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On June 26, Marcin Gortat’s tenure as a Washington Wizards member ended with a trade to the Clippers.

The Washington Wizards fans have been clamoring for a new center for a while now. They got their wish last night when the Clippers traded Austin Rivers to the Wizards for Gortat. Looking at the trade itself is a whole other topic, but let’s see how Marcin Gortat stacked up against other Wizards centers.

Full disclosure: I am only looking at “Washington Wizards” centers. I have excluded all Bullets centers because there is no comparison. Wes Unseld is the greatest Washington organization center. Now we have that out of the way, the only other center worth comparing to Brendan Haywood.

Basketball Reference website has Haywood and Marcin Gortat right next to each other in the top-12 all-time players, Haywood at 11 and Gortat at 12. The sorting statistic that Basketball Reference used was “Win Shares” and Gortat and Haywood are separated by 0.2 Win Shares. So, that leaves the comparison with us.

The comparison between Haywood and Gortat has to take into account how long each player donned the Wizards uniform

One of the things I came across during my research is that Haywood was in the Wizards organization, but only started 50 more games than Marcin Gortat. Haywood was in Washington for nine years playing in 579 games while starting in 450 games. Gortat played in Washington for five seasons, played in 402 games and started in 400 games. Obviously, Gortat had better health.

Over his five years in Washington, Marcin Gortat did not play in 8 games total. Haywood did not play in 106 games over his nine years in Washington. That’s a huge difference in the coaches having to scramble for a solid replacement. Over Gortat’s term, the Wizards only needed a second center because he was so dependable. While Haywood was here, the team needed three centers just to get through the season.

Because Haywood has double the tenure of Gortat in years, his name is all over the record books. Gortat’s name still has a presence in the record books, but more for averages. So what does that mean? On a per game basis, Gortat provided more for the Wizards at the five spot than Haywood. Don’t believe me?

Gortat was far the superior center over Haywood

*rankings include Bullets centers, but they just won’t be discussed here

Brendan Haywood is 4th on the Wizards in total games played, but he is nowhere to be found on the points scoring list. The reason? Haywood only scored 7.7 points a game while guarding the paint for the Wizards. That is barely over 600 points in a season and that’s IF he plays 82 games, which was not common. In every single year as a Wizard, Gortat scored over 690 points. His worse season? Last year, when he scored 690 points.

Gortat was on a different level, statistically than Haywood. Gortat’s Wizards could depend on 10 points a game all the way up until last year. Haywood only had one season over 10 points game, while Gortat averaged over 10 points a game three out of five seasons. Gortat’s scoring average as a Wizard was 11.6, Haywood’s pales in comparison.

There was a statistic that Haywood bested Gortat in, blocks. Haywood averaged 1.5 blocks per game while Gortat average 1.1 per game. Haywood had almost double the blocks of Gortat but that makes sense because he had nine years in a Wizards uniform to Gortat’s five. With only 0.4 blocks separating the averages, this statistic is washed out this matchup.

Gortat brought more in defensive rebounds, Haywood brought in more offensive rebounds

This was the most surprising fact to find in my research. On the total rebounds leaderboard, Gortat is at seven with 3697 and Haywood was at eighth with 3,648. So you are telling me, that in 50 fewer games, Gortat rebounded better than Haywood? Rebounds and blocks are the most important statistics for centers. Haywood barely beats Gortat out in blocks and Gortat needed fewer games to surpass Haywood. And Gortat scored more.

Haywood was a beast on the offensive glass, ranking third with 1,604. Gortat held his own during his tenure with 1,023, good for seventh. But offensive rebounding is such a small part of the game, important yes, but small. That’s why Haywood’s gigantic lead in offensive rebounds carry little weight.

I want my center to get me rebounds and blocks, that is my center’s main job. If the center can score, I don’t need blocks as much. Gortat gave the Wizards 11.6 points a game. That is solid considering the offense he was a part of had Wall, Beal, and Porter taking shots and being paid to do so. Gortat catches flak for his last year here, but let’s take all of the bad feelings out and just look at the player. Gortat was the best center that the Washington Wizards saw while named the Wizards and for that, we should thank him for his service and wish him well in Los Angeles.

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