Wake Up Atlanta, Dwight Howard is (Still) a Star
By Austin Bende
Dwight Howard has gone from superstar big man to just another average player in most people’s eyes. If you are one who thinks that way, this is why you’re wrong.
The Atlanta Hawks had a much busier off-season than is usually expected from the now Spurs-esque franchise.
They traded one-time All-Star point guard Jeff Teague in exchange for an extra first-round pick. Kent Bazemore was re-upped on a lucrative deal. Guards Malcolm Delaney and Jarrett Jack were brought on board. Four-time All-Star Al Horford was poached off by the rival Celtics, leaving the Hawks without a player that had led them to the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons. The team had already filled the center spot however, with a guy named Dwight Howard.
Who is Dwight Howard? Many fans would answer with something like “Oh, Howard was that lazy crybaby in LA and Houston.”. While some of that criticism is fair, that blanket statement blindly ignores a plethora of context. While on the Lakers, Howard was not a good fit. Whether it was Mike D’Antoni’s scheme or the buzzsaw personality of Kobe Bryant, D-12 was never a piece of that puzzle. His once shining career got even darker when he enter an even more puzzling situation in Houston. Star guard James Harden and Howard were supposed to be a second iteration of the Kobe-Shaq tandem. Instead of winning rings while feuding, the Rockets just outright fell apart.
Still to many, the common factor in both situations was the Hawks new starting center.
Atlanta fans should still be excited. Losing the consummate professional for the perceived locker room cancer does seem worrisome. However, a strong case could be made that the perception of Howard is skewed.
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Outside of an amusing amount of speeding tickets, Howard has never publicly said or done anything wrong. Al Horford also never did much. The Celtics’ new center didn’t produce any locker room drama or off-the-court headlines. He also never won a ring. He never even took the Hawks to the NBA Finals. Horford was never the closer this team desperately needed. While his floor spacing and recent defense was immense, he only ever averaged double digit rebounds once(2012-13). That’s important considering as a team Atlanta was out rebounded by 4.4 rebounds per game last season. Howard could bring what Horford never could.
Dwight Howard is an eight-time All-Star, eight time All-NBA center, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, and an Eastern Conference Champion. You don’t just walk into those numbers. Especially not when you never average less than 10.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
The Hawks have needed rebounding and rim protecting for years, and Howard brings it. While it can be debated whether or not he’s a closer, he will bring scoring. Pundits all over will point to last season’s mediocre 13.7 points per game (less than Horford’s 15.2). What they don’t seem to mention is he only took a ridiculously low 8.5 shots per game, compared to Horford’s 12.8. It wasn’t as if Howard was shying away from the ball, as Harden was throwing up 19.7 field goal attempts per game. Coach Budenholzer will get his new star the ball. You can already bet that Atlanta Hawks fans should see much better numbers this year.
Plenty of fans probably groaned when first seeing the signing of Howard and loss of Horford. With how the media and basic box scores portray the big men, that’s not surprising. However, Atlanta should collectively rub their eyes and look at this new, scary team playing at Phillips.
The Hawks have attracted a star free agent for the first time in forever and he’s going to play like one. When looking at the context of Howard’s past failures, along with the Hawks’ own failures, this change feels plenty more reassuring. Howard has put the past few years behind him and is ready to try to bring the Larry O’Brien to his hometown team.
If you don’t wake up, you might miss the championship parade.
All stats used were obtained from Basketball Reference