O The Irony...

Josh Howard made a living as a Dallas Maverick for six and a half years. He was an All-Star and helped Dirk Nowitzki lead the Mavs' to the brink of a Championship. He was drafted 29th in the 2003 draft, a draft class that included Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. Josh Howard was successful and it seemed like he would be a Maverick for life and that he and Dirk would bring a championship home to Dallas...but it was not to be. Josh Howard fell and fell hard. The irony is, he kinda brought this on himself.

"The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them so we can see the flaws and hypocrisies." David Foster Wallace

Josh Howard started his downfall during the 08-09 season. Some would say he started further back but I disagree. There were several problems that Josh had during his time with Dallas. While the Mavs' were in the middle of a Championship playoff run, Howard ran his mouth about things that he probably should have kept to himself. He's been a knucklehead since he was born, so why anyone would assume he would change his ways now is beyond my knowledge. Here is the list of things that Josh did to ruin his uh...er...reputation?

Passing out birthday party invites during the Mavs' playoffs against coach Avery's orders.
His famous cover up, cure all: "you can't control what the ball do!"
Being a punk during the national anthem.
Admitting to smoking weed on the Micheal Irvin show. (when in rome...right?).
He was caught drag racing in his home town in North Carolina.
Also back in NC, he was distracted by a "pregnant" high school sweet heart.

Those are just off court issues that may or may not have anything to do with his on court play...but the fact is that his on court play just isn't good anymore. His 7 seasons have been very consistent; his scoring averages for example:

03-04: 8.6
04-05: 12.6
05-06: 15.6
06-07: 18.9
07-08: 19.9
08-09: 18.0
09-10: 12.7

His first 5 years he got better and better and the idea was that despite his off court problems this trend would continue. He was named to the All-Star game in 07-08, one could only assume that he would keep getting better. But then injuries happened, then lingering injuries happened, then disinterested Josh got to Dallas. Disinterested Josh complained and whined and couldn't play because he bumped his tooth on a glass of Colt 45. He became more of a liability on the court than the legit scoring threat and active defender we were used to. And now, his fall from grace is complete.

Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and the entire Maverick organization was very smart in their dealings with Josh Howard. He was a baby with a fragile mind (and fragile body) who needed to be coddled and quite frankly babysat at times. Cuban and Donnie did everything in their power to make Josh Howard comfortable and happy. They made him feel needed (even when he wasn't), and they made him feel secure (even when he was in no way secure). The organization LIED for Josh's sake, to protect him from the media and the bad bad world out there. But Josh's fragile mind could not be held together forever.

Here's what happened. Howard suffered several injuries in the 08-09 campaign and only appeared in 52 games and the first round of the playoffs before leaving the Mavs' vs. Nuggets series with a wrist/ankle problem. He had surgery on both in the off season and his wrist healed fine...but the problem is it took him 7 months to recover from his "ankle" injury. This slow recovery left him only able to start in 9 of the 31 games he was with the Mavs' this season. And he played mediocre (at best) basketball during his last moments as a Mav.

Howard began to whine and belly ache at his playing time and his role with the team. The Mavs' started the season without him, and they asked him to come back when he was ready. The doctors cleared him to play a few games into the season, and he was only out there for a millisecond before he "re-injured" his ankle. So he was back in the training room, with his pride at an all time low. When he did finally come back Rick Carlisle tried starting him...but he just couldn't get into a rhythm, so he was benched in favor of the sixth man of the year Jason Terry. Josh later said this in an interview: "I'm just doing whatever the coaches want me to do. They didn't give me a reason why they ain't starting me, so I don't know. I ain't been cussing, I ain't been fussing, I ain't been tripping." No one in the organization ever accused him of anything like that. They simply tried to shake things up and give the Mavs' the best chance to win. Howard wasn't doing that. His play had gone bad. His effort wasn't there and he looked like he didn't even want to be there most nights. He became a "shot hunter". And no one told him that...they just let him do his thing and hoped it would get better. 


Well with the trade talks looming and his play getting worse, Josh thought for some reason that because he wasn't being babied anymore that he was being treated badly; "I never said I don't want to be here," Howard told NBA.com. "It's as much a shock to me. I've only played 27 games so far. I don't know why everybody is ganging up on me." Wait, what? "Ganging up" on him? Right...no one did that. Howard has a fragile mind...he feels like he must be needed which is why he got so uncomfortable when the heat got turned up. Here's an example of Josh Howard getting babied by the Mavs'. Not once in his previous 6 years with the Mavs' was Josh Howard's name ever included in any NBA trade rumors. Ever! That wasn't by accident...even Dirk Nowitzki's name was passed through the rumor mill. This was Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson trying not to damage Josh's demeanor. They wanted him as comfortable as possible. 


But somehow Josh got misguided; "I don't know what [the team's] plans were for me," Howard said. "All I did was buy into whatever they had for me. I came back earlier than what I should have, then I had to sit down. I rehabbed and did everything they wanted to do, and came back to the bench and did what I was supposed to do. I started again and then they came to me and told me to sit on the bench again. It ain't me. I know it ain't me."

Well Josh, somehow I feel like you getting benched because you were shooting 3 for 24 and contributing nothing IS YOU! He started acting like he had nothing to do with the problems and he was innocent. Well he was in denial because the stats show that the Mavs' were just as good without him, and now with the trade even better without him. Josh Howard had fragile feelings and has babysat and coddled by the Mavs' for years. And when they finally stopped all the special treatment, and the real world slapped him in the face, he couldn't take it. He couldn't handle being out from under the umbrella. He started blaming people and saying things like "it ain't me". So finally he was traded. The Wizards took him and his contract (which was the main attraction) and gave him possibly a second chance...but thats not what happened. 


As soon as he got to D.C. the gloves came off and the truth came out. He showed how badly he NEEDS to feel needed; "It means alot to be wanted by Washington, plus I get to stick it to the Mavs'." Ok, whoa...pump the breaks man. Really, thats what you want to do after how well you were treated here? Wow. How about this; "I did a lot. I contributed to that team, but I know I helped them get to that. Even with the negative stuff, it showed me people's true colors." I hope he's not talking about anyone in the Mavs' organization...because their true colors were shown the 6 years they spent going out of their way to make HIM happy! Josh sat a few times that he felt "wanted" by the Wizards, and that was was going to make them see that he "is worth the (12 million dollar) option for next year"; and when asked about Mark Cuban's kind remarks about how he hoped Josh would be re-energized in D.C., Howard's reply was very succinctly..."whatever". Literally thats what he said. So I'm thinking this has showed...who's true colors? 


In response to Howard's knuckleheadedness the Mavs' released information that sometimes when Howard missed games and the team said that it was because of "stomach illness"...it really was because he was hungover. Josh's response to these new circumstances..."whatever". 


Now don't get me started on Josh Howard's basketball IQ...its terrible. He once tried to call a time out that the team didn't have because he didn't know what to do with the ball in crunch time of the Championship playoffs! But that is over and done with. What's important now is that Josh is going to "stick it to the Mavs'. However he plans to. But wait...recent news suggests that he'll have to wait a while before he can do that. 

The Irony that makes Josh Howard look so foolish and idiotic is the fact that after only 4 games with the Washington Wizards, Howard tore his ACL. 


So, since it took him 7 months to return from ankle surgery...I'm taking bets on how long it'll take him to return from this one...the worst injury of all! We'll start the bidding at 10 months? A year? Eh, but who knows...maybe Mark Cuban was right and he is "re-energized", then he'd actually want to play basketball right? But in all seriousness, this is all I have to say about my hope for Josh as he tries to "stick it to the Mavs'"...


...Whatever.