Dwight Howard vs. Al Horford: Why Dwight Howard is Better for the Atlanta Hawks in the Long Run

The 2016 NBA offseason is over, and Al Horford has moved on to Massachusetts to play for the guys in green. Now that he’s no longer a Hawk, Dwight Howard is the new big man in charge for Atlanta.

The ongoing debate among NBA analysts and Hawks fans, is whether or not Dwight Howard is an upgrade, or downgrade. Honestly, In many aspects, Howard is a downgrade for the Hawks, but in the long run, Howard serves as a better contributor compared to Horford. In the playoffs, the Hawks fans could forget all about Al Horford and realize that signing Dwight Howard was the best move Atlanta could’ve made.

Al Horford is the definition of a well-rounded NBA player. He can run the floor, face-up, protect the rim, pick-and-roll, pick-and-pop. He can also find the open man, shoot free throws, and knock down long range shots if open.

Dwight Howard isn’t as versatile as Al, but he can do a few things great. Howard is a top-5 rebounder, one of the best centers in the pick-and-roll. He’s also a very efficient player around the rim and still one of the leagues most athletically gifted players. Be

Because of Horford’s attributes, it’s safe to assume that most GM’s would choose him as the more versatile player to build a franchise around . He’s the perfect model for consistency, why not pick Horford?

Al has played a pivotal role in Atlanta’s success over the past few seasons. But, every year it’s the same story with the Hawks. They’ll have a good season, make the playoffs and lose to a team in the 1st or 2nd round. The 2014-2015 season was the first time in Atlanta Hawks history where they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers. Unfortunately, only to make the playoffs the next year and lose to them for the second time in a row.

The Atlanta Hawks have been consistently good, but never great. Unfortunately again, Al Horford has mirrored that. Horford has averaged 14.3 points per game, and 8.9 rebounds per game over the course of his career. In the playoffs, his career numbers were almost the same. He’s averaging 12.9 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game in the post-season. Al Horford’s consistency hasn’t been enough to push the Hawks to the NBA Finals.

Dwight Howard has done the opposite of Horford throughout his career. Stats show that Dwight Howard takes his game to another level in the postseason. Howard averages 17.8 points per game, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks for his regular season career. Howard averaged 19.1 points per game, 14.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in the playoffs during his time in the NBA. This is a result of  Howard having deep playoff experience. Also. he possessed the physical tools it requires to endure the intensity of a playoff series.  In the last two playoff series vs. the Cavaliers, there’s been two obvious holes in Atlanta’s game; rebounding and a highly respected paint presence.

In the 2015 Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers dominated the Atlanta Hawks resulting in a sweep. Next season, the same thing occurred in the second round. This seems to be Atlanta’s kryptonite in the playoffs. In both years, the Atlanta Hawks were hot garbage on the boards. The first year, the Cavaliers had a total of 52.8 rebounds, and the Hawks had 39.3 rebounds. In 2016, Cleveland grabbed 45.8 rebounds, compared to Atlanta’s 39.5 rebounds. This has been a continuous issue for the Hawks during the regular season for awhile now. Expect Howard to provide the cure for the the Hawks rebounding woes.

Al Horford helped space the floor against the Cavaliers, but no one respected his jump shot enough for it to be a threat. When no one was hitting from beyond the arc, the Hawks needed Horford who could get easy buckets around the rim. But no one outside of him wanted to volunteer for that position. The Hawks now have a pick-and-roll monster in Dwight Howard, who can grab anything you throw up in the air, and throw it down with intensity. Dwight can score at will in the restricted area, and the Hawks will need him when Korver and Bazemore are having cold spells. When the game slows down, easy 2-pointers can feel like 3s because of how important they are.

In the regular season, Horford’s versatility came in handy because it gave the Hawks flexibility to try different lineups and plays. During the playoffs, sometimes it’s better to have a person who can do a couple of things well and on a consistent basis than a guy who can do a little bit of this and that. Sometimes Horford was so versatile, that his role was somewhat a mystery in the postseason. Of course for Horford, health was always a factor. Horford’s risk of getting injured has decreased since expanding his shooting range.  Since he doesn’t have to take as much contact as Dwight, but when he’s not hitting, he’s useless in the playoffs. Howard can go on runs with just alley-oops and layups.

The Hawks are already bad at rebounding, the more jump shots they miss, the more opportunities they give the opposing team. The better the rebounding, the more mistakes a team can make. The Hawks actually have a legitimate paint presence now on offense with Dwight Howard, and that’ll give the Atlanta Hawks more hope in the postseason to beat physical teams like Cleveland and Toronto.