Washington Wizards: 3 reasons Dwight Howard is a good pickup

1. Rebounding advantage

For all the talk about Howard and his supposed decline from his days in Orlando, the eight-time All-Star still gets it done. No player ranks fourth in rebounds per game by accident, which is what Dwight did in 2017-18.

This is a guy who grabbed 30 rebounds in a single game back in March. His combination of strength and athleticism is simply too much for opposing centers to handle, allowing him the five-time rebounding champion to dominate the glass.

Washington ranked 21st in total rebounds this past year, in large part due to Gortat’s average declining from 10.4 to 7.6 per game. This clearly made it more difficult for the Wizards to control the tempo and ignite fast break opportunities, or simply end a defensive stop in the proper manner.

Gortat is a large man, but as mentioned before, he can’t get off the ground so much. Sure, he can box out his man better than most, but some rebounds simply come down to a battle of hops, which makes him a liability in those scenarios.

While Howard’s strength clearly allows him to box out any opponent that challenges him, it’s his athleticism that will really help Washington on the boards, enabling him to simply out-jump whoever gets in his way.

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With Dwight in the middle, the Wizards can rest assured that more often than not, they’ll be able to secure the rebound off a missed attempt by the offense, potentially leading to more run outs for the speedy Wall.