As I read through these threads a lot of people continue to not have regards for J. Howard. Lets remember that this is a guy who has managed to avg. 17.8 pts for his career. With his lowest season average being when he was with the trigger happy Mavs, 12.9 pts. Juwon has seemingly gotten a negative rep around the league because he's been put in situations that he couldn't live up to. 1) He didn't turn into the superstar that his contract with Washington mandated. Who say's no to a $100 million? It's not like he held out for it. They presented it and he said, Yes. 2) In Dallas he was the forth option on an already undersized non-defensive minded team, where he basically had to force shots to get any looks. And he was the ONLY low post presence on the entire team. 3) Denver was a lose-lose situation. 4) In Orlando he was asked to play center at 6'9". The bottom line is he's going be the perfect role player that teams have to respect. He's gonna feed off Yao and T-Mac and probably avg. about 12pts. Not only that but rumor has it that his locker room attitude is great.
It was the "$105 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT" stigma. People still remember that. By the way, he's not getting paid that anymore. New contract... ***Juwan Howard*** Annual Salary: $4,917,000 Contract Legth: 5 years Contract Total: $34,000,000 Contract Thru: 2007-08 MoT: $48,000,000
Arnt u the guy who asked for a ESPN Insiders username and password? Yeah i dont think (edit)you should post anymore.
Most people would like to see the Rockets pick up a defensive-minded 4, IMO. A banger who can also score. Right now we don't have an enforcer type. Not so much that J-Ho is terrible, just that he isn't what we hoped to have at the 4. Just my $.02.
Shawn, It was a mistake..... get over it. I notified the administrator and had him remove the thread... by the way aren't u they guy whose sister.......................................... yeah that's u!!!! (lol)
Not everyone is down on Juwan. In fact I think it might be closer to 2/3 think Juwan will be fine, and 1/3 don't like him at all. I'm in the he'll be fine camp. He can make an open 12 footer and historically he's rebounded at a better rate than Motay. And we're only looking for him to be the third or fourth best player on the team. He'll be all right.
I think Howard is going to surprise Houston fans. I read somewhere that the coaching staff is very excited about getting him in the trade. His game should compliment Ming well. The Rockets are going to be a smart, disciplined, consistent and offensively explosive team, just the opposite of last year.
I’m not down on Howard as much as I’m down on the combo of Howard and Taylor. They seem redundant to me. One has to go, and Howard is the easiest to trade.
I agree. I think JH is worth 34MIL and will surprise a lot of people. I think that his quick lateral movement and Yao's sheer size will complement each other very well. Just get those boards, Juwan!
Actually, I'm quite happy with getting Howard in the TMac deal. Mo Taylor can't be counted on for more than 25-30 minutes a night. Howard is a guy that can give you some minutes at C when Yao's on the bench. Only problem is that is jumper is damn ugly, and painful to watch. He seems to be able to stick it with some consistency. Also, he's an average rebounder that is soft, and doens't like to push people around in the paint.
I've always had a healthy respect for Howard and am quite happy we got him in the deal. As long as he doesn't get injured (age being an issue) he's gonna do great here.
Rockers fans aren't down on Howard, it's the few morons that are, although no one likes the length (not size) of his contract.
No, he's really not. This isn't the East. Howard is going to be very nice as a third option. He can post, has a fair midrange game, and has been a consistent 17 and 7 guy his whole career (including last year). Evan
I have watched Howard at Denver, Dallas & Orlando and I am simply no all that impressed with him. Oh, he's an OK player but not the elite or near elite caliber of player that will make them truly competative in the West. He's the basketball equivalent of what Jeff Bagwell has become: A player who can put up respectable numbers but one who has virtually no impact on your team's ability to win. To me, he and MoT are one and the same player with the exception being that Howard actually remembers to grab a few rebounds along the way. Both players are undersized and do not match up physically well against the Stoudemires, Nowitzkis, Garnetts, Martins & Duncans who inhabit the conference. I think a lot of folks here are hoping for more than he can deliver because he does not bring the physical toughness to the position that Cato did and I don't see him being enough of a threat to penalize teams that collapse their defenses around Yao.
I'd trade Mo for Antonio Davis if I could. The dollar amount for the contracts are similar, but Antonio's contract is over 2 years. Mo has a contract over 3 years. Bulls are severely lacking in a consistent low post threat. Mo can dish out to guys like Ben Gordon and Hinrich. Rockets need a banger and board guy. Antonio is a muscular player who will hit people hard. Antonio can fit in as the starting pf/backup center.
It all depends on how tough Yao is in the paint this year. We all noticed how we started losing, when Cato was injured. I think it has more to do with needing toughness next to Yao, not whether he's a good player, or not. If Yao comes out with fire, Juwan will be great next to him. Last year, we often wished we had a PF who had the defense, rebounding and muscle of Cato, and the offensive moves of Taylor. Well, we got someone who was a balance, but not great at anything. He's a very consistent player, night in and night out. I think he's definitely worth his contract. Howard and Taylor aren't redundant at all. One is a starter, the other is instant offense off the bench. But, most of us would like more muscle in that spot.
Yeah, when any team loses a starter then their performance is going to go down. Cato probably was the "enforcer" on the team last year, but lets not get confused - he still wasn't great or anything.