Dwight Howard Is Washington Wizards' Missing Piece, Otto Porter Says

Dwight Howard was the one player Washington had to have in order to make a serious run in the East ... so says Wizards forward Otto Porter, who tells TMZ Sports, "He's definitely a piece that we need."

We got Otto at Reagan National Airport when he explained to us why D12 is going to help him, John Wall and the rest of the Wizards finally make a deep postseason push this year.

"We need a big, especially the type of style that we play," Porter says. "Going up and down, playing inside out. I think he's going to be definitely key for our success this year."

Otto also tells us LeBron heading to the Lakers won't hurt Washington's odds ... and, in fact, he sounded downright confident about them now that LBJ's in L.A.