Dwight Howard has been nagged by a glute injury since training camp. Yesterday, he underwent a procedure that involved a L4-L5 lumbar microdiscectomy per The Washington Post. The goal is to relieve the nerve irritation and glute pain caused by a disc in his lower back. He is expected to miss 2-3 months, and the Wizards are going to feel this injury on the court.
This team has had severe trouble with rebounding and paint protection while Howard has been out, and I only see that continuing. A few nights ago against the Pelicans they were out rebounded by a whopping margin of 64-38 in a blowout loss on the road. Although the small ball has helped the Wizards pick up their offensive game, their rebounding has taken a major hit without Howard. He was averaging 12.8 points on 62.3% shooting along with 9.2 rebound a games; No one else is averaging more than 5.3 rebounds.
On defense, they just don’t have a guy that can protect the paint like Howard can. I love the energy Thomas Bryant has played with since being put in the starting lineup, but he is young still and weighs 17 lbs less than Howard. He is not nearly as good of a rebounder or paint protector as Howard is. Ian Mahinmi should be a good paint protector with his height and length, but he gets in foul trouble incredibly easy. Scott Brooks has completely eliminated his minutes because he cannot trust him to stay on the court and rebound.
I personally do not see the Wizards being able to consistently win games against quality opponents when they cannot rebound or protect the paint. I wish I had a magic recipe for them to win ball games with this current roster, but I just do not have it. They need to work together on offense and defense which simply is not happening. They do not sprint back consistently on defense, and that gives up easy transition buckets for the opposition. It is ridiculous that this team does not give consistent effort even though they are not currently in the East’s top 8. Speaking of working together….
This is what I’ve been talking about with their stagnant offense. Wall isolates the 3rd most in the NBA, and the Wizards are horrible at scoring when it ends in his shot or his pass to a shot. He needs to trust him teammates more. Especially without Howard, they need to stop these isolations and have more ball movement because Bryant does not draw as much attention down low as Howard does. Passing, Off-ball screens, and cuts coupled with pick and rolls would help this offense a lot. Watching the Boston Celtics under Brad Stevens it is easy to notice that there is rarely only one action happening on offense. There is never just a pick and roll, and there is never just a shooter coming off of a double screen; there are usually a combo of actions. Granted the Wizards have done a slightly better job moving the ball, but they are still too often standing and watching other players isolate. When there is a pick and roll, everyone else is just standing around. This Dwight Howard injury is going to hurt the Wizards a ton if they do not start giving more consistent effort and start playing together on both ends of the floor.
Boo On The Bullets 