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Through four games of the season, the Atlanta Dream are learning a new system under head coach Karl Smesko. Both sides of the ball are ironing out some wrinkles, but the one thing they can hang their hat on is the defensive prowess of their players. One of those players is Rhyne Howard, who has always been solid on defense but has turned it up a notch this season.
In the past few games, Howard has had the assignment of guarding the likes of Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Arike Ogunbowale, and she's done a good job defensively on all of them. Against the Indiana Fever, Howard helped hold Clark to 4-of-11 shooting. In the next game against the Dallas Wings, she helped hold Bueckers and Ogunbowale to 6-of-25 shooting.
After their game against the Wings, head coach Karl Smesko had high praise for Howard and her defense.
“Rhyne should be an all-defensive type of player… we’ve been rotating people on the other team’s best players and hopefully that’s something we can continue with that level of defense,” Smesko said.
Yesterday, coach mentioned that Rhyne should be an all-defensive player
Today, he said they had conversations about that before the season and that she’s an obvious choice for being selected pic.twitter.com/d0Y5yn3tEu
— Malik Brown (@_MalikATL) May 25, 2025
Apparently, there were talks ahead of the season about what she could do on that side of the ball.
“We did talk about it before the season that she was capable and she was eager to prove it,” Smesko said. “I think she’s always been a good defensive player, and she’s taking it to another level. I think she would be an obvious choice for the team.”
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Howard hasn't been able to put it all together on offense yet, but for now, her defense has been doing a lot of the talking for her game, and it looks like she's taking pride in that side of the ball.
Rhyne Howard working to find groove on offense
Howard hasn't been the best on offense so far this season, and Smesko noted that the load may be a lot on her right now.
“Rhy is shouldering a lot of the load right now with the ball handling,” Smesko said. “And I'm not making things easy on her defensively, where we're really gearing things up. I really need to give her more breaks throughout the game, and I think that would be beneficial, but she's so good, you don't want to take her out. I think if we do that a little bit more, even if it's a small break, I think it would be beneficial for her shooting. We're asking a lot of her, and she's giving us a lot.”
With Jordin Canada out, Howard has had to step up and be more of a playmaker for the Dream, and with Te-Hina Paopao missing a game and a half, things haven't gotten any easier.
As the Dream get healthier at the guard position, Howard should be able to play more within the offense and get back to what she's used to doing on that side of the ball.
