View this post on Instagram
Here’s NBC Sports Washington with a look at the 8-13 Wizards and center Dwight Howard, who has only played nine games this season, averaging 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game:
With Howard, the Wizards have allowed their opponents to score 112.6 points and grab 43.7 rebounds per game. In their 12 games without him, Wizards opponents have scored 122.5 points and averaged 51.8 rebounds per game.
That means the Wizards are giving up nearly 10 more points per game without Howard than they are with him. That is a huge margin.
With Howard, they have been a mediocre defense and without him they have been historically bad. Their 118.2 points allowed average per game this season is highest in the NBA and already on pace to be the worst since the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets.
So far, the Wizards are only 4-5 with Howard. But they are 4-8 when he’s out of the lineup and they were out-rebounded in all eight of those losses.
The Wizards are off today. Tomorrow they play the Sixers in Philadelphia.
