Dwight Howard probably wouldn’t be a member of the Atlanta Hawks if it weren’t for Grant Hill, one of the team’s minority owners.
True story.
Per ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
Grant Hill was a big part of the process,” Howard said of the Hawks’ minority owner and former fellow Orlando Magic star in an interview that first aired Tuesday night.
“For somebody like [Hill] to believe in me, [Hawks general] Wes Wilcox and Bud (Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer) — for all of these guys to have that belief in me just gave me more confidence.
Well, crap. This is pretty surprising. It’s also a little shocking to learn how aggressive the Hawks were in recruiting Howard. They don’t play an offense prided upon obscene amounts of pick-and-rolls, and Howard is, at best, only a slight upgrade over the player they essentially jilted, even though they tried to re-sign him, in Al Horford.
And assuming the Hawks will incorporate more pick-and-rolls into their offense, they must then sell Howard on being used as a rim-runner once again. He has been enamored by this idea over the last five years or more that he should be a featured scorer. But his back to the basket game is weak and inefficient. He has always been best suited as a devastating pick-and-roll finisher whose primary focus is policing the paint on the less glamorous end of the floor.
The Hawks, apparently, believe he can be that player. It helps, too, that his deal is two years shorter than the one five-season pact they would have handed Horford. Howard won’t be under contract in Atlanta through his 35th birthday, which matters.
That explains the Hawks’ initial interest. It just doesn’t explain whether they made the right call in acting on that interest. That answer will come in due time.
