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Dwight Howard traded to Charlotte

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by J.R., Jun 20, 2017.

  1. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    Man, that looks like the epitome of shabby to me.
     
  2. FLASH21

    FLASH21 Heart O' Champs

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    [​IMG]
     
  3. YOLO

    YOLO Member

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    from not making the playoffs to maybe sneaking in at 8th seed with 39-41 wins. only 1 position is above average in that lineup
     
  4. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    Chris Paul didn't really play for "this" Hornets team. He played for the Pelicans franchise while the Hornets were the Bobcats. It's confusing, but I believe the Pelicans claim all stats accumulated in New Orleans and the Hornets lay claim to Charlotte's history.
     
  5. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Schlenk graduated from the Morey School of Flexibility.
     
  6. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    #146 J.R., Jun 21, 2017
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
    pippendagimp likes this.
  7. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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  8. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Right. He is also one of the most prolific coach killers. :D
     
  9. RudyTBag

    RudyTBag Contributing Member
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    o_O
     
  10. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    honestly I think in this case this is the best possible place Dwert could have ended up. Hopefully he'll finish his career on a high note.
     
    Pen15clubber, WFU Guy and mathor like this.
  11. OTMax

    OTMax Member

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    2012 Lakers
    2013-2015 Rockets
    2016 Hawks
    2017 Hornets
     
  12. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    Coach Cliff says Dwight can be an all-star again:
    http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/06/21...d-dwight-howard-can-return-to-all-star-level/

    and also this:

    Clifford doesn’t buy into the notion that Howard is a locker room cancer who can be a disruption to his teammates. Having coached him for six seasons, Clifford said he thinks Howard will be welcomed in Charlotte and fit in nicely.

    “Listen, this is an easy guy to like,” Clifford said. “This isn’t some guy who is hard to deal with. He’s bright, he’s fun-loving and has a great sense of humor and great wit. … I think he will fit in very well.”​
     
  13. Fyreball

    Fyreball Contributing Member

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    That's 6 years, buddy.
     
  14. Pizza_Da_Hut

    Pizza_Da_Hut I put on pants for this?

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    He's not your buddy guy.
     
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  15. OTMax

    OTMax Member

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    Well done
     
  16. HillBoy

    HillBoy Contributing Member

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    The title says it all:

    From Superman to Journeyman: Can Dwight Howard Revive NBA Career in Charlotte?
    DAN FAVALE
    JUNE 21, 2017

    Dwight Howard is many things. Polarizing, imposing, captivating, just to name a few.

    His defensive impact might be overlooked and his remaining athleticism underestimated, but he is neither martyr nor patsy. His transition from contender cornerstone to high-profile journeyman, while in part fueled by injuries and lamentable fits, is regression he's earned.

    It's important to keep this in mind in the aftermath of his latest relocation.

    The Atlanta Hawks flipped Howard and the No. 31 pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Marco Belinelli, Miles Plumlee and the No. 41 pick, according to The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears and The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski. It's an underwhelming package for a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and eight-time All-Star who, at 31, should still be in his prime. But it's also no surprise.

    A poll of eight NBA front office executives conducted by ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz in May indicated the Hawks' "best case" return on Howard would be cap relief and a second-round selection. That's essentially what they got—some financial flexibility now, even more in 2018, a late draft pick and the option of steering into a rebuild without accounting for Howard's age, role and ego.

    That Atlanta was so willing to deal Howard, though, is yet another wake-up call in a long line of reality checks. The NBA has changed. Priorities have shifted. Howard has been unable, or unwilling, to maximize his skill set in a brave new world that won't pander to it.

    Joining Charlotte gives him another shot at redemption, revival and a final reinvention.

    Few if any teams are outfitted to host Howard's last stand, but the Hornets are one of them. And head coach Steve Clifford is a big reason why. He was an assistant when Howard was in Orlando and, per the Charlotte Observer's Scott Fowlerl, has maintained a "soft spot" for the skyscraper ever since.

    "He's a very intelligent player—coverages, schemes," Clifford told reporters after the trade. "He's good with details."

    Indeed, the Hornets need someone like Howard. Their defense dropped to 14th in points allowed per 100 possessions last season, down from ninth in 2015-16. With the exception of Cody Zeller, their frontcourt devolved into a revolving door of inconsistency (Frank Kaminsky, Marvin Williams), injuries (Plumlee), randomness (Roy Hibbert) and desperation (the trade for Plumlee).

    Having Clifford at the helm gives the Hornets a leg up on reaching Howard in a way no other team has.Andy Lyons/Getty Images
    Reliable rim protection was hard to come by on the best nights. Strong showings from perimeter pests helped minimize enemy opportunities around the basket, but the Hornets finished 19th in point-blank prevention. Howard helps as a quality high-volume paint-protector. He was one of 12 players in 2016-17 to hold opponents to under 49 percent shooting at the iron while contesting at least 400 shots.

    Teams will target Howard in the pick-and-roll. Charlotte won't want him switching, and he has trouble walling off nimble-footed bigs. But Clifford assembled a half-decent attack against ball-handlers with Zeller, who poses similar issues, by depending on Nicolas Batum and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as primary disruptors and surrounding wings to help off shooters. He'll make coverages work with Howard jumping center.

    Some of these limitations will be made up for on the offensive end, where Howard remains an elite diver. Charlotte's rim-runners shot 48.4 percent out of the pick-and-roll this past year—close to a bottom-10 mark, and unimpressive at best. Howard put down 65.8 percent of his looks in those situations and finished through contact while keeping his turnovers to a manageable volume (10.2 percent).

    Batum and Kemba Walker will drool whenever they have the opportunity to run him off screens. Howard opens offensive corridors previously closed to a 14th-place machine that tied too much of its fate to Walker's magic and a strong three-point-attempt ratio. He is the weapon they were supposed to have in Plumlee.

    Or rather, he should be.

    The thing about Howard these days is that the idea of what can do never aligns with how he conducts himself on the court. It says a lot that Atlanta quickly moved on from him, new front-office regime and all, despite the good vibes that prevailed last fall.

    "Charlotte will mark his fifth team since 2012, and he has quickly worn out his welcome at virtually every stop," SI.com's Ben Golliver wrote. "The trickiest part of acclimating Howard will be determining his proper role relative to Cody Zeller. Last season, the Hornets were excellent with Zeller on the court (+5.4 net rating) and dreadful without him (-3.6), and deploying Zeller as a starting stretch-5 was a reliable winner."

    Is Howard, who turns 32 in December, finally ready to cede playing time and, more notably, status to someone on the come-up? Will he ditch his infatuation with post-ups, and his delusions of being a featured option, to set screens, finish lobs, crash the boards and send back shots at the rim? And can he do all this consistently enough to stay on the floor if and the when the Hornets make the playoffs?

    Post-ups won't be available as much in Charlotte. Clifford, unlike Howard, has adapted to today's game. The Hornets were 27th in post-up frequency last year. They won't empower Howard to lose himself in the most inefficient part of his game.

    Sheer force once allowed him to dominate with his back to the basket, even when his footwork wasn't on point and his handle was junky. But while he shot almost 48 percent on post-ups with the Hawks, he averaged just 0.84 points per possession, a mark that put him in the 38th percentile.

    This sounds familiar, because it's supposed to. It's been one of the foremost knocks against Howard since he was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers. But Charlotte can be different.

    Howard didn't mastermind this outcome. This isn't him leveraging the Orlando Magic into moving him. This isn't him willingly leaving Los Angeles for Houston, or Houston for Atlanta. The Hawks traded him. They dumped him.

    He doesn't need to shoot threes, or be The Guy. That's not him. And he can't trick himself into thinking otherwise with Batum and Walker already in place.

    A strong regular-season performance in Atlanta was marred by questions about his role in the offense. That shouldn't happen in Charlotte. The Hornets are bringing him in to do what he does best, and to stay in that wheelhouse.

    For the first time, he knows he's been acquired to help a team, not headline it. He has to.

    If he's ever going to strive for redemption through actual change, Charlotte is the place he'll do it.

    Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast co-hosted by B/R's Andrew Bailey.

    Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference or NBA.com. Salary information via Basketball Insiders and RealGM.
     
  17. Daddy Long Legs

    Daddy Long Legs H- Town Harden

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    Injuries do exist. I know everyone is a psychologist these days but i think dwight howards downfall is 98% if not 100% due to his back injury.

    Same with derrick rose. People act as if rose sucks now due to mental deficiencies, poor work ethic, lack of heart/motivation, or effort.

    Its 98% or 100% because of his knee injuries.

    People can hypothesize all they want, the answers are right in front of us. 99% of the time when a player declines, it is due to a physical decline.

    If kobe tore his achilles before winning chips his narrative would be "couldnt get along with teammatea, cancer, egomaniac, more about stats than winning for him. Was never going to win. Has no one but himself to blame"
     
    No Chance, Patience and peleincubus like this.
  18. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Oh no you di'n't!

    Howard’s sister puts Hawks, Atlanta on blast after he’s traded out of hometown

    The interaction between Atlanta and eight-time All-Star Howard didn’t sit well with Howard’s sister, Tashanda, who went on Atlanta sports-talk station 92.9 The Game.

    “I hear how people talk and the things they say, and I just don’t think that Atlanta is a loyal city. I really don’t,” Tashanda Howard said Wednesday.

    “I hate to hear all the negative calls talking about my brother and the things that have been going on with the Hawks.”

    “He was one of the first big free agents to come here, and I think a lot of the free agents are going to look at that and see how they do their free-agency and they are not going to want to come to this city,” Howard’s sister continued.

    Atlanta sports fans have a reputation for being frontrunners, casting off the NFL Falcons, MLB Braves and Hawks whenever they are having down seasons. Trading Howard appears to signal a rebuilding period ahead for the Hawks.

    “I understand the rebuilding process, but I don’t think that was the best move,” Howard’s sister said of the trade. “There were some other players that were making some pretty decent money that they could have looked at trading before Dwight.

    “I don’t like the decision, I don’t like the way people are talking. Dwight Howard wasn’t a problem with the Hawks this season.”
     
    heypartner likes this.
  19. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  20. mfastx

    mfastx Member
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    Agree. Obviously he can be a questionable presence in the locker room at times, but to act like it's that and not injuries is the reason he fell off big time is just crazy. He isn't remotely the same physically, watching him play it's clear he can barely move out there.
     

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