Dwight Howard and the Lakers’ support cast are a shocking success

The Lakers are more than a two-man show.

An off-season that saw the Los Angeles Lakers miss signing a third superstar, then lose DeMarcus Cousins for the year, gave little hope that the franchise would be much more than a two-man band. The Lakers had to do what every team with LeBron James has done since Kyrie Irving left Cleveland, signing past-their-prime stars, hoping at least one of them would sip from The King’s fountain of youth and return to his glory days. Historically, that doesn’t work well, as James is forced to drag his team to the postseason only to crumble with a Swiss cheese defense.

But James and Anthony Davis can’t take all the credit for the Lakers 5-1 start to the season. A total team effort on the backs of revived role players Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley is boosting the Lakers to the upper-echelon of NBA contenders. LA has the league’s best defense, and has held worthy opponents like the Mavericks, Spurs and Jazz in check. They’re actually good! And it hasn’t taken any dramatic team meetings or rumors that someone’s getting traded.

How is this happening?

Howard is playing great

The most laugh-out-loud signing of the Lakers offseason was undeniably Howard, the once-estranged LA big man who was injured most of last season with the Washington Wizards, and plain bad for a few seasons prior. But he’s been spectacular.

Howard’s been so good because he’s doing way less. In six games, he’s averaging a career-low seven points and eight rebounds per game in just 21 minutes. Next to James and Davis, Dwight’s role is clearly defined, and to the surprise of most, he’s actually accepted that fact.

We’re in a time period where Howard is willingly lobbing passes from behind the three-point arc to Davis for dunks, and caping for his teammate’s MVP award.

Howard’s still a board-crashing big who loves to hit defenders with screens and block shots at the rim, and that’s essential to how LA has operated on both ends. With both Davis and Howard securing boards, James can leak out in transition. With Howard setting screens, wings can duck into the corners and catch passes from James. Howard does all of the little things to make the Lakers win, and he isn’t self-inflicting damage by forcing up contested shots on offense like in years past.

When Howard’s on the court, the Lakers are outscoring opponents by 25.3 points per 100 possessions, and when he’s off, they’re outscored by 1.6 points per 100. His two screen assists, 2.2 deflections, 2.5 offensive rebounds and two blocks per game add up.

Howard’s scoring abilities are still used, just much more efficiently. He’s letting James and Davis’s gravity allow him easy buckets. He’s only taken 24 shots, and 19 have gone in. That’s because all but three looks have been some type of a dunk or layup.

Howard’s talents are finally being used for good.

Finally, James has the wings he needs, too

The Lakers’ offense runs very simply: Let James and Davis be captains of the most terrifying vessel in the NBA. When they run the pick-and-roll, they’re unstoppable, and when either is in isolation, they’re tough to contain. Problems only come when defenses cheat what’s about to come, sending three or four defenders to fluster the giants.

That’s where Danny Green and Bradley come in.

The luxury of having two sharpshooters as seasoned and smart as Green and Bradley, is that defenses can’t cheat off of them. Leave an inch more of space than usual, and three-pointers are going to fly from the corners. Their shooting threat is helping the Lakers duo keep space between defenders.

By this point in the Lakers’ overtime win against the Mavericks, Dallas had already learned their lesson:

This combination of Lakers role players are helping hold down what looked to be a Davis-and-James show. Howard, Green and Bradley make up the Lakers’ best five-man lineup that have suited up for more than 10 minutes per game this year. In an extremely small 14-minute sample size, that group is outscoring opponents by 74.6 points per 100 possessions. That rate won’t last, but it’s reasonable to believe that this core could continue to excel all season long because Green and Bradley aren’t just good shooters. They play smart defense, too.

This could be the Lakers’ go-to group all year-long.

Where do the Lakers go from here?

It’s tempting to not want to break up what’s working, but that isn’t possible. Kyle Kuzma’s just returned to the rotation, and Rajon Rondo’s on his way. The Lakers are learning to survive Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s ugly minutes, but if Kuzma and Rondo can’t buy into the reality of the Lakers’ new offense, it could be too much to overcome.

James and Davis need hard-working defenders who don’t play outside of what’s needed from them. Early in the season, they’ve found a few, and that includes JaVale McGee. Now, it’s time to get the rest of the make-shift Lakers on board, which is easier said than done.

For now, at least, they have something great going for them.