Los Angeles Lakers: Dwight Howard is quietly one of the league’s best

Nobody ever expected Dwight Howard to return to the Los Angeles Lakers but not a lot of people seem to realize how good Howard has been as well.

Dwight Howard did not have a good first tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers and it was that short one-year stint that led to many Laker fans disliking the all-star center. It was his beef with Kobe Bryant that ruined his tenure and in many ways, this was the start of both Howard’s and the Lakers’ downfall.

Now, as the Lakers are back up on the upswing as a legitimate title contender, Howard finds himself in the same position that he was six years ago: on the Lakers. Granted, this time he is not an all-star center and won’t share a bulk of the minutes, but he is still in LA yet again nonetheless.

Howard is going to start with a small role, sharing minutes with JaVale McGee. However, it would not be all that surprising to see Howard begin to get more minutes if excels on the court and stays controlled in the locker room.

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And there is a reason to believe that he can put together the numbers to get bonafide starter numbers in 2019. While a lot of Laker fans have put the past in the past and bought in on Howard, not a lot of NBA fans truly realize how good he still is at age 33.

Last year he only played seven games due to injury, so we are going to exclude that from our findings. Does it have an impact on how he might play this year? Absolutely, but we want to show just how good he has been when he is on the court.

The five seasons prior to last season, Howard averaged 15.6 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. That put him in an exclusive group as the only player that scored 15 or more points, snagged 12 or more rebounds and blocked one or more shot per game in that span.

Granted, the center position has changed, but it took Rudy Gobert up until this past season to put together those numbers for one year. 

It is the changing of the tide that has left Howard out of the mix. More and more big guys are shooting three-pointers and Howard has not been part of that transition. Howard has never attempted more than seven threes a season and has made six in his career.

There definitely is less of an appreciation for the “traditional center” that serves as rim-protector, rebounder and efficient scorer in the paint. Despite the lack of appreciation, Howard still ranked eighth in total win shares among centers in that same time frame.

His injury and lack of play last season will undoubtedly have an impact and he might have to shake off the cobwebs early on with the Los Angeles Lakers. However, in terms of sheer production as a rim protector, rebounder and scorer in the paint, Howard is all the Lakers could ask for.

They already have guys with size in Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma that can shoot the three-ball and LeBron James has always made this kind of center play better. Look as Tristan Thompson in Cleveland, or even Ivica Zubac and JaVale McGee last season. McGee had the best season of his career last year.

So if you are still on the fence about Dwight Howard I hope this changes your mind. He has quietly been one of the best centers in the NBA and a hungry Howard on the Los Angeles Lakers could be a scary thing.