I wouldn't say that concerns over his back and the surgery are overblown. On the contrary, back issues are a huge issue, imo, especially because we're talking about a guy who needed to have a procedure to fix the problem and hasn't quite been the same since.
So is KD's injury - it is a very high risk injury, but that wouldn't stop us throwing a long term deal at him.
Horford's injuries are pretty high risk too - two torn pectorals, I believe it was?
Kevin Love had some concerning injuries too, but Cleveland still traded the world for him, and then gave him an overblown extension.
Fact is that the top three free agents this year all have a high health risk - do we just ignore them all?
I say the issues are overblown not because I don't think they are issues, but because people are treating Howard's history as if it's a great deal riskier then that of other mac-salary free agent options - it isn't. They are just as risky...or at the very least not far off.
Additionally, in regards to him being one of the most efficient scorers in history, that's because of the number of dunks that have come over the course of his career as a result of his athletic gifts and physical tools. If you actually make him have to score reliably in the post via moves, he's pretty pathetic, lol. He's kind of like a more well developed Shaq, that way, in that at least Howard has thrown in jump hooks with either hand, while I don't ever remember seeing Shaq use his left to score at all. Regardless, and in spite of his superior passing skills, Shaq, like Dwight, did not age well because his game was based almost entirely on physical dominance as opposed to skill. Sure, he added that Robert Parish spin to the baseline, eventually, but he was never a good post player, imo. At least Howard takes care of his body and is by far the better defender and rebounder, but still, I'm not interested in Dwight. The thought of him on the Celtics = barf. If we were seriously interested in a center, we could have had Whiteside for peanuts two years ago. Ugh.
True, but also irrelevant.
Dwight Howard is one of the most efficient scorers in NBA history - it is a statistical fact that very few historical players (if any) can convert field goal attempts into points as effectively as Dwight does. Dwight is giving you around 1.6 points on average for every field goal attempt he takes - that number is unheard of.
If you have a guy who is getting you points with THAT type of efficiency, on a year-by-year basis, then the method by which he delivers those points is ultimately irrelevant. Fact is that when Dwight has the ball in a position to score, nothing short of a hard foul is gong to stop him. If you do foul him then you risk giving up points AND you also risk putting a key player in foul trouble.
Unless you take your star players out of the game so that you can have your scrubs use up their fouls...but if you do that then Howard is already winning, because he's forcing you to pull your best players off the court, and he's dictating how you're going to play your game.
Dwight might not be the most versatile / skilled inside scorer in the NBA, but he IS still one of the most unstoppable. You don't really need fancy post moves all that often if you are 6'11" beast with a 265 pounds of pure muscle, a 7'5" wingspan and shoulders as wide as a truck. More often then not, you're pretty much just going to have your way with people. You either bump them out of the way like they are a puny insect, or just just shoot straight over them.