Juwan Howard was terrible last year, exactly as expected. It's not like it's hard to get a living human to man the center position--you can get someone off the street. What's hard is getting someone to man the position who can play well. Howard didn't do that.
Anyone who says Juwan has lost his step just wasn't watching last season. We had SO many miracle wins with him and Aldridge our only big men. Dampier is just a center, but Juwan can play both positions that we need. As for his supposedly bad stats, let's see whether the substitute player we finally sign (for more money) does any better at stats. Put this year's Pendergraph or Cunningham in Howard's shoes last year and you'll see much worse stats. If his stats were so bad, who do you propose at $800,000 will have better stats?
Dante Cunningham for half the price. Edit: I think it's actually 1/3rd the price, b/c the vet min is over 1.3M
Miami is paying Juwan $854,389 this season. Portland is paying Cunningham and Pendergraph $762,195. That's 89.2%, which is 2.68 times your 33.3%. http://espn.go.com/nba/team/roster/_/name/mia/miami-heat http://espn.go.com/nba/team/roster/_/name/por/portland-trail-blazers Let's see Cunningham or Pendergraph get Juwan's stats, even now as a 2nd year player, if either were in Juwan's shoes last year, as a forward having to start at center. With his experience (16 years) and his raw talent (5th in the draft), Juwan Howard is 5 times the player Cunningham is. Cunningham and Pendergraph have to spend years learning how to play NBA-style to catch up to Juwan. They are scared deer caught in the headlights compared to Juwan. Without Howard we would have lost all those miracle wins and finished sub-.500.
Whether some of you like it or not, Juwan hit some huge shots last year and played great D. And he will be missed OFF the floor as well. I'm bummed Pendergraph got hurt and am pumped the way Dante is bringin it in preseason. There, I'm done.
Juwan's salary is 1.3M, of which only 854,389 is the CAP HIT. I stand corrected on Dante...didn't think about his pay bump. So yes, I'll take Dante at half the salary of Juwan. And laugh. Michael Jordan has a ton of talent and experience. Think we could sign him? Or Buck Williams? He has a ton of talent and experience, also, with a bit of a sentimental draw as well. Without Juwan we might not have had to come from behind in all those miracle wins. Two can play this game. All I've shown is that Juwan was a net detriment while on the court, had a worse PER (offense) and DRtg (defense) than Cunningham at the PF position, for 1/3rd the price last year and half the price this year. I'm not saying I wish Juwan had never been here...I'm saying that those who say he's a better option (and that we somehow should've paid more to keep him or something) need to take off the sentimental "old fogey does good" glasses. Except KingSpeed. If the guy actually is a buddy of yours you've earned the right to be blindly homerific.
Maybe not individual D that would show in the box score, but weak side help, low post toughness. Hard fouls and veteran leadership when needed. I watched EVERY minute he played on the court and thought he was great.
He had great effort. Maybe that's what you mean. His actual effect on defense, team or individual, was not great. I really don't see how you could have seen impressive defensive presence. I can understand liking his hard-nosed effort.
You are right. I'll reword it from now on to give both numbers. But even at $1.3M, my point remains true--He was and is a bargain that we should not have thrown away. Dumping him left us at substitute PF this season with only the far less knowledgeable and less talented Pendergraph. Howard made many outside shots that broke the back of the opponent's momentum. His defense was great in comparison to any other minimum wage sub PF starting at C on a .600 team who has only the weak Aldridge and absent Batum helping. Batum is all potential, and Aldridge is all unrealized potential. Howard anchored the three and we shocked the league. If Howard was terrible as a couple of people said, then some teammates must have had stupendous years to make up for it, since we had a shockingly good record with him starting. Who was it who compensated for the awful Juwan Howard? Since you guys think Juwan pulled us downward, which guys dazzled us with career years to cause the wins and overcome the great curse that was Juwan Howard? Roy-no. Miller-no. Aldridge-uh, no. What a disappointment he was. Not a leader. Batum-not playing. Rudy? Bayless? Are you kidding?
