The Hornets have scored 1.26 points per possession on any trip featuring a Walker-Howard pick-and-roll, per data from Second Spectrum. That figure would have ranked them among the half-dozen best high-volume duos last season. Charlotte has reinvigorated Howard. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-things-like-featuring-kristaps-porzingis-nba
media conspiracy http://www.nba.com/article/2017/11/05/charlotte-hornets-dwight-howard-strong-start-season#/ Dwight Howard continues to impress with Charlotte Hornets From NBA media reports Nov 5, 2017 10:14 AM ET Dwight Howard is averaging 14.8 points, 14.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in nine games this season. * Tonight on NBA League Pass:Hornets vs. Timberwolves (8 ET) Dwight Howard's value to the Charlotte Hornets has been on full display during the early stage of this season. It makes all of the eye-rolling from around the basketball world when the Hornets traded for him over the summer seem a bit premature. Howard's made an impact for a Hornets team that is clearly improved and one of the better outfits in the Eastern Conference heading into tonight's road showdown against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Time will tell if Howard can sustain his current level of production. Those closest to the Hornets don't necessarily need to wait to start assessing whether or not Howard is the franchise's best acquisition ... ever. That's tall grass that Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer is happy to wade through in his examination of Howard's fit in Charlotte: So far, Howard has been spectacular. [...] He played more than 32,000 NBA minutes prior to this season, but there is nothing about how he’s performing to suggest he’s slowing down. In fact, if he can maintain those numbers and the Hornets have a winning record the first half of the season, Howard could be selected for the All-Star Game (in Los Angeles in February) for the first time since 2014, when Howard was a Houston Rocket. No trade can be evaluated strictly by what a team receives; what that team gives up is just as relevant. For instance, the Hornets acquired one of the better players in franchise history, small forward Glen Rice, in 1995. But to do so, they gave up arguably the best player in franchise history in center Mourning. A big part of why Howard could be the best trade in franchise history is the Hornets gave up very little to the Atlanta Hawks. Marco Belinelli was a solid reserve last season. The other player sent to Atlanta was big man Miles Plumlee, who did next to nothing for the Hornets last season. Worse yet, Plumlee’s contract guarantees him $12.4 million this season, and the same sum each of the next two. Howard is expensive at $23.5 million this season and next, but the Hornets needed his rim protection and his rebounding. Any scoring he provides is a bonus.
I haven't watched any of their games, but I heard he is running more PnR. If that's correct then it's all anyone here ever said he needed to do to be "reinvigorated"
They are definitely running more PnR but they are also letting him do the bone head **** that other team wouldn't let him do. When he was with the Rockets I would wonder why the coaches wouldn't just appease him with a couple futile post ups so he would be more engaged on the defensive end and in the PnR. Just let him do what he wants sometimes so the rest of the team could get on with the rest of the game plan. There are more than enough possessions in a game for some of those throw-away Dwight moments. With the Hornets, they let him bring up the ball sometimes and shoot dumb ass jumpers. It's worth it if the majority of the time he is in the PnR and rebounding.
Yeah, I don't really get the Howard hype. He hasn't been this inefficient shooting from the field since 2005-06 season... He's also shooting a career-low from the FT line at 40.4%... Also career-low in steals per game. Close to career-lows in blocks & assists per game.
Dwight Howard hit 8-of-10 shots and 9-of-14 free throws for 25 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks against Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves on Monday. _______ Howard is averaging 14 and 12 on the season - I haven't been paying attention at all - is he playing better this year? Stats looking pretty good at least.
Stats look decent, except for the 3.9 turnovers a game. That's horrible, for a guy who doesn't handle the ball all that much.
Maybe he’s finally learned his limitations. I don’t know. Haven’t watched him or the hornets at all. They are one of the most irrelevant teams in all of sports.
I haven't watched him play either, but offensively his stats looks horrible on closer inspection. Career low true shooting %, career high turnover%, he has negative offensive win shares, -4.6 offensive boxscore plus/minus, and a -2.13 offensive RPM (ranked 64th out of 70 centers).
Good point. It was the same with Ben Wallace too, dude couldn't score but Larry Brown let him have a couple of possessions anyway just so he was part of the offense. But then again the Rockets were playing for something while the Hornets are delirious with joy at getting a record over 0.500 in the Leastern Conference. If the Hornets were in the West they would a worse record and everybody wouldn't be as happy. The H2H Rockets already had issues with turnovers, their offense would be even worse if they let Howard do his thing.
you should watch some Charlotte games, he's handling the ball a LOT more, for better or worse. They've even let him bring the ball up a number of times.
