Albeit Brendan Haywood did not provide the Dallas Mavericks with the lift they were hoping for in last year's post-season, he still turned out to be the best available center on the free agent market. Thus, the Mavs had very little choice when it came down to securing the services of a serviceable big man suitable for their win-now philosophy. According to the Mavericks' front-office Brendan Haywood signed a new six year contract worth approximately $55 million.

Even though the Mavs were also interested in Jermaine O'Neal he eventually signed with the Boston Celtics leaving GM Donnie Nelson few options on the free agent market. After all, Dallas was looking for a center who could at least defensively compete with the league's best big men in order to stay in the race for a championship. In 2009-10, Brendan Haywood averaged 9.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 31 minutes per contest for the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards. Where as the 7-0 center is a serviceable defensive minded center who has a repertoire of efficient post-moves at the other end of the floor, owner Marc Cuban certainly had to overpay to keep Haywood in Texas. Ultimately, there were too many teams with capspace who were able to make competitive offers and drove up the price quite a bit. Likewise, one should also keep in mind that inferior front-court players like Drew Gooden and Amir Johnson also signed ridiculous multi-year deals this off-season which makes Haywood's pricetag somewhat reasonable. Either way, the Mavs can now confidently look forward to the new season as they were not only able to resign their franchise cornerstone Dirk Nowitzki this summer but will also head into 2010-11 with a solid front-court.

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