Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Most overhyped players on the roster
Dwight Howard
On August 26th, Dwight Howard cleared waivers and signed a deal to join the Lakers.
A couple of days after Dwight came back to Hollywood, Frank Vogel let everyone know that he’d have the opportunity to battle it out with JaVale McGee for the right to become the Lakers starting center.
After Vogel’s proclamation, Dwight Howard opened his mouth, and a few choice phrases dribbled forth to the masses. Howard said things like, “I’ve hit rock-bottom,” and “I’m here to help the Lakers win a championship,” and “I know what my role on the team is.”
After that, many Lakers fans began to automatically pencil Howard in as LA’s starting 5.
Some folks in LA have even claimed that Dwight is the missing piece to the Lakers championship puzzle.
Some have dubbed Dwight Howard, the 33-year-old roaming center from Atlanta Georgia as one of the key figures in the Lakers quest for a title; that’s the definition of overrated.
Yes, Rob Pelinka signed Dwight Howard to play for the Lakers, but he gave him a non-guaranteed contract to help motivate the legendarily surly Howard to keep his attitude in check throughout the 2019-2020 season.
Yes, Frank Vogel did say Howard might be the Lakers opening day starting 5, but any Psych 101 student knows that’s a simple trick to help keep an exceedingly lazy player encouraged to keep working hard during the offseason.
Yes, Dwight has said all of the right things, but the select idioms he’s quickly thrown about anytime there’s a camera around, have been too perfect. It’s as if immediately after Howard inked his deal with LA, his manager gave him five note cards with various phrases to say to the media and then Howard memorized them.
Howard has put up solid stats over his last three seasons in the NBA:
- 2016-2017: 13.5 PPG, 12.7 RPG,1.2 BPG (for Atlanta)
- 2017-2018: 16.6 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 1.6 BPG (for Charlotte)
- 2018-2019: 12.8 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 0.4 BPG (for Washington over nine games)
During that time, as Howard’s averaged a double-double, he also has an average net rating of -6.8.
Dwight Howard has had a negative impact on the court because on offense he doesn’t attack the rim off of screens and on defense he doesn’t help his teammates.
He’s been one of the league’s most selfish players, a guy who’s only interest while on the court has been padding his stats.
During the 2017 playoffs, Dwight Howard’s self-centered play made national sports headlines as his squad, the Hawks, lost to the Wizards. There were several clips of Howard letting Wizards guards get to the rack while he looked on as still as a statue. There were also numerous highlights of Dwight choosing not to go after loose balls, electing instead to stand and gaze, as a player from the Wizards scooped up the rock and scored.
Dwight quit on his team during the postseason, an act almost unheard of in any professional sport, so when Hawks management decided not to re-sign Howard, his former Atlanta teammates cheered.
It appears that most people believe that Dwight’s a changed man and his days of playing selfish basketball and being a locker room cancer are behind him.
Maybe Dwight Howard has transformed. Perhaps he did hit rock-bottom, and now he’s a new man. Anything’s possible.
Right now, until further notice, he’s a journeyman center, on a non-guaranteed contract, who’s standing on his last legs in the NBA. He’s going to have to categorically dominate during the preseason to supplant JaVale McGee as the Lakers starting center, and he’s no longer a defensive warlock who’s going to transform the Purple and Gold into the best squad in the NBA.
Dwight Howard is vastly overrated.