Josh Howard, Grows From Role Player to Cornerstone

NUMEROLOGY

5: The number of times The Show scored 30 or more points in a game this season.
17: The number of free throws attempted by No. 5 against Utah, Dec. 8, 2007, a career high.
20: The number of points he averaged this season, a career high, 2nd on the Mavericks, and 28th in the NBA.
36: The number of minutes Josh averaged this season, a career high, tops on the Mavericks, and 35th in the NBA.
47: The number of points Josh scored against Utah, Dec. 8, 2007, a personal record and sixth in franchise history.
312: The number of free throws No. 5 made this season, a personal record, and good for 35th in the NBA.
567: The number of field goals made by The Show this season, a career high, 2nd on the Mavs, and 25th in the NBA.
1,247: The number of field goal attempts from No. 5 on the season, a career high and 21st in the NBA.
1,513: The number of points scored by The Show on the season, a career high, 2nd on the Mavs, and 30th in the NBA.
2,757: The total minutes played on the season by Josh, a career high and good for 40th in the NBA.

GAME OF THE YEAR
On December 8th, 2007, The Show had the best game of his young career. In a high scoring match against the Utah Jazz, Josh was able to top his previous best by 17, and claim the sixth highest scoring total in franchise history. No. 5 had the entire package working that night taking it to the rim, hitting from outside, and getting to the line a career high 17 times. His line: 14-of-19 shooting, 4-of-5 on 3-pointers and 15-of-17 on free throws, plus 10 rebounds, two assists and a block.

Utah coach Jerry Sloan summed up the performance of No. 5 best:

"We didn't have much of an answer for Howard. We couldn't stop him."

ONE LINERS
No. 5 when asked on his improved game:

"Not taking anything away from defensive players, but that's how I feel," Howard said. "I've worked on my game so much where I can go either way, left or right, pull up either way, left or right, get to the basket, find the open man or whatever."

"I took the shots that were given to me," Howard said after a 120-115 victory @ Golden State. "Ten-for-17 ain't bad. I'm one of those guys where I can create my own shot in any given situation. So if I see an opening, I'm going to take it."

“I had my mind made up,” Howard said of taking control. “I didn’t have such a good first half overall. We need wins with Dirk out. We have to have guys come in night in and night out, and overall, the team effort was there.”

No. 5 when asked what Dirk’s presence meant to the team after returning from injury:

“Just seeing Dirk out there gave us a lot of life,” Howard said. “His presence is big on this team and we came out and played hard for him. He showed a lot of energy when he was on the court and that carried over to everyone.”

AS SEEN BY
After racking up 23 points and 14 rebounds in a Mavs win over Portland, Jerry Stackhouse spoke highly of No. 5:

"He's our fire-starter. He gets the party jumping. That's his game."

Dallas assistant Paul Westphal spoke about No. 5's improvement, and expectations for him.

"I think he's taken a jump. He's gotten the better of an awful lot of good players this year, big-name guys who really can't do anything with him on certain nights. That's why he can call 17 points and eight or nine rebounds a slump. He's taken a step to a level where it's not unreasonable to expect him to get the best of his matchup every night."

Dallas coach Avery Johnson spoke on The Show’s growth this season:

"He's really mixing up his game now, but I'd say the biggest key for his game in this stretch has been his consistency on defense. Josh, right now, has to guard the primary scorer. That's new territory for him and he's rising to the challenge,'' coach Avery Johnson said. "I like his physicality, the way he's getting into scorers and getting into their space. This was a big challenge for him tonight. We've seen the Jason Richardson highlights enough."

Dallas coach Avery Johnson spoke on Josh’s development as a leader in Dallas:

“It may not be time for him to feel comfortable putting himself in the quote-unquote leadership [role], but he understands that he has a huge responsibility,” Johnson said of Howard. “He respects the leadership that we have on the team, but he knows what his role is for us and a lot of nights it’s to be our best player and to be a leader.”

David Moore of the Dallas Morning News argues quite convincingly that Josh could be the best:

“We've talked for the last two-and-a-half seasons about Josh Howard's dramatic improvement.
Howard has increased his scoring average for the fifth consecutive season and is at 21.1 points. Denver's Carmelo Anthony (25.2) and Golden State's Stephen Jackson (21.5) are the only two small forwards in the Western Conference who average more, and it should be pointed out that Jackson spends at lot of his time at power forward in the Warriors small, quick lineup.
Howard averages more rebounds and shoots a better percentage than Anthony and Jackson. He's a much better defender than Anthony.”
“So here's the question: How many small forwards in the Western Conference are better than Howard?”

STAT OF THE UNION
While playing in 76 games this season, The Show has averaged career highs in nearly every offensive category. In the process of emerging as a go- to option for the Mavs, Josh is averaging 19.9 points per game, 7.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.4 blocks in a team high 36.3 minutes per game.