Dwight Howard
Over the past half-decade, Dwight Howard’s had the worst reputation in the NBA. He was a locker room cancer who never gave 100 percent on the court.
Before Dwight Howard agreed to play for the Lakers, he told anyone who would listen that he’d changed his awful attitude, but Rob Pelinka didn’t believe “Superman” so he gave him a non-guaranteed minimum contract, which is the worst deal in basketball.
Through the first half of preseason, Dwight’s been true to his word. He’s been a perfect citizen, and he’s done everything Frank Vogel and Rob Pelinka have asked of him.
Dwight appears to have changed for the better, which is why this next part is hard to write. Dwight Howard’s on-court performance has been sub-par so far (Not including the 4th game of preseason).
Vogel’s defensive system is heavily dependent on the center being able to control the paint and dissuade wings from getting easy buckets at the rim off of a screen.
We know that JaVale McGee’s going to compete for 20 to 25 minutes per game, and Anthony Davis has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to play center. That means Dwight Howard is going to have to average more than 20 minutes per contest during the upcoming season, but thus far he hasn’t shown that he can consistently guard the rim for the Lakers.
Dwight’s crucial for the Purple and Gold, but his lateral movement was sluggish, and his jumping ability was non-existent during the LA’s first three preseason contests.
However, throughout the first quarter of the Lakers fourth preseason game against the Warriors Dwight Howard looked much livelier. He really controlled the paint the way a frank Vogel center must. In the end “Superman finished that game with 13 rebounds, four steals, and one block.
Howard was matched up against Stephen Curry and the Warriors C team, so his stats don’t mean much, but the way he moved was much better than earlier in the preseason. Dwight’s performance during the Lakers fourth preseason game shows there’s hope that Dwight might just need more time to get back into game shape after missing almost the entire 2018-2019 season.
It’s still too early to know what’s going on with Howard’s body, but if Dwight plays with a plodding pace and a lack of hops like he did in the first three preseason games then the backup center position will be a massive flaw in the Lakers roster.