Dwight Howard is once again on the move. This time, he is going to play for the Brooklyn Nets after the Hornets traded him yesterday. (Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
According to former Charlotte Hornets center Brendan Hayward, Hornets players were excited to hear that Dwight Howard had been traded to the Brooklyn Nets. Howard once again wore out his welcome and as a result will be playing for his sixth NBA team.
Howard is legendary for being high maintenance and giving minimal effort. Current Hawks point guard Dennis Schroeder had this to say about Howard after playing with him.
“He plays always great against his former team. Credit to him too, but that’s like four games each year, you know? Houston, L.A., us. I think he’s always giving his best there but the others games he (shrugs).”
Ouch. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a former teammate. Schroeder wasn’t the only one to question Howard’s effort and desire. Kobe Bryant and Howard did not get along when the two played together with the Lakers. At the time, Howard was given the benefit of the doubt because Kobe had a reputation of wearing on teammates because he was demanding. In an interview with USA Today in 2015, Bryant explained his side of things.
“I tried teaching Dwight. I tried showing him. But the reality is that when you have a perception of what it is to win a championship – and most perceptions of what it’s like to win are a very outgoing, very gregarious locker room where you pick each other up and you’re friends all the time. That’s the perception. And I think that’s what his perception was of what the idea is. But when he saw the reality of it, it made him uncomfortable. And it’s very tough to be able to fight through that, to deal with that challenge. And I don’t think he was willing to deal with that uncomfortable and combative nature.”
Kobe didn’t mince words there. The reality is, Howard isn’t as valuable a player anymore as he used to be. The center position has been devalued in the NBA. Centers who can post up defenders and play with their backs to the basket are dinosaurs now. It is all about athletic wing players who can get to the rim and shoot threes. The only value teams see in centers is that they can rebound and block shots. They are now “rim protectors”.
Luckily “rim protectors” still have value in fantasy basketball. Dwight Howard might not have as much value in reality but he still has a lot of value in fantasy. Howard’s consensus overall ADP last season was 62. That means he was drafted in the seventh round in ten team leagues. On average, he was the 15th center drafted. If you drafted Howard in the seventh round last season, you got a steal!
Howard averaged 16.6 points per game, 12.5 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game. All of that added up to 22 points per game in standard ESPN scoring. Howard finished 24th in points for the season in ESPN leagues.
Howard should fit in well with the Nets. Brooklyn acquired him for his rebounding and defense. That is not to say that Howard won’t score, but the offense may not run through him like it did in Charlotte. The Hornets ran more of a half court, isolation offense. The Nets like to play uptempo basketball and they have the guards to do that in Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAngelo Russell.
I suspect Howard will probably go in the seventh or eighth round once again in drafts this fall. I think there is enough cross category value there that Howard could go as early as the fifth or sixth round in some leagues. Either way, I am buying on Howard. Once you get past Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond, you can make the case that Howard is the next best big man in fantasy basketball. I think he is and I think he will put up similar numbers to what he put up in Charlotte.
Of course Howard will always be remembered for this awkward hug with Stan Van Gundy in Orlando. Love it!