During the last two seasons, Dwight Howard has been a different player in the NBA playoffs. It’s important that the Houston Rockets don’t waste away another year of Playoff Dwight
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Before the back injury, forcing his way out of Orlando and the disaster of a stint that was his lone season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard was on his way to becoming the NBA’s next great big man.
Despite the former derailing his path — over the course of two seasons (one in Orlando and one in Los Angeles — Howard has quietly begun to regain some of his former dominance that he enjoyed so well through his first handful of seasons with the Orlando Magic.
During the past season, Howard averaged only 15.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game — his lowest scoring and rebounding output since his second and first year in the league, respectively.
I suppose we should also consider that Howard only played a career-low 41 games due to knee issues. Despite that, it’s not difficult to point out that Howard has seen a decent amount of drop-off over the last three years in production. There’s proof, and no way to refute that.
| Season | Age | Tm | GS | MP | FG% | eFG% | TRB | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-05 | 19 | ORL | 82 | 32.6 | .520 | .520 | 10.0 | 1.7 | 12.0 |
| 2005-06 | 20 | ORL | 81 | 36.8 | .531 | .531 | 12.5 | 1.4 | 15.8 |
| 2006-07 ★ | 21 | ORL | 82 | 36.9 | .603 | .603 | 12.3 | 1.9 | 17.6 |
| 2007-08 ★ | 22 | ORL | 82 | 37.7 | .599 | .599 | 14.2 | 2.1 | 20.7 |
| 2008-09 ★ | 23 | ORL | 79 | 35.7 | .572 | .572 | 13.8 | 2.9 | 20.6 |
| 2009-10 ★ | 24 | ORL | 82 | 34.7 | .612 | .612 | 13.2 | 2.8 | 18.3 |
| 2010-11 ★ | 25 | ORL | 78 | 37.6 | .593 | .593 | 14.1 | 2.4 | 22.9 |
| 2011-12 ★ | 26 | ORL | 54 | 38.3 | .573 | .573 | 14.5 | 2.1 | 20.6 |
| 2012-13 ★ | 27 | LAL | 76 | 35.8 | .578 | .579 | 12.4 | 2.4 | 17.1 |
| 2013-14 ★ | 28 | HOU | 71 | 33.7 | .591 | .593 | 12.2 | 1.8 | 18.3 |
| 2014-15 | 29 | HOU | 41 | 29.8 | .593 | .595 | 10.5 | 1.3 | 15.8 |
| Career | 808 | 35.6 | .579 | .580 | 12.7 | 2.1 | 18.1 | ||
| 8 seasons | ORL | 620 | 36.2 | .577 | .577 | 13.0 | 2.2 | 18.4 | |
| 2 seasons | HOU | 112 | 32.3 | .592 | .593 | 11.6 | 1.6 | 17.3 | |
| 1 season | LAL | 76 | 35.8 | .578 | .579 | 12.4 | 2.4 | 17.1 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/7/2015.
Likewise, and what can also not be refuted, is the fact that Howard is playing some of his best playoff basketball in his career. Over his two seasons in Houston, Howard is actually putting up better collective numbers than in his five seasons (in which the Magic made the playoffs) in Orlando. Which also included an NBA Finals appearance (2009), in which Howard’s Magic beat LeBron James and his 66-win Cleveland Cavaliers before ultimately losing the Los Angeles Lakers.
Thus far though, Houston only has one series win in two seasons to show for it.
| Season | Tm | GS | MP | FG% | eFG% | TRB | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-07 | ORL | 4 | 41.8 | .548 | .548 | 14.8 | 1.0 | 15.3 |
| 2007-08 | ORL | 10 | 42.1 | .581 | .581 | 15.8 | 3.4 | 18.9 |
| 2008-09 | ORL | 23 | 39.3 | .601 | .601 | 15.3 | 2.6 | 20.3 |
| 2009-10 | ORL | 14 | 35.5 | .614 | .614 | 11.1 | 3.5 | 18.1 |
| 2010-11 | ORL | 6 | 43.0 | .630 | .630 | 15.5 | 1.8 | 27.0 |
| 2012-13 | LAL | 4 | 31.5 | .619 | .619 | 10.8 | 2.0 | 17.0 |
| 2013-14 | HOU | 6 | 38.5 | .547 | .547 | 13.7 | 2.8 | 26.0 |
| 2014-15 | HOU | 7 | 34.0 | .620 | .620 | 13.6 | 3.4 | 18.4 |
| Career | 74 | 38.4 | .596 | .596 | 14.0 | 2.8 | 20.1 | |
| 5 seasons | ORL | 57 | 39.4 | .600 | .600 | 14.4 | 2.8 | 19.9 |
| 2 seasons | HOU | 13 | 36.1 | .578 | .578 | 13.6 | 3.2 | 21.9 |
| 1 season | LAL | 4 | 31.5 | .619 | .619 | 10.8 | 2.0 | 17.0 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/7/2015.
Howard gets a lot of flack for his playful mannerisms and for relying more on athletic ability, rather than low post moves like a more conventional big, but when it’s mattered most he hasn’t disappointed. Or, in the very least, hasn’t hung himself out for criticism.
Playoff Dwight Howard is a real person — and has been for the last two years for the Rockets. Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, Houston doesn’t have much to show for it in terms of playoff success. But that shouldn’t discredit what Howard has been able to do in the last two years when the lights flash the brightest.
Howard has recorded a double-double in five of the seven playoff games he’s played in this season, and in all six games last season before bowing out to the Portland Trail Blazers.
He’s more than done his part for the Houston Rockets. Which makes sense when you consider that Howard’s naysayers usually quiet down right around playoff time. And if it wasn’t for Blake Griffin turning into a triple-double machine, more people would be talking about Howard right now — much like last season. Even if more of the narrative was around the shortcomings of James Harden.
So, are the Houston Rockets putting Dwight Howard’s efforts at a disadvantage? Of course.
Dominant big men — heck even just quality ones — are few and far in-between in this day and age’s NBA. You can run with the narrative that the NBA is slowly — or quickly — moving away from the conventional big man. It’s somewhat true. But what today’s NBA loses in the conventional low post big man gains in the more athletic big man — which is exactly what Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, Timofey Mozgov and Al Horford are. They represent 50 percent of the remaining teams in the playoffs.
The bottom line is that if you have a dominant big man — which Dwight Howard has been in the playoffs — you can’t afford to waste away productive years.
And if the Houston Rockets continue to sleepwalk through this series against the Los Angeles Clippers, that’s exactly what they would have done for Dwight Howard’s first two years in Houston. At the age of 29, that simply isn’t in the best interest of Dwight Howard or the Houston Rockets.