Center Dwight Howard is determined to prove that he is still one of the top centers in the NBA. He made impessive debut with the Hawks in the preseason games.
In his first preseason game with Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 10 against defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight showed that he is still the top centers in the NBA, as reported by ESPN. He led the scorers with 26 points and 8 rebounds and two blocks in his 23 minute playtime, to help the Hawks defeating the Cavaliers 99-93.
Howard fitted in well with the game strategy of the head coach Mike Budenholzer who is happy because the Hawks front court is now stronger with Dwight Howard with Paul Milsap in the power forward position. Budenholzer is now able to fully extend his gameplay in Hawks which resembled the Greg Popovich's system in San Antonio Spurs. As an assistant coach for Popovich for 16 years, Budenholzer was very much familiar with the motion weak rotation play of Popovich.
In order to achieve the full capacity of his strategy, coach Budenholzer requires Howard to be a versatile big man, as reported by USA Today. He wants Howard to post up and draw two defenders, and also open the paint for the point guard Dennis Schroder to drive and also attacking the rim, too.
Hawks is known to have a strong back court with Schrodder, Jeff Teague and shooting guard Kyle Korver. But they were lack the strong and versatile big man with only Paul Milsap and Tiago Splitter. Now as Howard joined the team, there will be many possibility for coach Budenholzer to explore in order to make an interesting game play.
Atlanta Hawks will have two more preseason games on Tuesday, Oct. 18 against New Orleans Pelicans, and Thursday, Oct. 20 against Chicago Bulls before they start the regular season.
Have a look at Howard debut with Atlanta Hawks at the preseason game against the Cavaliers as Howard scored 26 points, 8 rebounds and two blocks below: