Despite our best efforts, few of us have had enough foresight — really knowing what the outcome of any NBA management decision will be — there's so much context and variability in how to define a player's role (and how they fit into the role) that we can't see the issue explicitly.
But there are times when something is really predictable — when the Lakers allow Dwight Howard to leave as a free agent after winning the 2019-20 championship, it's easy to see that the team will lose some of the special skills he brought with him.
Dwight's role is significant in the Lakers' lineup, he is physically and tactically defensively gated, and the offense is also efficient. He's not a starter, he's not even a mainstay of the playoff rotation, when the Lakers' lineup was smaller. But his contributions to Jokic and the Nuggets, combined with his overall performances throughout the season (and the passion he brings in the dressing room and on the side of the court), are almost hard to replace.
That's the way it is.
So Pelinka and Lakers management admitted the mistake and brought Dwight back in the offseason. In fact, while Pelinka didn't mention Dwight by name in an interview with the media last week, the Lakers' head of basketball operations did outline what drove Dwight back when the team recalibrated the lineup in the offseason:
"I think in the draft and in free agency, we have three main goals to accomplish. The first is to increase organizational ability and find an organizational core; the second is to shoot; the third is to go back to the pattern of the past — especially on the defensive end — and go back to having two defensive + rebounding attribute centers, as we did when we won the championship in 2020.
'These are the goals in our minds and I think if you look at the squad now, we feel like we've achieved those three goals and that's what we want to do before the start of the season, so we're happy about that.'
The passage is very clear, and Pelinka makes it clear that Dwight not only filled the void for the championship team at that time, but at this stage of his career he remains a role model for the team. Of course, the question now is whether Dwight can prove once again the trust that Pelinka and the Lakers have in him — when he returns to the Lakers for the third time.
From my perspective, I'm cautiously optimistic that he can do it.
Like LeBron, who entered the NBA a season earlier than Dwight, Dwight's body is still a miracle, and his dedication to maintaining his body allows him to exercise at a level that does not match his years in the NBA. You only have to look at his stats at Philadelphia last season and compare it to his stats in Los Angeles for the 2019-20 season and you'll see that he's still very efficient. I mean, he's exactly the same person. He averaged slightly higher rebounds per game at the 76ers last season, but his rebounds per minute and pace stats have barely changed, and given the form he maintains, I don't think that will change.
On a spiritual level, I no longer doubt Dwight, no longer doubt his approach, no longer doubt his desire to play any role — to be honest, I'm not sure I could say the same thing a season ago, when there were reports that Dwight didn't want to "play for free" after winning the championship, which seems to be one of the reasons the Lakers decided to chase Mark Gasol and Dwight to Philadelphia.
After another productive season, he's back in his los Angeles role, and he's now willing to return to the team while leading other role players to achieve the team's collective goals by publicizing the need for sacrifice — and there's no doubt that Dwight's ideas are on the same page as the Lakers.
Now, if there's any other question worth exploring, is Dwight up to the kind of rotation role he played before with the Lakers — or rather, is he up to the task of playing with LeBron for a lot of time? Back in the 2019-20 season, 835 of Dwight's 1306 minutes played were with LeBron. Both have strong chemistry on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, with the Lakers scoring a net of +9.4 in their common court time.
With that data in mind, I hope LeBron and Dwight can once again form the foundation of a strong lineup, hopefully they'll be able to combine shooting, enough defensive talent, and (at least) an extra ball-handler to help add some shot creation.
For example, a squad of LeBron, Dwight, Anthony, Nunn and Tarren Horton Tucker (or Kent Buzzmore) could provide enough offensive tools and enough defensive ability to create an edge on both sides of the pitch and form an efficient (mostly) bench lineup. Coupled with recent rumours that Davis could start as a center forward, it now looks likely dwight will return to his role as a big man on the bench, creating a strong bench lineup next to LeBron.
The exact platooning remains to be seen. The Lakers have a full training camp and preseason to decide which lineups work and which don't. That said, what role Dwight Howard will play on this team has been determined. It's clear that not just from Pelinka's comments about the team's lineup building, but also from Dwight as the primary goal of return, the Lakers are returning to a formula they shouldn't have modified in the first place.