evil jose
10-14-2006, 01:07 AM
This ain't good. They've taken care of Dirk and Avery. They should have taken care of Howard. WTF. Discuss.
Howard upset by value Mavs attach to him
Fourth-year G/F wants team to make fair offer so he can just go play
10:11 PM CDT on Friday, October 13, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
MILWAUKEE – Through two preseason games, Josh Howard has heaved 22 shots in 40 minutes. Only one player's arm has had a bigger workout, rookie Moe Ager, who has 25 shots but has played 59 minutes.
The coaches can forgive Ager for his exuberance. He's young, and it's the staff's job to rein him in, which they will.
But Howard's situation is different. The knee-jerk reaction is to think that Howard is already taking a me-first attitude because he's playing for next season's contract. Never too early to start building a case for megabucks, right?
Wrong. Howard said Friday that he has to tell himself every day to chill out about his contract situation and that "depressed" is not the word he'd use to describe his mood.
"Disappointed would be a better word," he said. "The other one I'd use would be a cuss word."
Howard is in the final year of his rookie contract. He is one of the lowest-paid Mavericks at slightly less than $1.6 million this season. Yet he is either the team's second- or third-most important player, along with Jason Terry, behind Dirk Nowitzki.
Howard and his agent already have talked to the Mavericks about a contract in the same neighborhood as Detroit's Tayshaun Prince, who signed last October for five years, $47.5 million.
The two players are similar, although it can be argued that Howard is more valuable to the Mavericks.
"The first number that came out [from the Mavs] wasn't anywhere near what Tayshaun makes," Howard said. "It was for five years, but it was $20 million less."
President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said the Mavericks have not given up on extending Howard before the Oct. 31 deadline. After that, the team must wait until next summer and run the restricted free-agent gantlet.
"It's a negotiation," Nelson said. "Sometimes they move quickly and sometimes they move slowly. Everyone's worst-case scenario is not such a terrible thing – to wait until next summer. Nobody should sign a deal they're not comfortable with."
Howard will be a restricted free agent after this season, which means he can do one of four things:
• sign an extension with the Mavericks;
• sign an offer sheet with another team, which the Mavericks can match and retain Howard;
• end up with the team that offers him the contract if the Mavericks don't match it;
• or, play one more season with the Mavericks, then become an unrestricted free agent and go wherever he wants.
Considering that a team like Charlotte, which has boatloads of money next summer, could be waiting to pounce on a player like Howard, it's a dangerous game the Mavericks are playing.
At the very least, the price tag could go up markedly.
"I'm not even trying to break the bank," Howard said. "I've never been a guy who lets stuff get to me. I understand I'm a restricted free agent and they can wait until next year to sign me. But I was the other guy in that '03 class who made it to the Finals [joining Miami's Dwyane Wade]."
Howard understands that management wants a hungry player who is going to have a big season. However, he disagrees with the theory that the team's success this year should be the basis of his future.
"I want to get back to that spot where we were last year," he said. "We all do. But to be honest, I don't think that should have anything to do with me making money."
As for Howard's frame of mind, he said the team and fans shouldn't worry.
"I don't have to prove nothing," he said. "I'm still playing whether I'm getting $40 million or I'm getting my $1.6 million like this year. I'm going to have a ball out there because that's what I do."
Howard upset by value Mavs attach to him
Fourth-year G/F wants team to make fair offer so he can just go play
10:11 PM CDT on Friday, October 13, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
MILWAUKEE – Through two preseason games, Josh Howard has heaved 22 shots in 40 minutes. Only one player's arm has had a bigger workout, rookie Moe Ager, who has 25 shots but has played 59 minutes.
The coaches can forgive Ager for his exuberance. He's young, and it's the staff's job to rein him in, which they will.
But Howard's situation is different. The knee-jerk reaction is to think that Howard is already taking a me-first attitude because he's playing for next season's contract. Never too early to start building a case for megabucks, right?
Wrong. Howard said Friday that he has to tell himself every day to chill out about his contract situation and that "depressed" is not the word he'd use to describe his mood.
"Disappointed would be a better word," he said. "The other one I'd use would be a cuss word."
Howard is in the final year of his rookie contract. He is one of the lowest-paid Mavericks at slightly less than $1.6 million this season. Yet he is either the team's second- or third-most important player, along with Jason Terry, behind Dirk Nowitzki.
Howard and his agent already have talked to the Mavericks about a contract in the same neighborhood as Detroit's Tayshaun Prince, who signed last October for five years, $47.5 million.
The two players are similar, although it can be argued that Howard is more valuable to the Mavericks.
"The first number that came out [from the Mavs] wasn't anywhere near what Tayshaun makes," Howard said. "It was for five years, but it was $20 million less."
President of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said the Mavericks have not given up on extending Howard before the Oct. 31 deadline. After that, the team must wait until next summer and run the restricted free-agent gantlet.
"It's a negotiation," Nelson said. "Sometimes they move quickly and sometimes they move slowly. Everyone's worst-case scenario is not such a terrible thing – to wait until next summer. Nobody should sign a deal they're not comfortable with."
Howard will be a restricted free agent after this season, which means he can do one of four things:
• sign an extension with the Mavericks;
• sign an offer sheet with another team, which the Mavericks can match and retain Howard;
• end up with the team that offers him the contract if the Mavericks don't match it;
• or, play one more season with the Mavericks, then become an unrestricted free agent and go wherever he wants.
Considering that a team like Charlotte, which has boatloads of money next summer, could be waiting to pounce on a player like Howard, it's a dangerous game the Mavericks are playing.
At the very least, the price tag could go up markedly.
"I'm not even trying to break the bank," Howard said. "I've never been a guy who lets stuff get to me. I understand I'm a restricted free agent and they can wait until next year to sign me. But I was the other guy in that '03 class who made it to the Finals [joining Miami's Dwyane Wade]."
Howard understands that management wants a hungry player who is going to have a big season. However, he disagrees with the theory that the team's success this year should be the basis of his future.
"I want to get back to that spot where we were last year," he said. "We all do. But to be honest, I don't think that should have anything to do with me making money."
As for Howard's frame of mind, he said the team and fans shouldn't worry.
"I don't have to prove nothing," he said. "I'm still playing whether I'm getting $40 million or I'm getting my $1.6 million like this year. I'm going to have a ball out there because that's what I do."