Josh Howard

Josh Howard

Howard while on the Dallas Mavericks
No. 5    Washington Wizards
Small forward/Shooting guard
Personal information
Date of birth	April 28, 1980 (1980-04-28) (age 30)
Place of birth	Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Nationality	American
High school	Glenn (Winston-Salem), Hargrave Military Academy (Virginia)
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
College	Wake Forest
NBA Draft	2003 / Round: 1 / Pick: 29
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Pro career	2003–present
Career history
Dallas Mavericks (2003-2010) Washington Wizards (2010)
Career highlights and awards
ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year (2003) NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2004) NBA All-Star (2007)
Josh Howard at NBA.com

Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball player currently playing for the NBA's Washington Wizards. At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st), he starts at small forward ,^[1]

High school

Howard attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was a First-Team All-State selection in his senior year and averaged six blocks per game while shooting 70%. He also averaged a double-double 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.^[2] During his senior year Howard was handcuffed 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.^[3]

In order to get into Wake Forest University Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. He did not get a 950, saying his score was "somewhere in the 500s".^[3] In lieu, he 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.^[2] 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 chose to sign with Wake Forest in 1999 over many other colleges due to the proximity of the campus to his family and friends.^[2] He majored in sociology and minored in international studies.^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[2] 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.^[2]

Deciding not to forego his senior year at Wake Forest, Howard became the first member of his family to graduate from college.^[4] He was the unanimous selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) player of the year in 2003 (first since David Thompson in 1975^[5]) and led Wake Forest to its first outright regular season league championship in 41 years.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[5] In his senior season, Howard averaged 19.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, and 1.5 bpg,^[5] and won multiple awards, including ACC Player of the Year, All ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team, and AP First Team All-America.^[5] 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[5][9] Howard's performances also helped him become an All-Star in 2007.^[10]

NBA career

Dallas Mavericks

2003-04

Howard preparing to shoot a free throw

Mavericks secure their first win in Los Angeles in over 10 years.^[5] Howard was selected to the 2003 NBA All-Rookie Second team.^[11] Howard's rookie season saw him injured for a total of 13 games.^[5]

2004-05

In his second season, Howard continued coming off the bench and tasked to do "mop-up minutes"^[12] 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.^[5]

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.^[5] 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.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

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.^[9] Howard rejected the offer, instead going back to run his annual youth camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.^[3]

During the 2006-07 season, Howard missed 2 games (Seattle at Dallas,^[16] and Dallas at Memphis^[17]). 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; however, he was left out of All-Star weekend at first. After injuries to Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, Howard was offered the extra spot.^[3] 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."^[3]

2007-08

On December 8, 2007, Howard scored a career high 47 points against the Utah Jazz. Despite averaging over 20 points a game before the All-Star game, Howard was not voted onto the Western All-Star roster.

Washington Wizards

On February 13, 2010, Howard was traded to the Washington Wizards along with Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson.^[18]

On March 16, 2010, Howard had surgery after being injured in a February 22 game against the Chicago Bulls. The injury required surgery, and Howard is expected to miss 6-8 months.^[19]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards/achievements

• ACC Player of the Year: 2003^[5]
• All ACC First Team: 2003^[5]
• ACC All-Defensive Team: 2003^[5]
• AP First Team All-America: 2003^[5]
• NBA All-Rookie Second Team: 2004^[11]
• NBA All-Star: 2007^[10]

References

External links

• Josh Howard's Official Web Site, JoshHoward.com
• NBA.com - Josh Howard
• ESPN.com - Josh Howard