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Juwan Howard

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Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional Basketball player in the NBA, currently unsigned. Most recently, he was waived by the Denver Nuggets on November 3, 2008. He is a former All-Star and All-NBA power forward and was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' "Fab Five (University of Michigan)" (along with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson) that reached the 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as both freshmen and sophomores. Although most Michigan Wolverines men's basketball records from 1992–1998 have been forfeited due to NCAA sanctions, Howard's All-American season (1993–94) was not.

Career[]

Howard had a successful career at Chicago and can be seen playing in the high school basketball documentary Hoop Dreams. He left Michigan after his junior year, and was taken by the Washington Bullets fifth overall in the 1994 NBA Draft. Although the Fab Five final four appearance have been forfeited, he was not among the players called before the grand jury (Robert Traylor, Webber, Rose, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock) in the University of Michigan basketball scandal and was not found to have received large amounts of money. He became the first NBA athlete who entered the draft early and still graduated along with his class. When Chris Webber, his teammate and friend from college, joined Washington that same season, many thought that the "Fab Five" would bode for a bright future for the Washington franchise. Together with Gheorghe Muresan, a 7 feet 7 inch (231 centimetres) Romanian center, Calbert Cheaney, a swingman from Indiana University, veteran point guards Mark Price and Robert Pack as well as the promising rookie Rasheed Wallace, many saw the Bullets as a secure playoff lock. But Webber, Price, and Pack missed almost the entire 1995-96 season due to injuries. That very season, the Bullets managed to pull off 39 victories, just barely missing the playoffs. The team's win total might have been considerably less had it not been for Howard's stellar offensive play. He became just the second player in Washington franchise history, after Bernard King, to post back-to-back 40-point games (against Boston on July 17, 1996 with 40, and at Toronto on July 19, 1996 with 42). Averaging 22.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists, he was invited to the Eastern Conference's All-Star team for the first and only time in his career.

After that season, many saw Howard as an up and coming superstar. Howard also became a free agent after that season. A lot of teams wanted him, but Howard decided to sign a $101 million contract with the Miami Heat on July 15, 1996. Yet the contract was disallowed by the NBA, the reason being that it was not in accordance with the existing salary cap rules. Howard then re-signed with the Bullets on August 5. He became the first player in NBA history to sign a contract worth over $100 million, his seven-year contract being worth $105 million. Though he always put up decent offensive numbers during his tenure in Washington (about 18 points and 8 rebounds per game), he never reached the level of All-Star status again.

After Michael Jordan joined the re-named Washington Wizards, he pulled off a huge trade that sent Howard, together with Obinna Ekezie and Calvin Booth to the Dallas Mavericks for Christian Laettner, Loy Vaught, Etan Thomas, Hubert Davis, Courtney Alexander and cash on February 22, 2001. The Mavs traded him with Donnell Harvey, Tim Hardaway and a 2002 1st-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for Raef LaFrentz, Avery Johnson, Nick Van Exel and Tariq Abdul-Wahad on February 21, 2002. He then signed as a free agent with the Orlando Magic on July 16, 2003. Howard has managed to average 17.8 points, 7.4 rebounds per game, and 0.3 blocks per game. On March 25, 2002, he scored his 10,000th point.

He married singer Jenine Wardally on July 6, 2002 on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. On June 29, 2004, Howard and Magic teammates Tracy McGrady and Reece Gaines were part of a 7-player trade that sent Houston Rockets starting guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley to the Orlando Magic.

On June 14, 2007, Howard was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Mike James and Justin Reed. He was looking forward to playing with Kevin Garnett, but Garnett was traded to the Boston shortly after. Howard made it clear he was not interested in being part of a youth movement in Minnesota and consequently requested a trade.

On October 29, 2007, the Timberwolves waived Howard after reaching a contractual buyout agreement, worth $10 million of roughly $14.25 million which Minnesota would have owed him. Howard had terms agreed to with the Dallas Mavericks on October 30, 2007; however he was not able to officially sign until the 31st, when he cleared waivers. On October 2, 2008, Howard rejoined the Denver Nuggets. On November 3, 2008, Howard was released by the Denver Nuggets because of the Allen Iverson trade.

Player profile[]

Juwan Howard has always been regarded as a consistent hard working player. He peaked in the 1995-1996 NBA season as the leader of the Bullets who were playing without an injured Chris Webber, giving him the most shots per season of his career. Howard has been criticized by some for not being a bigger force on the defensive end. His best rebounding year was his rookie year when he averaged 8.4 per game.

During his career, Howard has also been forced into being the first option; a role he was not particularly suited for. He became the Wizards' first option out of default after Chris Webber was traded. His level of play did not measure up to expectations and his status as a big time player was criticized by fans. A similar situation surfaced in two years with the Denver Nuggets as well. Howard was the first option and the Nuggets were among the worst teams in the West.

Other endeavors[]

Howard had a small role in The West Wing, appearing in the episode "The Crackpots and These Women" as Mr. Grant, a former college basketball player currently working on the President's Council on Physical Fitness, where he joins a pick-up basketball game with the fictional President Josiah Bartlet against some of his staffers when the President appeared to be losing. It is later revealed that he won the game for the President.

NBA career statistics[]

Regular season[]

|- | align="left" | 1994–95 | align="left" | Washington | 65 || 52 || 36.1 || .489 || .000 || .664 || 8.4 || 2.5 || .8 || .2 || 17.0 |- | align="left" | 1995–96 | align="left" | Washington | 81 || 81 || 40.7 || .489 || .308 || .749 || 8.1 || 4.4 || .8 || .5 || 22.1 |- | align="left" | 1996 | align="left" | Washington | 82 || 82 || 40.5 || .486 || .000 || .756 || 8.0 || 3.8 || 1.1 || .3 || 19.1 |- | align="left" | 1997–98 | align="left" | Washington | 64 || 64 || 40.0 || .467 || .000 || .721 || 7.0 || 3.3 || 1.3 || .4 || 18.5 |- | align="left" | 1998–99 | align="left" | Washington | 36 || 36 || 39.7 || .474 || .000 || .753 || 8.1 || 3.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 18.9 |- | align="left" | 1999–00 | align="left" | Washington | 82 || 82 || 35.5 || .459 || .000 || .735 || 5.7 || 3.0 || .8 || .3 || 14.9 |- | align="left" | 2000–01 | align="left" | Washington | 54 || 54 || 36.7 || .474 || .000 || .770 || 7.0 || 2.9 || .9 || .4 || 18.2 |- | align="left" | 2000–01 | align="left" | Dallas Mavericks | 27 || 27 || 36.8 || .488 || .000 || .780 || 7.1 || 2.6 || 1.1 || .6 || 17.8 |- | align="left" | 2001 | align="left" | Dallas | 53 || 44 || 31.3 || .462 || .000 || .754 || 7.4 || 1.8 || .5 || .6 || 12.9 |- | align="left" | 2001–02 | align="left" | Denver Nuggets | 28 || 28 || 34.9 || .457 || .000 || .770 || 7.9 || 2.7 || .6 || .6 || 17.9 |- | align="left" | 2002 | align="left" | Denver | 77 || 77 || 35.5 || .450 || .500 || .803 || 7.6 || 3.0 || 1.0 || .3 || 18.4 |- | align="left" | 2003 | align="left" | Orlando | 81 || 77 || 35.5 || .453 || .000 || .809 || 7.0 || 2.0 || .7 || .3 || 17.0 |- | align="left" | 2004 | align="left" | Houston | 61 || 47 || 26.6 || .451 || .000 || .843 || 5.7 || 1.5 || .5 || .1 || 9.6 |- | align="left" | 2005–06 | align="left" | Houston | 80 || 80 || 31.7 || .459 || .000 || .806 || 6.7 || 1.4 || .6 || .1 || 11.8 |- | align="left" | 2006–07 | align="left" | Houston | 80 || 38 || 26.5 || .465 || .000 || .824 || 5.9 || 1.6 || .4 || .1 || 9.7 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | Dallas Mavericks | 50 || 0 || 7.1 || .359 || .000 || .786 || 1.6 || .3 || .1 || .0 || 1.1 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 1001 || 869 || 33.7 || .468 || .122 || .764 || 6.8 || 2.5 || .8 || .2 || 15.3 |- | align="left" | All-Star | align="left" | | 1 || 0 || 16.0 || .200 || .000 || .000 || 6.0 || 2.0 || 1.0 || .0 || 2.0


Playoffs[]

|- | align="left" | 1996–97 | align="left" | Washington | 3 || 3 || 43.0 || .465 || .000 || .889 || 6.0 || 1.7 || .7 || .7 || 18.7 |- | align="left" | 2001 | align="left" | Dallas Mavericks | 10 || 10 || 39.1 || .360 || .000 || .800 || 8.3 || 1.4 || .6 || .5 || 13.4 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | Houston | 7 || 0 || 22.4 || .400 || .000 || .636 || 4.4 || 1.0 || .7 || .0 || 5.0 |- | align="left" | 2007–08 | align="left" | Dallas | 3 || 0 || 3.7 || .000 || .000 || .250 || .0 || .3 || .0 || .0 || .3 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 23 || 13 || 29.9 || .384 || .000 || .769 || 5.7 || 1.2 || .6 || .3 || 9.8


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External links[]

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