Juwan Howard

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Juwan Howard

Position	Forward
Height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Weight	253 lb (115 kg)
Team	Houston Rockets
Nationality	United States
Born	February 07, 1973 (age 34) Chicago, Illinois
College	Michigan
Draft	5th overall, 1994 Washington Bullets
Pro career	1994–present
Former teams	Washington Bullets/Wizards 1994-2001 Dallas Mavericks 2001-02 Denver Nuggets 2002-03 Orlando Magic 2003-04
Awards	NBA All-star (1996) All-NBA (1996) All-Rookie(1995) All-American (1994)[1]

Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA for the Houston Rockets. He is a former All-star and All-NBA power forward and was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines's "Fab Five" (along with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson) that reached the 1992 & 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as both freshmen and sophomores.

Contents 1 Career 2 Legal trouble 3 Other Endeavors 4 External links 5 Notes

[edit] Career

Howard had a successful high school career, and can be seen playing in the high school basketball documentary Hoop Dreams. He left Michigan after his junior year (though he still managed to graduate on time), and was taken by the Washington Bullets fifth overall in the 1994 NBA Draft. When Chris Webber, his teammate and friend from college joined Washington that same season. A lot of people 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 teams 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 April 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 a 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 dollar 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 only the second player in NBA history to sign a contract worth over 100 million dollars, his seven-year contract being worth 105 million dollars. 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. Fans in Washington began to see the woes of their struggling team in the person of Juwan Howard. They thought he was not worth his contract and started to boo him during every home game.

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. Despite being somewhat of a journeyman and having been considered to be an underachiever for his large salary, 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. They met at a party thrown by Alonzo Mourning. The couple have a son named Chris. On June 29, 2004, Howard and Magic teammate Tracy McGrady were part of a 7-player trade that sent Houston Rockets star guard Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley to the Magic.

[edit] Legal trouble

Miami Beach police are investigating Juwan Howard on charges of grand theft, stemming from surveillance video which allegedly shows Howard stealing an expensive pair of sunglasses. In May of 2006, Howard walked into Eye Q Optical on Ocean Drive and purchased two pairs of sunglasses. The store owner claims surveillance video captured Howard pocketing a pair of Cartier sunglasses worth $1,652. Howard says the incident never happened and issued a statement. "I am aware of the situation and have spoken to my attorney. I will vigorously defend myself and am confident that I'll be cleared of these baseless allegations."

No charges have yet been filed.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

• NBA Player Page
• ClutchFans.net Juwan Howard Profile - Houston Rocket Fan Site
• Juwan Howard Official Website
• {http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/howarju01.html Juwan Howard]] at basketball-reference.com
• {http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=HOWARJU01 Juwan Howard]] at basketballreference.com
• University of Michigan Basketball Statistical Archive

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. HickokSports.com (2006-04-16). Retrieved on March 1, 2007.