When free agency opens up, the Sixers will have a decision to make on veteran backup center Dwight Howard. Howard would be entering his age 36 season if he plays in 2021.
Prior to Howard’s arrival, the Sixers had been looking to answer the Joel Embiid backup five question that loomed over them for years. Amir Johnson, Kyle O’Quinn, Boban Marjanovic, and Greg Monroe are just some of the names that tried to take over that responsibility for the team.
Al Horford was signed in 2019 for an absurd amount of money strictly to take pressure off of Embiid for the most part. It’s safe to say that it didn’t work out like either side intended.
Howard was easily the best backup center option that the Sixers had in the Embiid era. Despite coming with some of his own play style baggage, he worked about as effectively as he did for the Lakers in their title run.
PRO to Sixers re-signing Dwight Howard: Solid regular season
You can probably tell the con that this will be followed up with on the next slide, but both things are true. Starting with the regular season first, Howard was an exemplary backup. His Lakers tenure showed that he was willing to accept a smaller role that involved fewer post-up touches and more gritty play in the paint.
Per 36 minutes, Howard averaged 17.5 rebounds with the Sixers in 2020. That was the highest of his career in addition to a defensive rating that was better than most previous Sixers’ backup centers. Some will counter that by also saying his personal fouls were also the highest of his career per 36 minutes. While that’s true, his fouls didn’t adversely affect the team in the regular season on most nights.
Howard was also a pretty functional backup whenever Embiid had to sit out. The March stretch with him and Tony Bradley playing significant minutes following Embiid’s bone bruise was pretty positive. It kept the team afloat in the conversation for the one-seed and doesn’t get talked about enough.