Re: Juwan Howard?

[Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx]

I've thought a lot about it, watched Howard play tonight and am now on board 
with the trade. Howard will demand a double team and will open up things 
significantly for the Cs. He has many years on his contract, the only bad thing, 
but his salary is very manageable. I never like him much before because he was a 
below average defensive player and rebounder. However, there are very few 
inside players in the NBA. If you have a chance, you have to go for it. 

Howard will be the best player in the trade, which is what you always want. 
He is a fundamentally sound player, a Danny criteria. He works hard and will 
run the floor. 

What we are giving up is Mihm, who has been appropriately named a foul 
magnet. He is a good rebounder and shot blocker but I have to agree with Isaiah that 
shot blocking is overrated. The thing is that you have remember that Mihm 
will demand the MLE which is what Howard is getting. I would prefer Howard over 
Mihm. Howard can actually play basketball where Mihm is just a rebounder and 
I'm not thinking he is going to be much more.

I think Danny is thinking he is going to get something out of Garrity. He is 
a shooter and can spread the defense at the power forward spot. Notice how 
Danny wants shooters. He could be a nice backup at the power forward spot next 
year. The risk is his injury recovery. He has a bunch of years although low 
paid. I have to think that the Magic are tried of that kind of stuff waiting for 
Hill to recover.

As for Hunter, he is better than Stewart but worse that Blount, which isn't 
saying much. He would be the backup behind Blount.

The big picture here if we make this trade is that we would have solidified 
starting and backup positions for the 2 through 4 spots for next year. However, 
we would still be weak at the point guard and center spots. Both of those 
positions are the hardest to fill. (However, Danny has a rookie at each spot to 
attempt to solve it that way for the future). The other problem is that with 
finesse players at the power forward spot in Howard and Raef, you really require 
a big, tough rebounder for the center spot. I don't know how we do that 
except in the draft.

To summarize,  I think it would be a good trade, though slightly 
disappointing that we couldn't do a little better (Dampier & NVE)....

DJessen33

<< I like Mihm, but he can't stay on the floor and he's a free agent after
 the season (team option). More importantly, it's clear now that Ainge
 doesn't see him as part of the long-range plan. He's a center, and Ainge
 clearly values Blount and Kendrick more than he values Mihm. So he's
 using him as trade bait. At any rate, it's awfully hard to argue that
 Mihm is a better player than Howard.
 
 I think everyone (me included) has a negative impression of Juwan Howard
 because he was so grossly overpaid under his last contract. He became
 the poster child for bad contracts. He's not making $17 million a year
 anymore. He's under contract for $5 mill a year. He was the hottest
 mid-level free agent last offseason, and, according to Chad Ford,
 several teams are chasing him right now. He's not the missing piece for
 anyone, but he's a contributing piece.
 
 Ainge isn't trying to become the youngest team in the league. He's
 trying to stockpile assets. Talented players who help the team win in
 the short term but also have trade value in the long-term. Ricky Davis
 and Juwan Howard qualify because they're talented players, they can help
 the team win while they're here, but they have reasonable contracts that
 make them tradeable down the line. The Celtics don't have a lot of those
 guys. Their tradeable assets have been expiring contracts (Eric
 Williams, Chris Mills, etc.). They needed tradeable PLAYERS. Ainge is
 getting them. Put Juwan Howard on the market, and the offers that come
 in will be much better than if you put Brandon Hunter on the market.
 
 Ainge's ultimate model is Sacramento, but the model for his rebuilding
 strategy is Detroit. The Pistons added contributing players wherever
 they could. They took advantage of every asset, including expiring
 contracts, to add to the team. They didn't force-feed young players.
 They didn't strip it bare and start over. They remained competitive
 while doing it, and now they're in position to make some big moves. Fans
 never get excited about guys like Juwan Howard or Cliff Robinson (a
 comparable acquisition when Detroit picked him up a few years ago), but
 guys like that are important.
 
 There are two keys to making this work next season: 1. Find a point
 guard. Maybe Marcus Banks makes a leap before his second season. Many
 point guards do. If not, Ainge has to find a better answer. Maybe that's
 Brent Barry with the mid-level exception. 2. Find a coach who can do
 with Pierce what Rick Carlisle did with Jerry Stackhouse a few years
 ago. If you remember, the Pistons were a lot like the Celtics -- they
 went to Stackhouse every time and he averaged a lot of points, shot a
 lousy percentage and turned the ball over a lot. Carlisle convinced
 Stackhouse to sacrifice some shots and individual stats for the sake of
 the team, and it worked. That's when the Pistons surprised everyone and
 won 50 games. The Celtics can make the same kind of move, but everyone
 has to be on board -- especially Pierce.
 
 Mark >>