Dwight Howard has yet to play one game for the Washington Wizards. However, there are some skeptics who believe his locker room reputation may implode Washington’s playoff chances.
Dwight Howard coming to Washington Wizards has practically opened up a cottage industry of articles, predicting when he will implode his new team.
Well, according to Ted Leonsis, rumors of Howard’s locker room issues have been greatly exaggerated. (Will get to that on the next page).
However, David Aldridge of NBA.com provided probably the most comprehensive history of the Dwight Howard story to date in Monday’s Morning Tip. Aptly titled, “Washington Wizards give enigmatic Dwight Howard (latest) new chance to remake image“.
Aldridge relayed everything from Howard’s problem with execution of the pick-and-roll with Kemba Walker in Charlotte. While detailing his time in Orlando to the present.
It’s a road map of Howard’s NBA career leading to the Wizards.
Here’s an excerpt:
"“After Howard signed with Atlanta in 2016, he and then-teammate Dennis Schroder argued on the floor. After Howard was traded to Charlotte, Schroder said Howard only played hard against his former teams.”"
Howard provided an explanation as to how his reputation came to be:
"“It’s the nature of the NBA,” Howard said. “It’s a business. From a fan’s perspective, they wouldn’t understand what goes on in the locker room or the business side of it. They only know what’s talked (about) to them or what they see on TV. So that’s something that we can’t really control, it’s that type of narrative. The one thing I can do … is (give) them another view of who I am by being out in the community, by doing things that they can say ‘hey, despite what they say about him in the news or on TV, I met this man. I spent time with him. He did this for our city. He did this for our community.’ And that will go further than any lie that’s always being said”."
His former coach in Charlotte, Steve Clifford (now coaching Orlando), summed it up this way:
"“When you win, everything’s fine,” he said. “And then when you lose, I think that’s where — I don’t know if it’s finger pointing — when you lose, there’s disappointment. There’s frustration. And, again, because he’s an elite player and he’s been an elite player, he takes more than his share of the criticism. We had no major issues. I would challenge anybody who watched the games to see conflict on the floor between him and the other guys.”"
Clifford wanted Aldridge to know that the stories of Howard’s reputation in Charlotte wasn’t “as bad” as we have been reading.
Regarding the pick-and-roll with Kemba Walker::
"“Being honest, his dynamic in the pick-and-roll with Kemba was fine, but not what we hoped it could have become,” Clifford said. “That is, to me, the challenge. It’s the roll game, getting a chemistry with not just John Wall, but the other guys, too. It was the same with us — not just Kemba, but Nic Batum and Jeremy Lamb. I don’t know why (it wasn’t better).”"
Aldridge also got coach Scott Brooks’ perspective. Brooks agrees that the game has changed, but you still need a big. Howard brings a unique skill set, but they will still have to figure out how he will be able to “guard smaller guys”.
An interesting stat that the article covered was perimeter defense.
According to Aldridge, Howard had no problem in the paint, but the perimeter was a problem.
Charlotte finished 27th in the league defending 3-pointers. Whereas the Wizards were “pretty good”, finishing “fifth, tying with Indiana”.
Mr. Aldridge concludes, that if Washington can combine its perimeter defense, with “improved paint defense it could have something.”
Aldridge aptly points out that the pairing is a marriage of convenience: Howard “needs Wall as much as Wall needs him.”
Now that the Hall-of-Fame reporter laid out the facts, what does Ted Leonsis think about Howard?
You will be surprised. What won’t surprise you, is that Leonsis gives this Wizards’ offseason an “A”. Here’s what he had to say: