they say "rim protector", but he does look like he's got enough left in the tank to be an effective low post defender. Sometimes teams need to have the ability to play big centers (Hibbert, Howard, Bogut) man to man for periods of time when the opponent has tuned their offense to attack the double team. It's the reason why Perkins was so valuable to the Celtics, back when you had to go through Howard, Duncan & Gasol to win a title. Wait, you still have to go through those guys. Let's keep Haywood.

Low post defense is exactly what we already have (in Thompson, whose high center of gravity helps aton and Varajao) so I don't see why we would need Haywood for that. Like you alluded to, what we need (and some people hope Haywood) is a rim protector.

And no, we don't have to go through those guys at all. In our own conference, I think only Hibbert fits that low post scorer role and he zones out every other game.

But you also made a good comparison; Haywood is basically OKC Perkins (def not Boston Perkins) and should def be limited to 10-15min at most during the season.

 

[CavsFan87]

The great news is, we didn't bring Haywood in to be "Kyrie's sidekick" like we did last year with Bynum. The expectations are very low for Haywood, and he certainly exceeded them last night, as mentioned by most of the posts above.

For the naysayers, don't get caught up with his lack of a sexy posture (i.e the bending over when he's playing post defense, or the fact that he looks like one of his legs might fall off if he tries to run too fast). Sexiness or fanciness isn't a stat in Basketball. He performed pretty well, and that's all that matters.