Dwight Howard, center, Atlanta Hawks
Last summer, the Atlanta Hawks signed Dwight Howard to a three-year, $70 million contract. In the first round of the postseason, Howard played just 26.2 minutes per game, averaging eight points and 10.7 assists. He was lethargic and lackadaisical on both ends of the court. Most tellingly, the Hawks allowed a 108.7 defensive rating with him on the floor compared to 102.8 without him.
Howard’s playoff performance, to put it lightly, was an unmitigated disaster. It was the culmination of a year in which he was underwhelming the replacement to Al Horford, the franchise icon whom the Hawks let go to sign him and who helped energize the Boston Celtics into the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
Over the past few years, Howard has simply disappeared at times and 2017 was no different. There was only one game in the entire first round where Howard had over 10 shots from the field. In Games 5 and 6 against the Washington Wizards, he had seven shots total and was a net minus-18.
The Hawks lost their bet big that Howard could still be a difference-maker at age 31. They acquiesced to his demands for more post-ups (on which he scored .84 points per possession during the regular season) in hopes that they could be a commanding defensive presence and help Atlanta out on the boards.
The Hawks were a great defensive team during the regular season, but Howard didn’t play as large a role in that as Paul Millsap or Taurean Prince. As for rebounding, Howard did help make a difference, but at a big expense. Atlanta dropped from 18th in offensive rating last year to 27th this year, something that didn’t change in the playoffs. Atlanta was 12th among 16 playoff teams in offensive rating.
Howard wasn’t just out of his element in the postseason, he was downright mopey at times. Morale has never been his strong suit, but if we kept track of the number of times a player put his hands on his hips on stared downward, Howard would have lapped the field in Round 1. The Hawks gave him star money, turning away the face of their franchise to do so. Howard repaid them with an apathetic playoff performance — a now annual tradition.