How will Dwight Howard fit into Budenholzer’s offense?

[Jamaaliver]

SI.com stat breakdown:

Atlanta Hawks

Coach Mike Budenholzer has a strong aversion to low-post play. Atlanta had just 6.1 post-up possessions per game last season, fifth-fewest in the NBA. And many of those happened accidentally: Paul Millsap backing down an undersized opponent, or Al Horford putting up a hook shot off a deep catch. There were seldom any programmed post operations—the sort of offense that new center Dwight Howard has come to depend on

Coaches who’ve failed to indulge Howard’s desire for paint touches have risked his becoming less engaged. That was especially true in Houston, where his field goal attempts dwindled in each of the last three seasons—down to 8.5 per game in 2015–16—and his effectiveness declined.

Style changes are inevitable for a team transitioning from Horford, who left for Boston, to Howard, 30, who signed a three-year, $75 million deal. But it’s hard to imagine that Budenholzer, who prefers to string multiple actions into a fluid offense, will compromise and feature Howard in the post. Still, it might be worth it for the Hawks to appease the big man with some rolls to the rim and dribble handoffs. Even with his back problems, a motivated Howard can be a vital interior defender, rebounder and finisher. — R.M.

Here

[MaceCase]

The overall media narrative has been truly hilarious this summer/early fall, I'm guessing you can claim that Bud "has a strong aversion to low-post play" when you are simultaneously claiming that Horford is a "true post scorer". I suppose the belief is that Bud didn't coach to his personnel but rather stifled his "star" all these years.

Goes to show that as always, they never truly followed this team.

[jayu70]

This is interesting:

Houston Rockets management repeatedly pushed for Clint Capela to get more playing time at the expense of Dwight Howard last season, sources told ESPN, adding to the disharmony that played a prominent role in the team's disappointing 2015-16 campaign.

Former Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff resisted complying with the wishes of general manager Daryl Morey and owner Leslie Alexander regarding a drastic reduction in Howard's playing time. Team sources said Alexander never participated in the meetings with Morey and Bickerstaff but fully supported the general manager's plan to prioritize Capela's development.

League sources said input from face-of-the-franchise James Harden heavily influenced Houston management's desire to decrease Howard's minutes. However, team sources insisted that Harden was not involved in those discussions.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17872646/houston-rockets-management-pushed-play-clint-capela-dwight-howard?sf39726691=1

[Jamaaliver]

Korver's assessments after the Preseason and the first Regular Season game:

We are still learning how to utilize Dwight and he’s learning how to play in our system still.

Honestly speaking, we still have a ways to go. Even in a (recent) scrimmage, the first group started off and we were OK. Not great, OK. Then, things clicked for five, six, seven minutes. It was like ‘Ooooh, I like this a lot.’ It was really exciting. I think that is where we are at. We are going to have some moments when we are still figuring it out.

[Dwight] gives us a physicality at a position that we just haven’t had--to really control everything around the basket. He is just size that we haven’t had since I’ve been here. We have to learn to utilize that better. We do a decent job, but we can get much better using his strengths. He has never played in a motion offense before. He has to learn that there are three, four, five possible reads in pick-and-rolls in a possession. It has to keep going. That’s new to him.

Here

[Jamaaliver]

From SI.com, two weeks into the season:

I’m unsure what to make of the Hawks. The addition of Dwight Howard at least makes this team interesting, and it appears Howard may be buying in to the team concept. Howard has been finishing in the pick-and-roll more frequently this season than last, and his points per possession as the roll man are up .18 points as well. Howard’s being utilized as a roll man on 13.4% of his possessions so far with the Hawks, compared to 9.3% his final year in Houston. That's a 4.1% increase, and Howard’s mark of 1.28 points per possession as a pick-and-roll finisher is higher than Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Hassan Whiteside.

Look, it’s early in the season and Dwight’s stats could be some margin-of-error situation, but this is slightly promising for Atlanta. Howard is a devastating pick-and-roll player whose seemingly loathed that aspect of his game in favor of post touches. But Howard has the potential to form a special tandem with Dennis Schroder, a nimble guard who excels at getting downhill into the paint. If Howard’s uptick as a roll-man finisher continues, the Hawks could eventually become a tougher out in the postseason.

Here


But then you see this:

Read on Twitter

Stay in the paint, big fella. Centers belong in the post.

[Jamaaliver]

Newsflash:

The closer to the basket Howard gets the ball, the better


With Dwight Howard, the Hawks are playing more post-up offense. Only with a catch.

Ideally, the Hawks want to get Howard the ball as close to the basket as possible where he is required to make one simple move to score...The same can be said for power forward Paul Millsap in the Hawks’ offense.


“In a very simplistic way, that’s where we would like all of our post guys to catch it,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of in-close touches. “...when you have the physical tools and gifts that Dwight has, he’s very much committed to it. It is designed and there is structure, including passing angles, running angles. To be honest, it’s something that would be emphasized by a lot of teams including us...I think it’s critical to his success and to our success.”


Howard has a 60 percent field goal percentage (66 of 110) through his 12 games, third best in the NBA. According to the league, here is the breakdown of his baskets:

•Less than five feet: 59 of 90, 65.6 percent

•Five to nine feet: 6 of 17, 35.3 percent

•10-14 feet: 1 of 2, 50 percent

•15-19 feet: 0 of 1, 0 percent



“Actually with the way he’s playing, and Millsap, it’s a paint catch which is a big difference,” Hornets Coach Steve Clifford said of the Hawks’ post-up offense. “They play with such physicality that they are actually throwing the ball into the paint. There are no moves. What he is doing right now, is he is playing with such force, as is Millsap, where they are catching that ball two feet in the paint seven or eight times a game. That’s old school. That’s the old NBA before the rules changed that’s how we all played.”

Here

“I know if I can get in there in the paint, it’s hard for teams to double-team,” Howard said. “I can go right up. It puts a lot of pressure of the bigs to either let me score or foul me and now they have to sit down on the bench. It’s better than just a post-up move.”


“They are things we’ve done over time but I think, maybe, we are emphasizing it more, executing it better,” Budenholzer said. “It takes a lot of effort from Dwight and Paul.”

Kudos to the coaching staff for playing to the strengths of their bigs and eschewing pulling the new Center away from the rim. We saw Pero and Horford become less efficient and productive spending so much time on the perimeter. Glad to know we're not making the same mistake yet again!

Wish we had encouraged this more last year when Horford started jacking up 3-pointers like a maniac.

[MaceCase]

Bud coaches to his personnel.

[Jamaaliver]

From a piece in the Washington Post this week, Bud briefly references what types of change he's made to the offensive strategy with the addition of Dwight:

Hawks Coach Mike Budenholzer has embraced his new weapon, and has adjusted his scheme accordingly.

“I think that what he brings, and his unique presence and physicality, can allow us to emphasize the offensive boards, but never at the expense of not being good in transition defense,” Budenholzer said. “I keep saying that we’re trying to do a lot of things the same. I think some of the motion in the offense that we’ve run has been predicated on trying to play inside-out, so hopefully we’ll do it more [now]. Hopefully we can emphasize different things and emphasize different options.”

Budenholzer made it clear what he wanted from Howard during a team meeting before the season: play defense, rebound and control the paint at both ends.

Here

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks OFF Rating right now is the worst it's been in a decade.

Everything just seems a tiny bit off, and this is despite the fact that they’re getting Dwight’s best season in years.

the Hawks have actually been outscored with Howard on the floor, and both their offense and defense have been around five points per 100 possessions better when he’s sat.

Baze has made 10 of 19 triples with Dwight on the bench and only 11 of 51 with Dwight on the floor. Better performance without Dwight in the game is not exclusive to Bazemore, either. Seven different Hawks have played at least 100 minutes with Howard this season. Six of them have a better Net Rating when playing without Dwight than with him.

Here


This is pretty shocking. Our staff utilizes analytics in their strategy and analysis, so I'm sure they are aware of it. But is it an anomaly from the first quarter of the season, or a trend that needs to be corrected?

If Howard is indeed bogging down the offensive flow, what adjustments can we make to counter this trend?

[Jamaaliver]

D12 is starting to do weird things on the court:

Hawks' Dwight Howard tries to expand his game, with mixed results

Seems like he wants to be a guard

Dwight Howard apparently wishes he were a guard. A couple of weeks ago, the Atlanta Hawks center told CBS Sports Radio's Doug Gottleib that he wants to shoot 3-pointers. Howard has yet to try that this season, but Wednesday in a 109-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns, he went wild in a different way.

Here's Howard trying to push the ball on a fast break in the first quarter:

Very ambitious. He gets an A for effort, and an F for execution. What a disastrous pass.

That play was sandwiched in between two jumpers, though, and Howard had much more success there:

Howard caught the ball with 18 seconds on the shot clock, 19 feet away, and launched without hesitation. If Atlanta's coaching staff is encouraging him to do that, and he can become consistent with it before the end of the season, it would count as a major improvement in his 13th season in the league. That is not a normal thing.

Here


As our offense struggles to produce, is this something the coaching staff is encouraging? Because...yikes.

[jayu70]

D12 is starting to do weird things on the court:

Hawks' Dwight Howard tries to expand his game, with mixed results

Seems like he wants to be a guard

Dwight Howard apparently wishes he were a guard. A couple of weeks ago, the Atlanta Hawks center told CBS Sports Radio's Doug Gottleib that he wants to shoot 3-pointers. Howard has yet to try that this season, but Wednesday in a 109-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns, he went wild in a different way.

Here's Howard trying to push the ball on a fast break in the first quarter:

Very ambitious. He gets an A for effort, and an F for execution. What a disastrous pass.

That play was sandwiched in between two jumpers, though, and Howard had much more success there:

Howard caught the ball with 18 seconds on the shot clock, 19 feet away, and launched without hesitation. If Atlanta's coaching staff is encouraging him to do that, and he can become consistent with it before the end of the season, it would count as a major improvement in his 13th season in the league. That is not a normal thing.

Here


As our offense struggles to produce, is this something the coaching staff is encouraging? Because...yikes.

I don't think it's something they are encouraging since it's not something he has been doing game in game out.
It's one bad play in a series of many though.

[Jamaaliver]

I don't think it's something they are encouraging since it's not something he has been doing game in game out.
It's one bad play in a series of many though.

D12 has been working on those 18 foot jumpers for months now.

Read on Twitter

Is this something Bud is encouraging? Cause it didn't work out to well when he allowed (encouraged?) our last All Star Center to expand his range too far out.

[jayu70]

I don't think it's something they are encouraging since it's not something he has been doing game in game out.
It's one bad play in a series of many though.

D12 has been working on those 18 foot jumpers for months now.

Read on Twitter

Is this something Bud is encouraging? Cause it didn't work out to well when he allowed (encouraged?) our last All Star Center to expand his range too far out.

How many has he actually taken in games?
Al was ALWAYS are jump shooter.

And my response to him wanting to be a guard and bringing the ball up per the video.

[MaceCase]

I don't think it's something they are encouraging since it's not something he has been doing game in game out.
It's one bad play in a series of many though.

D12 has been working on those 18 foot jumpers for months now.

Read on Twitter

Is this something Bud is encouraging? Cause it didn't work out to well when he allowed (encouraged?) our last All Star Center to expand his range too far out.

How many has he actually taken in games?
Al was ALWAYS are jump shooter.

And my response to him wanting to be a guard and bringing the ball up per the video.

So far, Al is taking a career high percentage of 3s (29% of all his shots compared to his last season's career high of 24%) and the second lowest career percentage of mid-range shots since his 3rd season (18% compared to 23% last season) in Boston. Bud must have better influence on his former players than his current group.

[PandaKidd]

If you read Lethal SHooter he says that the midrange jumpers is more about MECHANICS. He has D12 shoot farther out to get comfortable with the mechanics of follow through,elbow placement, etc. Its not INTENDED for Dwight to shoot out there. Its more a mental thing so he can have the same process over and over again to help with his FTs.

Hes stated several times that once in a blue moon D12 should feel comfortable enough to shoot a 15-17 footer, but thats not his game

[Jamaaliver]

Bringing in Dwight Howard one of many moves that have stripped Hawks' identity

Howard isn't necessarily killing Atlanta, but he's not helping a ton either


The Atlanta Hawks are 12-13, 10th in the East and losers of 11 of their last 14 games. Everybody's worst fears about their remodeled roster appear to have been well-founded -- they're now 25th in offensive rating, 29th in turnover percentage and 29th in 3-point percentage, a far cry from the well-oiled offensive machine that they were two years ago and in the second half of last season.

Right now, they are nowhere close to one of the best teams in the East...Is Howard really to blame for all of Atlanta's struggles, though? He's certainly not a perfect fit in coach Mike Budenholzer's offense, but Budenholzer has never had a physical presence like him on the inside.

Defense and rebounding have been two of their strengths this season, and that's the case largely because Howard is on the team.

...the question to ask here is how much Howard has hurt Atlanta's once-beautiful offense, and that's a difficult thing to calculate. When the Hawks offense [was] at its best, it was a product of having five players moving in harmony, well aware of each other's tendencies and being willing to move the ball. Throwing a traditional center like Howard in the mix -- and trading away starting point guard Jeff Teague -- was always going to affect that.

It's not just that Howard is a bad fit for the offense; it's that Al Horford was a perfect fit. It's not just that Horford left, or that the front office traded Teague or that DeMarre Carroll signed with the Raptors in July of 2015 -- it's all of these moves, together, completely changing the identity of the team.

Howard isn't single-handedly killing the Hawks, but the Hawks that you loved a couple years ago are gone.

The challenge now is to create something new...

CBS Sports

[Jamaaliver]

Even when Dwight Howard plays well, the Hawks can't beat the Wizards with him

Dwight Howard played only two of his 28 minutes in the fourth quarter of the Atlanta Hawks' 103-99 Game 5 loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

Here's what happened on the very first play when Atlanta went small:

Dennis Schroder has so much room to drive because the floor is spaced. Schroder was easily Atlanta's best player, scoring 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting and dishing 11 assists. Much of that was because he went 5-for-6 from deep, though, and he could have had an easier time getting in the paint if Howard wasn't in there clogging it up.

This begs the question: why not try to space the floor as much as you can for most of the game? Why not have Schroder run pick-and-rolls with Millsap, surrounded by shooters? Why not try to get Millsap going against the bigger, but slower, Marcin Gortat? These are all excellent reasons to go small, but the best reason is actually on the other end on the floor.

Howard is past his prime but still an excellent defender. He should make the All-Defensive team because of how he transformed this Atlanta team in terms of half-court defense and rebounding. The Hawks signed him because they wanted to stop being bullied on the glass and thought he could anchor their defense. He has delivered in that regard, and he has done a good job of disrupting the John Wall-Gortat pick-and-roll in this series.

The problem is that he's just too slow to defend in transition.

CBS Sports

The whole Howard thing is hard to figure out. He was the main culprit when it came to the Hawks' poor transition defense, and coach Mike Budenholzer went away from him late in several games because he wanted better spacing and ball movement. At the same time, Atlanta was the league's fourth-best defensive team and a much-improved rebounding team during the regular season, largely because of Howard's presence on the inside.

After...signing Howard, it was obvious that the Hawks were going to have to figure out a new identity. It is a bit alarming that, in big moments, they had to bench their highest-paid player in order to more closely resemble the versatile, ball-moving team they used to be.

CBS Sports