Why trading Dwight Howard was the right thing to do

The Atlanta native is no longer a member of the Hawks.

Howard was certainly a polarizing figure in Atlanta in his one season with the Hawks. Many fans loved the decision to bring Dwight aboard while many also disliked the decision to sign Dwight. There was a clear division from the day he arrived, so, as you can imagine, the fan base remains divided the day of his departure.

Look, I have nothing personal against Dwight. He seems like a really nice guy off the court and his work with the community — wherever he has been — is fantastic, but in terms of pure basketball fit, it just didn’t work out for Dwight in Atlanta.

BASKETBALL FIT

He killed the Hawks’ floor spacing and made an already poor offensive team even worse. His lack of versatility as an offensive player really limited the Hawks when they found themselves — as they often did — chasing games. There’s a reason why Dwight wasn’t a part of the lineup that recovered from a 26 point deficit in the fourth quarter in April’s showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers. There’s a reason why he was benched down the stretch as the Hawks attempted to make a comeback in their Game 6 elimination game against the Washington Wizards.

Unlike in previous years with Al Horford, teams could just sag off Dwight when he operated/screened around the three-point line and the elbow because teams know he can’t shoot, and this allows opposing teams to focus more on penetration/help defense/defense on actual offensive players like Schröder, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Paul Millsap.

With Dwight now out of the picture, it allows the Hawks to look for a center who may, perhaps, fit Mike Budenholzer’s system better for (you’d imagine) much less than it cost to sign Howard.

No more confusion over roles, a cloud is lifted

As the year progressed, more questions about Dwight’s role and touches began to arise as it looked more and more as though he was an outsider in Mike Budenholzer’s system.

As the year progressed, more questions about Dwight’s role and touches began to arise as it looked more and more as though he was an outsider in Mike Budenholzer’s system.

In the aftermath of the Hawks’ Game 6 loss to the Wizards (where Dwight was benched as the Hawks tried to save their season) was Dwight’s exit interview, and it wasn’t something that inspired confidence watching at the time as Dwight eluded to the fact he was clearly unhappy with being benched and unhappy that his role wasn’t perhaps as it was laid out to him before he signed not coming to fruition. He spoke very softly, like someone who didn’t sound as though he was happy, and not just because they lost their series with the Wizards.

I honestly believe Dwight was biting his tongue in that interview and that his feelings he made known were only the tip of an iceberg (with all the rough stuff, as is the case with icebergs, lurking beneath the surface).

You can only imagine how things were in the locker room with Dwight and his teammates and/or the coaching staff, and this cloud that was over the Hawks is now lifted. There’s no longer going to be discontent over touches or roles. As Tas Melas of NBATV’s ‘The Starters’ mentioned on Twitter, Miles Plumlee isn’t going to be fussed about roles as Dwight was.

The other aspect to this ‘cloud’ is that if Paul Millsap leaves, Dwight would’ve become THE man and THE veteran presence in that locker room. With all these young guys like Schröder, Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry and Atlanta’s 2017 draft pick/picks set to be with the club for years to come, Dwight may not have been the best guy to have as your locker room presence.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN AND WHAT'S NEXT?

This was a very interesting trade. Schlenk was willing to take on a bad contract in the form of Plumlee, the expiring deal of Marco Belinelli (who would become the best shooter on the roster if he is to stay in Atlanta for the final season) and send away a very decent pick in the form of the 31st overall pick just to get rid of Dwight.

No contract is untradeable as long as you have the assets, and the Hawks do have assets. The Hawks don’t just own their own picks but Minnesota’s 2018 first round pick (lottery protected) and Cleveland’s 2019 first round pick (protected 1-10) as well as Washington’s 2019 second round pick. If the Hawks wanted to get out on the contracts of Miles Plumlee and/or Kent Bazemore they have the assets to do that. I expect one of those two players to be traded this summer. To keep both of those contracts, it wouldn’t line up with Schlenk’s “flexibility”, something that he said at his introductory press conference and cited again in a statement issued after Dwight’s trade.

Even if Plumlee and/or Belinelli aren’t traded, both could certainly prove useful in Atlanta. Despite his contract, Plumlee could play at a high level off the bench and Belinelli is a good shooter who has experience playing in a system similar system to Mike Budenholzer’s, when Belinelli was an integral part of Gregg Popovich’s 2014 title winning Spurs team.

As for free agency, this trade shouldn’t be the final word/indicator that Paul Millsap is/isn’t coming back. Schlenk’s comments about flexibility, his desire not to sign bad contracts and his recent comments about how Paul may receive offers higher than what the Hawks are able to make should give you more of an idea of how Schlenk and the Hawks are thinking in regards to Millsap’s free agency, rather than this Dwight trade.

Is a re-tool/rebuild coming? A re-tool, sure, that’s a fairly safe assumption to make at this stage. A full course rebuild though? That’s a little more difficult to assume for sure at this current moment, but it seems as though the Hawks are certainly headed for significant change.

Ultimately, this was the right thing to do. In addition to all of the reasons above, the Hawks simply couldn’t run this team again next season given its significant shortcomings last season. It still would’ve been too mediocre and it would’ve cost far, far too much money.

Schlenk has proven straightaway that he means serious business and isn’t afraid to make big moves that make people upset and uncomfortable. The type of moves that turns a franchises world upside down, and Dwight Howard is simply the first domino to fall.

The Travis Schlenk-era has begun with a bang. What will be his next move? With bated breath, we wait...