Getty
Kevon Looney continues to be a low-key hero for the Golden State Warriors, just as he was throughout the team’s 2021-22 title run. Through 21 games this season, the veteran pivot has averaged 6.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while making a career-best 64.4% of his shot attempts.
More importantly, the Dubs have outscored opponents by 11.6 points per 100 possessions when he has been on the court, the best mark teamwide.
Despite that, though, there’s a sense that the Warriors could use additional help down low, be it an upgrade in the first five or a large, able-bodied backup. For his part, eight-time All-Star Dwight Howard was practically campaigning to be that guy during a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast.
“Oh man, that’s perfect,” he said of a potential Warriors partnership. “I’ve been a warrior my whole life… They need a big. I know they have Kevon Looney and I know they have the young boy Wiseman, but I’m Dwight Howard.”
Howard went on to wax philosophical about freeing Warriors shooters up with his screens and helping Wiseman develop into a David Robinson-like player. But would he really have a positive impact in Golden State? A rival coach weighs in on the possibility…
West Assistant: Dwight an Imperfect Fit With GSW
Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney recently spoke with an assistant coach from a Western Conference team to get their take on Howard possibly joining the Warriors. And their take on what such an arrangement would look like on the floor was decidedly less rosy than Dwight’s.
“They would have some concerns about plugging Dwight in there,” the assistant said. “He is still a brute-force kind of player and you need some finesse to play in the middle for the Warriors. He can set the screens they like but he does not have the hands for that spot.
“He’s a sledgehammer and you need more of a Swiss Army knife at that position.”
The assitant coach went on to cite a familiar name as the kind of player best-suited to supplement the Dubs’ current big man corps.
“[Nemanja] Bjelica was a good fit there because they could play him on the perimeter and have Draymond [Green] in the paint very often. It would be hard to have Dwight and Dray on the floor together, man that would make it easy on the defense.”
Dwight Has Been Balling Out in Asia, Though
When he failed to land an NBA deal for 2022-23 after a so-so campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 36-year-old Howard decided to take his game to the Taiwanese T1 League, inking a deal with the Taoyuan Leopards earlier this month. And in the two games he has played to date, he has looked like a baller with a lot left to offer.
Against New Taipei CTBC DEA on November 19, Howard scored 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting while adding 25 rebounds, nine assists and four blocked shots in 48 minutes of action. One night later, he logged 23 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds, one block and one steal in a game against the Taichung Suns.
Howard was sidelined during the Leopards’ Nov. 27 rematch with the Suns.
Comments
West Coach Gets Brutally Honest on Future HOFer’s Campaign to Join Warriors