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NBA

Longform Shoals: Open Letter to Josh Howard

Posted Dec 12, 2007 2:50PM By Bethlehem Shoals (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Mavericks, NBA Fans, Dallas, The Word

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Dear J-How,

What up my man! Hope the Big D is treating you well. This time of year, it's only really cold if neighborhood kids put a bb through your window, which is what happened when I was there for Christmas '06.

I wanted to politic with you for a minute about the season you're having. I thought you'd arrived last year -- first All-Star appearance, increasingly polished on offense, and getting feared as a defender. But you've managed to take things up another notch, even as your Mavs are in a period of uncertainty.

Fans and media are getting restless with the team, and you're the best thing they've got going. In the next few months, you'll start to hear it more and more: This is now Josh Howard's team. And I know you've probably thought about it yourself.


Coming off the Warriors upset, there were major questions about the Mavs. With you guys now third in the division, doubts still linger. This team still hasn't fully recovered from the trauma and Dirk Nowitzki has not shown he still counts as a leader and big-time performer.

While Dirk could be too soft or elliptic to grab this team by the horns, you know you're certainly not.

Last weekend, you dropped 47 on the Jazz, with no amount of Jerry Sloan's frustration able to keep you from the hoop. You've got range, you use your length and speed in beguiling ways around the hoop, and you won't hesitate to dunk on fools. You rebound, hustle, and snare steals with authority.

You're Avery Johnson's kind of player.

During his career, Avery was a crafty, emotional point guard. As a coach, he prizes toughness, determination, and basketball IQ, and you've got these in spades. When you were coming up in the Tarheel State, doctors broke both your legs and reset them, and you only missed a week of rec league ball! You're fearless going to the hoop, and unafraid to risk injury.

Twenty-eight teams passed you in 2003, but you eventually clawed your way into the All-Star Game. Increasingly, you impose your will on opponents in this same way. And given your versatility and inventive offensive moves, there's no doubt that you can think on the fly.

You've got another quality a leader needs: a willingness to speak his mind. You've condemned the war in Iraq, and didn't dance around the issue of past herb smoking. Most athletes of your stature wouldn't dream of that kind of risk.

(Plus, let's face it, you've got a lot more in common with your teammates than Dirk, who was likely devised by a mad scientist in the Bavarian forest.)

If you want it, this is your moment to stand up tall and stake your claim.

But here's the rub, and it's a rub that's already very raw for Dallas fans. As with Dirk, that kind of cold-blooded power move isn't exactly your style.

You're a humble, easygoing cat, a four-year college player who worked his way up from the bottom of the first round. The franchise already has enough volatility in Mark Cuban and Avery Johnson; why sow the seeds for any further disturbance?

Cuban loves Dirk like a son, and Johnson's made it his pet project to make a man of him. Maybe it's best for you to stay the sidekick, fill in the gaps and pick up the slack when Nowitzki falters.

But you don't have to choose between staging a coup and being a martyr. See, I've been watching the NBA for a while, and I've noticed that there's room on teams for multiple leaders.

Take the Wizards, for instance. Gilbert Arenas is the one who takes the team on his back when things matter. But if you ask around, you'll find out that Caron Butler is the heart and soul of that locker room -- and an All-Star in his own right.

Likewise, on the Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony is the face of the organization, the team's centerpiece, and has come into his own as a vet with authority. Then there's Allen Iverson, who lends his own outsized charisma to the cause of making it Carmelo's team.

If your play stays at this high a level, teammates will notice. After that, the league will notice. After that, the media will notice. No need to speak out of turn, force your shots, or mess with what on-court chemistry the team has left.

Chances are, you will still come off as the Mavs' most important player. And not in some kind of back-handed, Shawn Marion-like way that only matters to sports writers. Anyone with their television on can see how much you make happen.

Dirk can be the head, you can provide the heart. In the long run, that's the best way to help yourself and the team.

Sincerely,
Bethlehem Shoals

Wool Shirt of the Week: Technology and Its Discontent



A hairshirt makes you look silly and feel uncomfortable. A wool shirt looks good, but still makes you uncomfortable. The Wool Shirt of the Week calls out a player or team that makes my inner-fan jump off the couch -- while my inner-analyst snorts in contempt.

Slight change of pace this week: We're going meta, and talking about one of the great Wool Shirts of my actual basketball consumption.

Due to a lot of technical circumstances that will, in theory, be fixed soon, I've yet to get League Pass this year. Last season was actually the first time I took the plunge, but it made an immeasurable difference in my appreciation of the game. Suddenly, I didn't need to go to a bar to watch lesser-known teams play. I needn't deny myself a night of basketball just because the Spurs were on. This made me a better person.

But so far, I've had to make due with watching games online, using someone else's password. But I can't help but try and get work done or mess around on the internet while I've casually got a sporting event on. I can end up sitting through a whole half of basketball without much of it registering.

That's what happened this past Monday, when I sat down to see how childhood pals Dwight Howard and Josh Smith would play in their teams' pivotal meeting. As Ziller wrote, Smith put up an outrageous stat line and the Hawks emerged with a win, putting them over .500. Except for the Hawks winning part, I didn't get much else from that hour and a half spent with screen.

Comcast, if you're reading this, please come and save me from myself!

Watch or Die: Keep Your Eyes on the Bouncing Paul


Hornets at Nuggets, 12/12: Pray that Chris Paul and Allen Iverson guard each other. Arguably the two fastest players in existence, chasing each other around all night ... just thinking about it makes me kind of dizzy. If it doesn't happen, content yourself with the Marcus Camby/Tyson Chandler showdown. The two longest centers in the league battle on the glass until there's no tomorrow.

Suns at Hornets, 12/15: Sense a theme developing here? Serious point guard battle here; if Paul/Iverson is all about the young Hornet's scoring zip, this one will test his mastery of the position's finer points.

Jazz at Hawks, 12/17: Kindly draw a picture of what you think this game will look like and email it to me, because I have no idea. The winning entry will be posted in next week's column. I expect a Jazz win in which the Jazz discover corners of their mind they never knew existed. C.J. Miles will defect at halftime.

Tags: Longform+Shoals, LongformShoals

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