Preview: Wizards at Hawks
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[October 27, 2016]
The Atlanta Hawks are banking on
homesickness being the reason Dwight Howard's health and level of
play fell off over the last few seasons. The Hawks will debut their
new center in front of his hometown when they host the Washington
Wizards in the season opener on Thursday.
Howard, who was born in Atlanta and drafted No. 1 overall out of
high school by the Orlando Magic in 2004, agreed to a three-year,
$70.5 million pact with the Hawks over the summer after averaging
13.8 points in 71 games for the Houston Rockets last season - his
lowest scoring average since his 2004-05 rookie campaign. Howard's
arrival came after the exits of star point guard Jeff Teague, who
moved on to Indiana in free agency and opened the starting spot for
Dennis Schroder, and center Al Horford to Boston. The Wizards stayed
out of the race for big name free agents once it became clear that
Kevin Durant was not going to return to his hometown and instead
lavished a five-year, $127.2 million max deal on shooting guard
Bradley Beal. The 23-year-old Beal has never made an All-Star team
and played in just 55 games last season while dealing with leg
injuries.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN Mid-Atlantic
(Washington)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (2015-16: 41-41): The most important player for
Washington is point guard John Wall, who is recovering from knee
surgery and plans to see a minutes limit early in the season. "We
have a great bench and we have some great backups," Wall told the
Washington Post. "We trust those guys to run the team and do
different things than what I do. I feel like they can hold their own
and keep our unit going." That bench now includes point guard Trey
Burke, who was acquired for a 2021 draft pick from the Utah Jazz and
will try to improve on his 10.6 points and 2.3 assists from last
season while backing up Wall.
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ABOUT THE HAWKS (2015-16: 48-34): Atlanta thrived the last two
seasons with big men that could pass and shoot from the outside like
Horford and Paul Millsap, and those two aspects of the game have
never been parts of Howard's skill set. A traditional
back-to-the-basket or pick-and-roll big man like Howard has the
Hawks rethinking an offense that led the Eastern Conference in
scoring in 2014-15 and was fifth last year. "It's going to take some
time, and it's going to be a process," Atlanta coach Mike
Budenholzer told reporters. "I think the system and the structure is
all very similar, but where and when and how (Howard) is open is
pretty significantly different. I think our guys understand it, and
now it's just getting more comfortable and more ready to operate
that way."
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BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks All-Star PF Millsap (knee) is probable for Thursday.
2. Wizards C Ian Mahinmi (knee) will not be available until late
November.
3. Atlanta took five of the last seven meetings but Washington
earned a 109-98 win at home in the most recent meeting on April 13.
PREDICTION: Hawks 102, Wizards 101
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