Dwight Howard is ready to go.
Multiple reports out of Staples Center confirm rumors from this week that Dwight Howard will make his debut for the Lakers on Sunday night as they take on the Sacramento Kings. His recovery from back surgery has gotten to the point he can play in a game.
What this really means for the Lakers? That Howard will be ready to go opening night. When the games start to matter, they will have their full team.
It means the Lakers starting five — Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Howard — can start to get some needed game work in together. These are five veteran, high-IQ players who should be able to mesh well but chemistry still takes time playing together and they are just now starting to get some. Plus, Howard will have some rust to shake off.
On top of that, Lakers coach Mike Brown can start to put together rotations for the bench closer to what he will use in the regular season, and he can start to see what works. Well, he could, who knows what Brown will do with his bench, it’s been like a U8 soccer game where everybody gets to play an equal amount so far this preseason. We’ll see if that changes.
But it will be interesting to start to see what the Lakers offense looks like with Howard in the mix.
