The Bad
Things were not always smooth for Howard in Atlanta this season.
Particularly in the postseason, Howard caught a lot of criticism. Due to his style of play, the Hawks were unable to play him against good small-ball lineups. His style confined him to being strictly a paint player and he had issues guarding those smaller, quicker, stretch big men.
That weakness came into play on the offensive end, as well. While Howard was an effective offensive player for much of the time, he had his fair share of struggles. His inability to stretch the floor put more pressure on the surrounding players to make plays. He is also not a great passer, which is harmful in Budenholzer’s offense.
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The overarching issue here with Howard is a lack of versatility.
He is a good player that a team can stick in the paint but once he has to leave that area, things go downhill. And they went very downhill in the postseason.
The Washington Wizards often forced Howard out of the paint in the first round of the playoffs and that inhibited his production. He was drawn out to guard the pick-and-roll and that is a big weakness in Dwight’s game. The Hawks had to take Howard out of the game several times because of that defensive liability and he tallied double-figure points just once in the series.
Howard is good at what he does. He can score inside, rebound, and even still protect the paint. But he, simply, is not effective beyond that. And we didn’t even get into the free-throw shooting, where he was better but still shot just 53.3 percent.