Los Angeles Lakers: Three reasons why Dwight Howard will be great
By Jason Reed
1. LeBron James elevates big men to a new level
LeBron James is known for his ability to do it all on the basketball court and part of that is making his teammates better. Playing in a point-forward role, LeBron always gets his teammates involved and even players like Kyrie Irving had their best seasons when they were teammates with LeBron James.
That effect that he has on his teammates is glaringly obviously with centers. LeBron has a track record that is hard to deny and that track record is going to continue with Howard in 2019.
LeBron made Tristan Thompson look like one of the 10-best centers in the league during his second tenure in Cleveland and it was soon apparent that Thompson on his own was not that productive.
JaVale McGee had the best year of his career in his 11th season. Big men don’t just have the best year of their career in their 11th season. That was in part due to LeBron James.
Heck, there was even a run last season where Ivica Zubac looked primed to be one of the best young centers in the league. What resulted was him getting traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and getting a four-year, $28 million deal despite being inexperienced and not even being a factor in the playoffs.
This is not a one or two-time thing, this is a trend that has been ongoing for several years. LeBron is the perfect teammate to get the most out of Howard this year.