One of my lasting memories of the Boston Celtics – Philadelphia 76’ers series was thinking “How can we keep Spencer Hawes in this game.” He was terrible in that series, and Doug Collins’ insistence on using him was part of the reason why the Celtics won.
But Philly was undeterred by Hawes playing terribly in the postseason… or mediocre with some random stretches of “ok” most of the regular season. Because they’re giving him$13 million to stick around.
Free-agent center Spencer Hawes has agreed to a two -year, $13.1 million contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers, Hawes’ agent, Greg Lawrence, told Yahoo! Sports.
It’s an immutable law of NBA free agency: Centers will always get overpaid.
Hawes came out of the blocks strong last year, putting up 12 points and grabbing 12.5 rebounds to start the season in December. But he never averaged more than 7.2 rebounds in any month after that, and his playoff rebounding was even worse.
But he’s 24 years-old and he’s 7 feet tall. And while I’m completely ragging on him right now, he can still do some things well enough to warrant getting NBA minutes. He just won’t do much more than be tall and do things other people can’t do because he’s a tall professional athlete.
In this world of overpaying centers, Hawes’ contract won’t stand out as horrible in comparison. But under the microscope, it stinks. And it sets the bar pretty high for that level of production.
It makes you wonder what kind of offers Greg Stiemsma will be getting, and what kind of position that will put the Celtics in financially.
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