4. Dwight Howard
In recent reports, Dwight Howard has a butt injury. Shams Charania with The Athletic broke the news yesterday.
Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium: Washington Wizards center Dwight Howard visited a specialist in New York and has piriformis injury, which is a muscle in the buttocks. The injury isn't serious and Howard will continue treatment.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 9, 2018
So, on top of his back injury, he’s got a butt injury. Things are shaping up well for the big man heading into the season. Fortunately for the Wizards the butt injury doesn’t seem serious, it’s the back issues that are more concerning.
Despite all this news, Howard will contribute in a big way on the fantasy spectrum. We’ve all seen from recent years that he’s a monster with the boards and blocks. But these aspects won’t be the only benefit that Howard brings to the table.
These were his 2017-18 statistics:
16.6 PTS, 12.5 TRB, 1.3 AST | 55.5 FG%, 14.3 FG3%, 57.4 FT% | 2.6 TO, 1.6 BLK
People don’t realize that these were extremely productive numbers. Everyone always seems to be focusing on his locker room issues. News flash, locker room issues don’t matter that much in fantasy basketball.
I bet it went unnoticed that this past season with the Charlotte Hornets, Howard had his best free-throw shooting percentage since his days with the Orlando Magic. Expect to see his numbers increase across the board this upcoming season.
He’s currently being ranked as the 14th center with an overall ADP of 49. Howard needs a productive year for franchises to take him seriously if he wants another big contract. This will serve well for the fantasy season. Howard will make the jump back into the top 10 for center position this season.
Fantasy Stat Line Projection:
18.3 PTS, 14.1 TRB, 1.5 AST | 57.0 FG%, 20.3 FG3%, 58.2 FT% | 2.7 TO, 2.0 BLK