Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the UNT Dallas Trailblazers men's basketball team. He played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He played 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Dallas Mavericks.
Early life
Howard was born to Kevin Robinson and Nancy Henderson. His father was absent throughout his childhood and Howard was primarily raised by his maternal grandmother, Helen Howard, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howard was born with bowed legs and they had to be broken below the knee and reset twice before his second birthday. During his senior year Howard was handcuffed outside of a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination. Howard had been loitering on the premises with some of his friends, and undercover cops, believing the teenagers had been selling drugs, detained them.
In order to get into Wake Forest University Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. He did not get a 950, saying his score was "somewhere in the 500s". He was the unanimous selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) player of the year in 2003 (first since David Thompson in 1975) and led Wake Forest to its first outright regular season league championship in 41 years. Howard was named the national player of the year by FOX, College Insider and Basketball Digest. He was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the James Naismith Award in 2003.
Professional career
Dallas Mavericks (2003–2010)
thumb|left|Howard preparing to shoot a free throw, 2008
Howard was selected in the 2003 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (29th overall). He played in 67 games (29 starts) during his rookie year, averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game earning him NBA All-Rookie 2nd team honors.
In his second season, Howard continued coming off the bench and tasked to do "mop-up minutes" until a nagging injury to Marquis Daniels gave Howard a spot at small forward in the starting lineup. Howard averaged 12.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.53 steals in 32 minutes of play for the season. In game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, it was asserted by referees that Howard called for a timeout during Dwyane Wade's free throw attempts, which only allowed Dallas to inbound the ball at full court instead of setting up for a play at half court. Howard asserted that in fact no timeout was called and that even referee Joey Crawford agreed with him. After Dwyane Wade hit his second foul shot to put the Miami Heat up by one point, Dallas was unable to advance the ball to halfcourt for an attempt at a game-winning shot.
Early in 2006, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo invited Howard to serve as one of Team USA's possible defensive specialists (the other two being Shane Battier of the Memphis Grizzlies and Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs) in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Howard turned down the offer, instead going back to run his annual youth camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. and Dallas at Memphis). His 18.9 points per game combined with 6.8 rebounds a game helped lead the Dallas Mavericks to a season-best 67–15 record; however, he was left out of All-Star weekend at first. After injuries to Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, Howard was offered the extra spot.
Washington Wizards (2010–2011)
thumb|right|Howard with the Wizards in 2010
On February 13, 2010, Howard was traded to the Washington Wizards along with Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson.
On March 16, 2010, Howard underwent surgery after tearing his ACL against the Chicago Bulls on February 22. Howard was expected to miss 6 to 8 months.
Utah Jazz (2011–2012)
On December 15, 2011, Howard agreed to a one-year contract worth around $3 million with the Utah Jazz.
Minnesota Timberwolves (2012)
On November 15, 2012, Howard signed a one-year contract for the veteran's minimum with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was waived on December 20, 2012, after suffering a torn ACL on December 14, 2012. That game where Howard suffered the ACL tear ended up being the final game of his NBA career. Howard recorded 3 points and 2 rebounds in the Timberwolves' 113 – 102 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
Austin Toros (2013–2014)
On October 25, 2013, Howard signed with the San Antonio Spurs. However, he was waived just a day later. On October 31, Howard was acquired by the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, the Spurs' D-League affiliate. On February 27, 2014, he was waived by the Toros due to a season-ending injury.
In July 2014, Howard joined the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2014 NBA Summer League.
Coaching career
In July 2016, Howard was hired by Piedmont International University to be their new head coach. He led the team to a 49–49 record in four seasons. In April 2020, he was hired as the head coach of the University of North Texas at Dallas, which began play as an NAIA member in the 2020–21 season.
Career statistics
College
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1999–2000
| style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest
| 36 || 34 || 24.9 || .460 || .286 || .583 || 4.7 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .9 || 9.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|2000–01
| style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest
| 29 || 28 || 27.2 || .490 || .391 || .685 || 5.9 || 1.8 || 2.0 || 1.1 || 13.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|2001–02
| style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest
| 31 || 26 || 27.4 || .504 || .329 || .657 || 7.7 || 2.1 || 1.6 || 1.0 || 13.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|2002–03
| style="text-align:left;"|Wake Forest
| 31 || 31 || 32.3 || .477 || .373 || .833 || 8.3 || 1.9 || 2.1 || 1.5 || 19.5
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 127 || 119 || 27.8 || .483 || .353 || .708 || 6.6 || 1.9 || 1.7 || 1.1 || 13.9
NBA
Regular season
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 67 || 29 || 23.7 || .430 || .303 || .703 || 5.5 || 1.4 || 1.0 || .8 || 8.6
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 76 || 76 || 32.2 || .475 || .296 || .733 || 6.4 || 1.4 || 1.5 || .6 || 12.6
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 59 || 58 || 32.5 || .471 || .429 || .734 || 6.3 || 1.9 || 1.2 || .4 || 15.6
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 70 || 69 || 35.1 || .459 || .385 || .827 || 6.8 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .8 || 18.9
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 76 || 76 || 36.3 || .455 || .319 || .813 || 7.0 || 2.2 || .8 || .4 || 19.9
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 52 || 51 || 32.0 || .451 || .345 || .782 || 5.1 || 1.6 || 1.1 || .6 || 18.0
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Dallas
| 31 || 9 || 26.7 || .401 || .267 || .790 || 3.6 || 1.4 || .7 || .3 || 12.5
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Washington
| 4 || 3 || 22.8 || .435 || .273 || .750 || 3.3 || 1.0 || .8 || .5 || 14.5
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Washington
| 18 || 10 || 22.7 || .358 || .241 || .617 || 4.1 || 1.3 || .7 || .3 || 8.4
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Utah
| 43 || 18 || 23.0 || .399 || .243 || .773 || 3.7 || 1.2 || .7 || .2 || 8.7
|-
| align="left" |
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 11 || 4 || 18.8 || .403 || .313 || .583 || 3.3 || .4 || .9 || .3 || 6.7
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 507 || 403 || 30.3 || .448 || .332 || .770 || 5.7 || 1.6 || 1.0 || .5 || 14.3
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 1 || 0 || 20.0 || .333 || .000 || .500 || 4.0 || 3.0 || .0 || .0 || 3.0
Playoffs
|-
| align="left" | 2004
| align="left" | Dallas
| 5 || 0 || 17.2 || .222 || .200 || .909 || 6.4 || .8 || 1.2 || 1.2 || 5.4
|-
| align="left" | 2005
| align="left" | Dallas
| 13 || 13 || 32.9 || .503 || .250 || .745 || 7.4 || 1.8 || .8 || .5 || 15.5
|-
| align="left" | 2006
| align="left" | Dallas
| 23 || 23 || 35.8 || .453 || .369 || .808 || 7.4 || 1.4 || 1.0 || .6 || 16.7
|-
| align="left" | 2007
| align="left" | Dallas
| 6 || 6 || 41.3 || .515 || .389 || .704 || 9.8 || 2.8 || 2.2 || .8 || 21.3
|-
| align="left" | 2008
| align="left" | Dallas
| 5 || 5 || 34.2 || .292 || .100 || .800 || 7.0 || 1.4 || .4 || .4 || 12.6
|-
| align="left" | 2009
| align="left" | Dallas
| 10 || 10 || 29.5 || .438 || .250 || .776 || 5.1 || 1.3 || .9 || .4 || 15.8
|-
| align="left" | 2012
| align="left" | Utah
| 4 || 3 || 15.8 || .294 || .500 || .800 || 3.5 || 1.0 || .5 || .3 || 3.8
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 66 || 60 || 32.0 || .440 || .311 || .782 || 6.9 || 1.5 || 1.0 || .6 || 14.8
Awards and achievements
- ACC Player of the Year: 2003
- NBA All-Star: 2007
Personal life
Howard's son, Bryson, is now committed to Duke University as a 5 star recruit.
References
External links
- Official website
- ESPN.com Profile