Correcting the Dwight Howard narrative

[azuresou1]

I don't mean to be rude but it's pretty evident from the Dwight Howard threads and what gets And1s that very few of you actually watched Dwight Howard play this year. I don't really mind, I wouldn't watch the Hawks either if I wasn't a fan, but here's some examples of what I'm talking about (not to pick on particular posters, but these are highly upvoted):

I don't think it's his style of play that has caused his value to nearly bottom out, it's his attitude. He thinks he's still a 20ppg scorer. Imagine if Duncan refused to accept a lesser role and wanted to be the team's first option until the last game of his career, he'd be cancerous for the Spurs. Instead he was still an insanely valuable big because he did what he's still capable of doing to the best of his abilities.

Howard can still be one of the better big men in the league if he didn't think so highly of himself and focused only on playing elite defense and rebounding the hell out of the ball.

Dwight's value is in the gutter not because the NBA has no place for a big man with his skills, it's because he refuses to accept a role that fits his skill set (pick&roll man, rebounding and rim protection).

He thinks (and also says out loud) that he should be a 1st option on offense in the post. He's just not good enough for that.

Deandre Jordan/Clint Capella with a very similar skill set are still extremely valuable and even someone like Javale has a lot to offer as a hustle big.

If Dwight accepts the fact that he isn't a 20 ppg scorer anymore I'm sure a lot of teams would be happy to have him.

With all due respect, you guys don't know what you're talking about. You're buying into an old narrative. Let me provide some stats for you.

Offense, Demanding the Ball, Unwillingness to set Screens

I wasn't able to find stats for raw number of screens set, but Dwight averaged more screen assists than Turner, Jokic, Adams, Horford, Whiteside, and Marc Gasol in comparable or fewer minutes. At the same time, Dennis Schroeder finished 7th in pick and roll possessions per game. Millsap does a lot of screening for us, but Dwight is still utilized the majority of the time. Dwight sets a LOT of screens.

Regarding his supposedly incessant demand for the ball, he had a career low 8.3 FGA/game and a career high of .627 TS%,good for 8th in the league. Of those, he was assisted on a very healthy 65.7% of his makes, or 3.4 FGA/game.

He did a lot of work by getting 2.9 putbacks a game, good for 3rd in the league AHEAD OF Jordan and Gobert, and taking 2.2 FGA off those putbacks.

If you're counting that's 5.6 out of his 8.3 FGA purely from putbacks and assisted buckets.

He was also a very frequent cutter, 5th in cuts per game, ahead of Jordan and Drummond.

He did use 3.7 post up possessions a game and wasn't particularly good at it. That's said,it's fewer than guys like Whiteside and Z-Bo were using despite Dwight being more efficient in his post ups than those guys, and you don't hear anything about their demand for the ball (to say nothing of Drummond).

Rebounding and Defense

Dwight was 2nd in the league in ORB%, 4th in the league in DRB%, 4th in the league in TRB%. Heck he posted career highs in ORB% and TRB%.

Dude was a better rebounder than Gobert on a per minute/rate basis. Do you call him a bad or lazy rebounder as well?

As for defense, Dwight definitely fell off both statistically and through the eye test, but he was still approximately equivalent to Whiteside in DRPM, and comparable to Marc Gasol both in number of defended FGA as well as defended FG%

TL;DR: Dwight had a perfectly decent, scratch that, he had a GOOD year for the Hawks. He did exactly the things people said he needed to do, which was to shut up, rebound, play defense, and make easy interior buckets.


Was he perfect? No, he still bobbles the ball a lot, is visibly less athletic, should roll harder off screens rather than hanging out in no mans land, and can cut down on some of his post possessions. But FFS, most of the commentary people have is just embarrassingly wrong.

Mods, feel free to move this if needed, but I think it should stay here given all the Dwight trade talks that's emerged.

[kalenclayton]

And1
Fantastic read. Great research here. I don't watch much of the Hawks, so this was somewhat of an eye opener.

[Kabookalu]

I appreciate the effort and research, but you didn't exactly prove me wrong. My point wasn't that Dwight was a poor rebounder and defender. He's still obviously one of the best in the league at it, his body is built to do exactly that. The argument I was making was that he was bad for team chemistry because of his crummy attitude despite all the good he provides. There are centers who can do what Dwight does, at a much lesser rate, but won't complain and moan about their roles. He can be the absolute best rebounder and defender in the league if he cares about being the absolute best rebounder and defender and not chasing his glory days of dominating the center position with his scoring.

[jredsaz]

Nice work

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

[azuresou1]

I appreciate the effort and research, but you didn't exactly prove me wrong. My point wasn't that Dwight was a poor rebounder and defender. He's still obviously one of the best in the league at it, his body is built to do exactly that. The argument I was making was that he was bad for team chemistry because of his crummy attitude despite all the good he provides. There are centers who can do what Dwight does, at a much lesser rate, but won't complain and moan about their roles.

I haven't heard any 'complaining or moaning' from Dwight Howard all season long. After the season, he gave this exit interview where he expressed that he was unhappy with being benched vs. the Wizards but basically stated that he understood what his role was.

Watch on YouTube

Like I said, I think it's painfully evident that you haven't watched the Hawks this season. Dwight has been probably our second best player on a nightly basis and he's been a soldier.

[Kabookalu]

I appreciate the effort and research, but you didn't exactly prove me wrong. My point wasn't that Dwight was a poor rebounder and defender. He's still obviously one of the best in the league at it, his body is built to do exactly that. The argument I was making was that he was bad for team chemistry because of his crummy attitude despite all the good he provides. There are centers who can do what Dwight does, at a much lesser rate, but won't complain and moan about their roles.

I haven't heard any 'complaining or moaning' from Dwight Howard all season long. After the season, he gave this exit interview where he expressed that he was unhappy with being benched vs. the Wizards but basically stated that he understood what his role was.

Watch on YouTube

Like I said, I think it's painfully evident that you haven't watched the Hawks this season. Dwight has been probably our second best player on a nightly basis and he's been a soldier.

Touché, I'll concede I don't ever watch the Hawks. I know that Howard has a history of being unsatisfied with his role throughout his career, with the Magic, Lakers, and Rockets, didn't surprise me at all when he once again complained about his new team.

[winter_mute_13]

Was he perfect? No, he still bobbles the ball a lot, is visibly less athletic, should roll harder off screens rather than hanging out in no mans land, and can cut down on some of his post possessions. But FFS, most of the commentary people have is just embarrassingly wrong.

TBH, that sounds a lot like what other people are saying. What you're saying is that he's not so bad, but that's a difference in degree, rather than a qualitative difference.

And the main negative as far as I'm concerned - if the Hawks feel that they can't play him at crunch time, even when he's doing everything the Hawks asked for apparently, then why would it be different on another team? That's the big red flag to me. I don't want a $23m guy who can't play crunch time minutes.

[FutureKnicksGM]

People act like Dwight is the only one in the league who wants a bigger role. Damn near every player wants to be on the court (they should!). They just don't like Dwight. And assume the worst. And at that point, facts don't matter.

I hate how people talk about guys as a team cancer or bad for chemistry based on things completely unrelated.
It's like when JR Smith was a team cancer on the knicks because he tied someones shoe laces. But somehow the cancer was friends with every teammate he had, and helps his next team get to the finals, and win.

[tiderulz]

I appreciate the effort and research, but you didn't exactly prove me wrong. My point wasn't that Dwight was a poor rebounder and defender. He's still obviously one of the best in the league at it, his body is built to do exactly that. The argument I was making was that he was bad for team chemistry because of his crummy attitude despite all the good he provides. There are centers who can do what Dwight does, at a much lesser rate, but won't complain and moan about their roles. He can be the absolute best rebounder and defender in the league if he cares about being the absolute best rebounder and defender and not chasing his glory days of dominating the center position with his scoring.

he didnt complain or moan about his role all year. He was justified to wonder why he sat so much in the playoffs.

[tiderulz]

Was he perfect? No, he still bobbles the ball a lot, is visibly less athletic, should roll harder off screens rather than hanging out in no mans land, and can cut down on some of his post possessions. But FFS, most of the commentary people have is just embarrassingly wrong.

TBH, that sounds a lot like what other people are saying. What you're saying is that he's not so bad, but that's a difference in degree, rather than a qualitative difference.

And the main negative as far as I'm concerned - if the Hawks feel that they can't play him at crunch time, even when he's doing everything the Hawks asked for apparently, then why would it be different on another team? That's the big red flag to me. I don't want a $23m guy who can't play crunch time minutes.

part of the reason they cant play him is that Schroder isnt very good at the pick n roll.

[j-ragg]

I still see the same old body language at times that I saw in Orlando. After someone on the other team scores, his first look is either to the ref or a teammate.

Good at what he does, but just seems like one of the least fun guys to play with.

[dlb731]

I appreciate the effort and research, but you didn't exactly prove me wrong. My point wasn't that Dwight was a poor rebounder and defender. He's still obviously one of the best in the league at it, his body is built to do exactly that. The argument I was making was that he was bad for team chemistry because of his crummy attitude despite all the good he provides. There are centers who can do what Dwight does, at a much lesser rate, but won't complain and moan about their roles.

I haven't heard any 'complaining or moaning' from Dwight Howard all season long. After the season, he gave this exit interview where he expressed that he was unhappy with being benched vs. the Wizards but basically stated that he understood what his role was.

Watch on YouTube

Like I said, I think it's painfully evident that you haven't watched the Hawks this season. Dwight has been probably our second best player on a nightly basis and he's been a soldier.

Touché, I'll concede I don't ever watch the Hawks. I know that Howard has a history of being unsatisfied with his role throughout his career, with the Magic, Lakers, and Rockets, didn't surprise me at all when he once again complained about his new team.

Here's the thing... At no point through his year did he ever complain. And a lot of people are reading into his last interview wrong. At no point did he complain about his team, his teammates or his coach. The guy simply wanted to be out on the court so he could help his teammates win a game. If a man gets called out because of the passion he has to win... Then there's something wrong with US.

And also, I don't think it's been mentioned... He was healthy for almost the entire season, which was another gripe a lot of naysayers had out there. I think he has done what Atlanta has brought him in to do. And just remember, he WANTED to come here... Not for the money, but because it's home.