wow, 3 pages and not one reply answers when he will be back. juwon has the ability to have some nice games. so does padgett. however, i'd like to see us trade for a PF who can play at a productive level consistantly...behind chuck hayes of course!
Unfortunately, I also don't know when Juwan Howard will return, and I'm disappointed that the injury has not even been mentioned on Rockets.com. But I'd like to say this to all the Juwan-hating fickle fans on this forum: Juwan Howard has to be a starter if he wants to seriously contribute to this team. He's not the Earl Boykins or Chuck Hayes type of player that can give you instant energy via hustle, rebounding, etc. Howard is way past his prime to play like that. And as far Novak deserving to get more playing time over him, Novak can make the three-ball, but J-Ho can still make the mid-range jumper, better post-up moves, is a better rebounder, and wise veteran with a higher b-ball IQ. J-Ho is the type of player that needs to find a rhythm on the floor before he can contribute (in other words, make his jumpshots). You can't expect him to come off the bench and make 100% of his jumpers. Also note that JVG pretty much vanished all the plays that involve Juwan posting up. I still think he has some decent post moves, such has his hook-shot and fade-away. Now am I saying that J-Ho (before the injury) was the best candidate for the starting PF position? Probably not considering the ware and tare on his body. No doubt he's had his struggles this season. But the J-Ho haters should be rooting for him ironically, because the better he plays, the higher his stock is, meaning we could package him with other players/draft picks to get a more suitable PF to protect Yao. Got it haters?
But what I really wanted to say is if it wasn't for Howard's freak injury involving a viral infection in his heart in 2005, I really felt we would've beaten the Mavericks that year in the playoffs. That year, Dallas had no answer for our T-Mac/Howard pick-and-pop play, as shown by this regular season road game at Dallas. T-Mac and J-Ho had that play down, going back to their days with the Magic. Bowen just could not give us enough on the offensive side in the playoffs, and finally it killed us. IMO, we would've beaten the Suns that year also and advance all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Could we have beaten the Spurs? Eh... maybe? Probably not. But think what we could've accomplished that year if Howard was just healthy: - Perhaps a great run to the WCF persuades a free agent or two to come here? - Yao gets to the WCF in just his third year and gets more respect - The dual threat of Yao and T-Mac takes a national stage - No more criticism of Yao and T-Mac not getting past the first round - A lot more media sympathy (not that it really matters) last year for losing both of our stars to injury - O yeah... and WE BEAT DALLAS. Being a student at UT, I get sick listening to these idiotic Mavs fans in Austin acting like they're better than us and that they've won championships. So the next time you start hating on J-Ho, don't you ever forget that!
I don't think Novak can get boards as good as Howard at this point. If he could he'da been a 1st round pick. Everyone pointing out Howard not getting any blocks or steals will be disappointed in Novak in those areas as well. His contribution would be primarily on offense. If I was to guess how long Howard would be out I'd say 2-4 weeks.
Per Prosun: "I really felt we would've beaten the Mavericks that year in the playoffs. That year, Dallas had no answer for our T-Mac/Howard pick-and-pop play, as shown by this regular season road game at Dallas. T-Mac and J-Ho had that play down, going back to their days with the Magic. Bowen just could not give us enough on the offensive side in the playoffs, and finally it killed us. IMO, we would've beaten the Suns that year also and advance all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Could we have beaten the Spurs? Eh... maybe? Probably not. But think what we could've accomplished that year if Howard was just healthy:" I remember panicking when we lost Juwan before the playoffs. I really think he could have helped us.
Opreative word here is' could have'.. juwan has regressed badly since when we got him. he's midrange shot is gone. he has offense whatsoever, no defense and he's rebounding is horrible.
Who says Juwan's a better rebounder than Novak? I completely disagree. Just guessing from Novak's summer league numbers and watching his preseason games, I'd say he's at least as good at rebounding as Juwan. As for midrange jumper and post moves, he must've swallowed them, causing an abdominal strain somehow. He's shooting 40% this season. Not to mention he shot a paltry 45% the last 2 seasons. Pitiful %'s for a PF playing beside Yao Ming. With the attention Yao gets, Juwan should be good for at least 48%+ CONSISTENTLY. If he's hitting midrange jumpers, doesn't mean he's hitting enough of them. Juwan was good for the second half of the season, two seasons ago. Before he went down right before the playoffs against Dallas. In the second half of the season he was pulling down 8 boards and hitting almost 50% of his shots. He was doing an excellent job during that stretch, and we ended up with the best record in the league for the second half of the season. Now, he's pretty useless. I would much rather let Novak develop. If we're going to put a negative net effect on the team, I'd rather put Novak, who has room to improve, than Juwan, who seems to be getting worse unfortunately.
Howard's right at 7 rebounds per game his career with a few seasons at over 8 a game and last year he had 6.7 a game. Battier's UNDER 5 a game his career and doing about the same this year. Since we have lowered expectations for rebounders on the team now I guess might as well assume Novak can handle that part. That is the one skill Juwan does have is that he can have the occassional decent rebounding game. I only like Howard in at backup center on this team though. And he SHOULD be expected to contribute off the bench, he's a pro. He's done it at Dallas. Why it matters is cuz we still have this guy under contract for a few more years
He was a serviceable player. His presence helps, but not with his price tag. For that price, I would expect someone to be very effective at least in one aspect of his game. I am not hating, but if Chucky can replace Juwuan in the starting lineup, that has to say something.
I suppose it was a joke.. it had me ROFL... you cant really remove your abdominal muscles!! just think about it..
That the paper hasn't written anything much about the injury, I would assume he'll be ready to play by the next game.
