Josh Howard
From Hoopedia
| Josh Howard |
|---|
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| Position Shooting Guard |
| League NBA |
| Height 6 ft 5 |
| Weight 210 lbs |
| Team Dallas Mavericks |
| Born April 28, 1980 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| College Wake Forest |
| Drafted 29th overall in 2003 by the Dallas Mavericks |
| Pro Career 2003 - |
| Former Teams none |
Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA. At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and 210 lb (95 kg), he starts at small forward for the Dallas Mavericks.
Howard won various awards in high school, continuing his academic and athletic career at Wake Forest in 1999. Howard, unlike fellow players of his 2003 NBA Draft class, stayed in college all four years. He won multiple awards in his senior season, including ACC Player of the Year, All ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team, and AP First Team All-America. Coming into the league, Howard was projected as a mid to late 1st round pick in the 2003 NBA Draft because of his apparent lack of upside. Howard was also apparently passed up due to teams fearing he might have had troubles with drugs such as marijuana.
Howard was drafted with the 29th selection in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks. He started his career coming off the bench until he caught a break in 2004. Howard won his spot in the lineup after Marquis Daniels became injured. Consistent performances by Howard have led him to becoming an integral part of the Mavericks, leading them in several games. Howard's defensive ability has led him to feature on a defensive team in college, and a call up to the United States national basketball team. Howard's performances also helped him become an All-Star in 2007.
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Early Life and High School
Howard was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His father walked out, and Howard was raised by his grandmother. He was also bowlegged and had to have his legs broken below the kneecap twice (in order to straighten them) before he turned two years old.
Howard attended Glenn High School, where he was a First-Team All-State selection in his senior year, when he averaged six blocks per game while shooting 70%. He also averaged a double-double at Glenn during his junior and senior years, during which time he also received the Frank Spencer Award (for the top player in Northwest North Carolina) twice. During his senior year at Glenn High School, Howard was cuffed outside of a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination. Howard had been loitering on the premises with some of his friends, and undercover cops believing the teenagers had been selling drugs detained them.
In order to get into Wake Forest, Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. Howard did not get a 950, saying his score was "somewhere in the 500s". He therefore spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he averaged a double-double, with 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Howard led Hargrave to a 27-3 record, shooting well on the floor with 56%. He also averaged 44% from behind the three-point line and 85% from the free throw line. Howard participated in the ACC-SEC game between new signings from the two conferences. Howard scored 14 points in 15 minutes to help lift the ACC team to a 145-115 win over the SEC.
NCAA Career
Howard signed for Wake Forest in 1999, and chose them over many other colleges due to the closeness of the campus to his family and friends. He majored in sociology and minored in international studies. During his first year, Howard played in all thirty-six games, starting in all but two. He led the team with 44 steals and ranked fourth on the team with 9.1 points per game. His season high came in a game against Duke during an ACC tournament. Howard scored 19 points, going 7 for 10 from the field and 2 for 2 from behind the three-point line.
During his sophomore season Howard was selected to second-team All-ACC. He missed a few games because of the flu, playing in 29 games and starting 28. He led the team in scoring that year with 13.6 points per game. Howard earned third-team All-ACC and second team NABC All-District while trailing Darius Songaila in team scoring with 13.9 points per game during his junior season.
Deciding not to forego his senior year at Wake Forest, Howard became the first member of his family to graduate from college. He was the unanimous selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year in 2003 (first since David Thompson in 1975) and led Wake Forest University to its first outright regular season league championship in 41 years. Howard is one of only 6 players in the history of ACC to accumulate at least 1500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocks over his career. He is the second (after Shane Battier) ACC player to amass 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals, 100 blocks, and 100 three-pointers. Howard was named the national player of the year by FOX, College Insider and Basketball Digest. He was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the James Naismith Award in 2003. Howard averaged 19.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, and 1.5 bpg as a senior.
NBA
Rookie Season (2003-04)
On December 12, 2003 Howard finished with 17 points and a team-high 13 rebounds, helping the Mavericks secure their first win in Los Angeles in over 10 years. Howard was selected to the 2003 NBA All-Rookie Second team. Howard's rookie season saw him injured for a total of 13 games.
2004-05
In his second season, Howard continued coming off the bench and tasked to do "mop-up minutes" until a nagging injury to Marquis Daniels gave Howard a spot at small forward in the starting lineup. Howard averaged 12.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.53 steals in 32 minutes of play for the season.
2005-06
In the 2005-06 season, Howard averaged a career high in scoring (15.6 points) and three-point field goal percentage (.429), in addition to tallying 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He was limited to 59 games due to injury. In the 2006 NBA playoffs, Howard was vital to the Mavs' run to the Finals to the point where the team was 23-0 when Howard scored more than 20 points a game. In game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, it was asserted by referees that Howard called for a timeout during Dwyane Wade's free throw attempts, which only allowed Dallas to inbound the ball at full court instead of setting up for a play at half court. Howard asserted that in fact no timeout was called and that even referee Joey Crawford agreed with him. After Dwyane Wade hit his second foul shot to put the Miami Heat up by one point, Dallas was unable to advance the ball to halfcourt for an attempt at a game-winning shot.
2006-07
Early in 2006, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo invited Howard to serve as one of Team USA's possible defensive specialists (the other two being Shane Battier of the Memphis Grizzlies and Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs) in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Howard rejected the offer, instead going back to run his annual youth camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
During the 2006-07 season, Howard missed 2 games (Seattle at Dallas,[15] and Dallas at Memphis) to attend the birth of his first child. His 18.9 points per game combined with 6.8 rebounds a game helped lead the Dallas Mavericks to a season-best 67-15 record. Howard's performance, however, went unnoticed by fans and coaches as he was left out of All-Star weekend at first. After injuries to Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, Howard was offered the extra spot. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson commented on Howard's omission at first, saying "I've got a problem with it, I really do". Johnson also went on to say "Josh Howard should be an All-Star. Period."
