– Defensive presence
One of the areas in which Howard would help the Lakers is on the defensive end of the court. The Lakers certainly had some struggles on this end of the court last season, as injuries and a lack of motivation at the end of the season resulted in some ugly defensive numbers.
Howard was once the best defensive center in the NBA. While those years are behind him, he is still an above-average player on that end of the court. Since he won’t be asked to play a ton of minutes if he was on the Lakers, he should be able to have some more energy on the defensive end.
Howard certainly had some great defensive stats with the Orlando Magic going back to his time there, but his numbers of late are still pretty good. Excluding the nine games from last season, Howard has had a defensive rating of lower than 105 in every season of his career.
As a backup, Howard could certainly do a lot of positives for the Lakers on both ends of the court. Even though Howard’s numbers have slipped from the elite level they were at earlier in his career, he is still able to be a difference-maker on both ends of the court.