The Philadelphia 76ers earned themselves a 113-107 win over the Washington Wizards to begin the 2020-21 season, but it certainly was not pretty. The starting unit struggled mightily in the third quarter, and they needed Joel Embiid to lead the way in the fourth to rally for the win.
Afterward, star Ben Simmons went back out on the floor at Wells Fargo Center and began putting up jump shots. It was clear that the All-Star was not happy with his performance, and he wanted to continue to work on his game.
He worked with future Hall of Famer Dwight Howard, who was putting up jump shots with him. Hearing he was working with Howard on jumpers, coach Doc Rivers was nervous.
“That got me nervous,” Rivers said with a laugh. “Dwight was the shooting coach so I got to reassess my staff.”
All jokes aside, Howard has had one helluva NBA career, and the team wanted him here to help the two young stars move forward. Wednesday night was another step in the right direction for him.
“I thought it was great,” Rivers added. “No. 1, that he was out there, not by himself, but with another player. I thought it was great that it was Dwight. I think we looked at Dwight in a lot of ways in his career. He was a dominant player when he first came in and did he kind of got lost for a little while, then last year was the resurrection for Dwight Howard.”
A guy like Howard has had one wild ride in the NBA. He was clearly the best center in the game during his early days with the Orlando Magic winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards. Then he jumped around, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, the Wizards, and then back to the Lakers just before the regular season to win a title in 2020.
All of that made him a wiser player.
“He couldn’t get signed,” Rivers added. “He goes to the Lakers and wins a ring and that Denver series, man, they don’t get to the Finals without Dwight Howard and that’s changed Dwight to now he knows what winning looks like. The fact that he can give some of that knowledge to Ben and to Joel is invaluable. Same thing with Danny Green.”
Having a guy like Howard around as a leader and a guy who will take the young stars under his wing to show them what it takes to win in this league is something that is invaluable to Philadelphia right now. He has done so much in his career and that demands respect and that’s somebody Simmons can really look up to.
“First of all, it gives him confidence,” Rivers finished. “It gives him team confidence that he has a guy on his team, that cares about him that wants him to do well, and then the fact again that it’s Dwight Howard. A guy that at one point in the league was considered the best player in the NBA for a stretch. That stuff goes a long way. That’s equity that as a team and as Dwight building up with Ben, it’s all good.”
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