The Wizards have started slowly, but a bright spot has been center Brendan Haywood. In his sixth season out of North Carolina, the 7-footer is averaging 10 points, 13.7 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game, thriving in an expanded role after the loss of Etan Thomas, who had heart surgery last month.
1 Right now, you’re the only established center on the team. Can you talk about that? There’s a different type of comfort level for me out there. Before I felt like I had to get things going right away, or else somebody else might be playing. This year I know I’m getting a chance to play through my mistakes. I just want to limit my mistakes.
2 Guys get hot shooting. Is there such a thing as getting hot rebounding? The more and more you’re out there, the more and more you start lucking into easy rebounds, like free-throw rebounds. Balls just happen to bounce your way and you’re in the right place at the right time. Next thing you know you start getting that level of energy and you’re making plays out of your area.
3 Where’s your productivity coming from? I’m just trying to be aggressive and have a live body on every play. I feel like if you go after every rebound, you might not get them all, but you’ll get a large percentage of them. We’re shooting a bad percentage, so there’s a lot of rebounds to get.
4 You’re averaging a double-double, can you sustain it? I’m playing well right now, but I see a lot of areas where I can improve. Guys have been telling me to keep up the good work because we need it right now. It can’t be something that I do for three games and then disappear for three games. It has to be consistent through all 82.
5 Does the team feel a need to play catch-up? This isn’t football — it’s not a 16-game season. It’s 82, so we have a lot of games to make up these losses. You never want to start out like this, but this is the hand we dealt ourselves and we have to play through it.
