People forget that Dwight Howard can play because of his mouth and antics.
Right now the Los Angeles Lakers are considered as Jared Dudley eloquently put it on media day, “Last Chance University” for Dwight Howard. Yes, all of this was done by Howard’s total disregard at times for professional courtesy throughout his career.
That being said, Dwight Howard was a freak of nature until his back issues started.
Remember even though Howard is less than seven feet tall, he was considered one of the best centers in the NBA? Remember Howard’s leaping ability playing off the pick and roll for dunks and more importantly on help defense for blocked shots?
Where did things go wrong? He had back surgery the summer before coming to the Lakers back in 2012-13. He lost his explosiveness and athletic ability. Then he played the entire season with a torn labrum.
Even with all of the injuries he played through, Howard tallied 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. Pretty impressive for a guy that should not have been on the floor in the first place.
Dwight Howard mentioned that he regretted coming back so early in a recent interview with Graham Bensinger. He believed that his injury along with Kobe Bryant‘s Achilles and Steve Nash‘s broken leg doomed the Lakers championship aspirations that year.