Dwight Howard‘s lack of versatility on offense cost him playing time with the Hawks last season and the eight-time All-Star wants to remedy that this offseason. Speaking on ESPN’s The Jump, Howard revealed that he is working to expand his three-point shooting in preparation for the 2017/18 season (via Andrew Joseph of USA Today’s For The Win).
“So, I have this guy in Atlanta that I’ve been working with, and I’ve been working on my threes,” Howard said. “Really trying to add some range to my game, which is gonna be weird for people to see, I guess. They’re used to seeing me in the paint, battling. But in order for me to play longer, I have to expand my game.”
Howard, 31, has never been a prolific shooter in the NBA; his main draw has been scoring in the paint and overpowering opposition in the low post. For his career, Howard has made just five of his 56 three-point attempts (8.9%). Howard’s last trey came during the 2014/15 season.
As Joseph writes, players such as Paul Millsap and Al Horford developed three-pointers in Atlanta. If Howard is looking for a blueprint, Nets center Brook Lopez is a good example; he shot 3-for-31 from long range the first eight seasons of his career before going 134-for-387 (34.6%) from deep during the 2016/17 campaign. Either way, an aging Howard — who the Hawks signed to a three-year, $70MM last season — will need to evolve to maximize his usefulness to a younger Hawks team.
Here are additional notes from the Southeast division:
- Josh McRoberts could be a viable option as the Heat’s backup center, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes in his latest Ask Ira. McRoberts exercised his option to remain with the Heat for 2017/18, but the team could use the stretch provision to utilize the roster spot on else. Since joining the Heat during the 2014 offseason, McRoberts has appeared in 81 out of a possible 246 games.
- Keith Langlois of Pistons.com reports that Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo next scheduled visit is with the Heat (via Twitter).
- The Hornets announced their scheduled pre-draft workout attendees for tomorrow. The list includes Arizona guard Kadeem Allen, Wake Forest forward Austin Arians, Notre Dame forward V.J. Beachem, Davidson guard Jack Gibbs and big men Przemek Karnowski (Gonzaga) and Mangok Mathiang (Louisville).
Dwight is delusional! He can’t shoot free throws, so now he’s gonna become a 3 point shooter? He never developed a strong back to the basket game and will see his playing time as well as his usefulness decrease even more next season. Hawks need to deal him before his value sinks to zero.
Dwight would destroy you 1 on 1
AYFK? This dude is tripping. He won’t put in the work to excel @ free throws but he is gonna shoot threes. The PG won’t pass to him until he gets in the paint. Any coach that lets this happen will be fired!
Who would take him and the money he is owed?
Chicago
Wait. Lopez shot almost 400 3s???
Yup at one point Kenny Atkinson said that other teams didn’t believe he could really shoot so they kept giving him open 3s and 34% ain’t bad for a center.
Need to get Okafor in the gym with him. 3s by osmosis.
Brook Lopez always had the mid range jumper though, so he just took it out beyond the 3 point line. It’s amazing how proficient he was so quickly though
Of course Charlottes working out Karnowski. They like big white guys, or final four stars. (Kaminsky, Zeller, MKG, Kemba) why not add to the list
That Kemba Walker exstension for 4/48 or whatever it was is the only good thing MJ has ever done for the team, other than renaming it…
Pretty much. Other than Steph probably the best bargain PG in the league
IT4 at $6 million?
Forgot him sorry
Kemba plays better defense though
Yeah but IT is better on offense and costs half as much
Early in his career, Dwight had that mid range jumpshot, and could almost get out to the 3 point line on the baseline, but he went away from that a long time ago. It would be interesting if he could find that again. I’m not going to put it past him, and assume he can’t, but he has been very tentative offensively for years now. If he’s going to be more aggressive offensively, I’d also like to see him get more touches down low when he has position
McRoberts played well when healthy last year, but he hasn’t stayed on the floor for the last 3 years. Stretch provision please…I like Adebayo, but he didn’t protect the rim enough in college for me to be too excited about his ultimate potential
McRoberts picked up his own option, it wasn’t a team option.
Heat can still use the stretch provision on him…
5/56 is not .89%, it would be 8.9%