While the 2000s were marked by the incredible play of the NBA's premier guards and wingmen, there's little doubt in basketball fans' minds that it was an era dominated by the big men. Champions like the Los Angeles Lakers , Detroit Pistons , San Antonio Spurs , and the Boston Celtics had prolific post players such as Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan , Kevin Garnett , Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace.
Other contenders had awesome big men like Yao Ming, Chris Webber, Amar'e Stoudemire, LaMarcus Aldridge , and Jermaine O'Neal, which meant that anyone assigned to man the paint either had to bring their best every night or go home with their tail between their legs.
Former NBA center Brendan Haywood knew about this too well. As the 20th pick of the 2001 NBA Draft, the 7-footer who played college ball at North Carolina was a starter for most of his career, which placed him at odds with the aforementioned players and so many more.
Haywood was by no means a star by any stretch of the imagination. However, he was a dependable center who provided the teams he played for with a solid interior presence; a big body who could rebound, score up close, and deter foes from getting easy baskets at the rim.
Aware of the elite big men that he had to face nightly back in the day, he recalled bringing a "lunch pail" mentality to every game, meaning he had to lace his sneakers tight and go to work.
"Listen, from a big man standpoint, there were no nights off. Like you said, yeah, you might have had a C-Webb, then you had a Shaq. Then coming up under those guys, you had a Yao Ming, Jermaine O'Neal," Haywood said . "Jermaine O'Neal gets left out of, like, the big man conversation for that era. He was 20 and 10, a multiple-time All-Star. So you just had to bring your lunch pail. And it was a different game because they letting hand-to-hand combat go down there."
As much as the NBA tried to curb violence in the league in the wake of the infamous "Malice at the Palace," it didn't diminish the level of aggression that big men had to play with during the 2000s. Many, like KG and Ben Wallace, took pride in defending the shaded lane and never hesitated to make it clear to players who went inside that it was their domain.
"Going from one block to the other was hand-to-hand combat. It was an elbow, and you had to fight through. So you really had to be physical. You had to be dialed in," Haywood stated.
And then, there was the matter of checking Shaq; for all the terrific big men who competed in the 2000s, Haywood asserted that none of them came close to the legendary 7'1″ giant, who won the 2000 MVP and won four NBA rings in that era.
"Listen, when the big fella is dialed in and getting big in that lane and sealing, and then you're trying to take away this side, and then he's spinning, Shaq's throwing the 'bow, it is an absolute problem," Brendan remembered.
"There was nobody in my life that I've ever had to cover harder than Shaq. He was bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you. And when he turned it up, it was just a level that most people couldn't get to," he added.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Aug 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
