Josh Howard...Dumbest player in the NBA?

[DDS4]

He's 28 for chrissakes. He's not a kid anymore.

Piss poor judgement and a waste of talent.

[dirk4mvp]

I wonder what players went to his party?

[mavsfan1000]

I wonder what players went to his party?

Stackhouse, George, and Magloire.

[Obstructed_View]

Unmotivated to be the best player in the league. Very motivated in being a selfless player and sacrificing individual stats and/or accolades for team success.

He simply doesn't care about all star appearances, double-doubles, or his legend in the annals of NBA history. He just wants to win and have fun along the way.

That painted picture is a little bit too rosy, IMO. My take is that Rasheed doesn't want the responsibility that comes with being a superstar, and he's willing to sacrifice team success to avoid it. He's like the really smart kid in class that doesn't do homework or the pretty girl who combs her hair over her face. If Rasheed decided to be the best player in the league he could come awfully close and his team would be much more successful. It's about as selfish as anyone can be who actually gives a about his teammates, which 'sheed does.

Josh Howard, on the other hand, doesn't give a about anyone not named Josh Howard, which makes him stupid.

[GuerillaBlack]

Stackhouse, George, and Magloire.

And Juwan Howard.

[JamStone]

That painted picture is a little bit too rosy, IMO. My take is that Rasheed doesn't want the responsibility that comes with being a superstar, and he's willing to sacrifice team success to avoid it. He's like the really smart kid in class that doesn't do homework or the pretty girl who combs her hair over her face. If Rasheed decided to be the best player in the league he could come awfully close and his team would be much more successful. It's about as selfish as anyone can be who actually gives a about his teammates, which 'sheed does.

Don't agree but you're more than en led to your opinion.

Just like me, you're trying to get inside Rasheed's head and thought processes. Your guesses are as good as mine, but I simply disagree. Rasheed was "the guy" in Portland for a couple years and realized it absolutely takes more than him trying to dominate individually. If he wanted to be, he could be one of the best players in the game. But, that's not his mental make-up. He's always the type of player that puts team ahead of anything individual. And, you have to remember that specifically with the Pistons, he joined a team that had already established leaders and "go-to" players. Rasheed might have been the most talented, but he was also joining a team that had a system in place. Ben Wallace anchored the defense. The offense ran through Rip Hamilton. Chauncey Billups too the clutch shots. Rasheed had to find his place, and that's what he did in 2004. It worked so well, that that's been his role since. Again, he doesn't care about being the best player in the game. It's not selfish of him at all. He's not avoiding responsibility. That's an awfully harsh criticism based on your own assumptions and speculations. He's about team and winning. Always has been. He doesn't care one bit about his individual stats.

It's a criticism I don't quite understand. Because when great players who have the best individual statistics on bad or average teams finally get great teammates or get traded to a better team and they sacrifice their stats, they are praised as unselfish players who are willing to sacrifice and compromise. Rasheed has done that basically his entire career and he's criticized for not being motivated or being lazy. Tim Duncan could have easily averaged 25 ppg and 15 rpg over the last 4-5 seasons. But, with the emergence of Parker and Ginobili, he allowed them to also shine. Well, Rasheed does the same thing with Billups and Hamilton. But, Tim is unselfish and great and Rasheed is lazy and unmotivated.

I don't get it. Look at KG this season. His individual stats have been sacrificed a great deal being on a team with Pierce and Allen. And, he's having one of his best seasons ever. Rasheed has done that for over a decade with his teammates, and he's a lazy talented player that could have been better.

Shrugs. Fortunately for Rasheed, along with his unselfish at ude and approach to the game is the fact he doesn't give two s about how fans, the media, or anyone else thinks of him with respect to these things.

[Leetonidas]

Howard was just insuring that the Mavericks season would be over sooner so he could start smoking some bud.

[Obstructed_View]

Don't agree but you're more than en led to your opinion.

Just like me, you're trying to get inside Rasheed's head and thought processes. Your guesses are as good as mine, but I simply disagree. Rasheed was "the guy" in Portland for a couple years and realized it absolutely takes more than him trying to dominate individually. If he wanted to be, he could be one of the best players in the game. But, that's not his mental make-up. He's always the type of player that puts team ahead of anything individual. And, you have to remember that specifically with the Pistons, he joined a team that had already established leaders and "go-to" players. Rasheed might have been the most talented, but he was also joining a team that had a system in place. Ben Wallace anchored the defense. The offense ran through Rip Hamilton. Chauncey Billups too the clutch shots. Rasheed had to find his place, and that's what he did in 2004. It worked so well, that that's been his role since. Again, he doesn't care about being the best player in the game. It's not selfish of him at all. He's not avoiding responsibility. That's an awfully harsh criticism based on your own assumptions and speculations. He's about team and winning. Always has been. He doesn't care one bit about his individual stats.

It's a criticism I don't quite understand. Because when great players who have the best individual statistics on bad or average teams finally get great teammates or get traded to a better team and they sacrifice their stats, they are praised as unselfish players who are willing to sacrifice and compromise. Rasheed has done that basically his entire career and he's criticized for not being motivated or being lazy. Tim Duncan could have easily averaged 25 ppg and 15 rpg over the last 4-5 seasons. But, with the emergence of Parker and Ginobili, he allowed them to also shine. Well, Rasheed does the same thing with Billups and Hamilton. But, Tim is unselfish and great and Rasheed is lazy and unmotivated.

I don't get it. Look at KG this season. His individual stats have been sacrificed a great deal being on a team with Pierce and Allen. And, he's having one of his best seasons ever. Rasheed has done that for over a decade with his teammates, and he's a lazy talented player that could have been better.

Shrugs. Fortunately for Rasheed, along with his unselfish at ude and approach to the game is the fact he doesn't give two s about how fans, the media, or anyone else thinks of him with respect to these things.

You and I are closer on this than you might think. I'm going to ramble a little so it probably won't seem like it.

First of all, let's leave KG out of the discussion, because he doesn't belong in it. KG's full of .

Rasheed was "the guy" in Portland, and was widely regarded as one of the best players at his position in the NBA. What he realized was that when you are the best player on the team, and the leader, you get the focus when the team loses. What he seemed not to like was the responsibility that came with failure. When you are the superstar, the focus is on you, fairly or unfairly. There have been reports before that Rasheed didn't want the responsibility of being up on that pedestal all by himself; I'm certainly not blazing new ground, here. There were reports that he didn't like playing inside, particularly after Ben left, because it was all on him once again.

Unless my memory is seriously flawed, Rasheed's trade from Portland was greeted with cheers by the Portland fans. I doubt that was because he was a "team first" guy. He's been an order of magnitude more professional in Detroit, but there was almost nowhere to go but up.

Duncan has deferred to other players, but when it comes down to it, there has never been a scintilla of doubt about whose team the Spurs are, who the best player is, or whether Duncan is going to take over a big game and dominate when he decides to. Duncan has accepted the responsibility of being the leader of the team, of being the guy who takes the blame when they lose. That has NOT been Rasheed. Standing outside and shooting threes is not the best thing for the Pistons. Anyone who's seen him in the post knows that. I think the clowning against Philly before he blew that layup was part of that at ude. If you don't take it seriously, it doesn't hurt as much if you lose, and nobody really blames you.

He certainly has almost no ego, which is mostly a good thing for the situation he's currently in. Howevuh (my third one today), there are times that a team needs their best player to step up and save them, which requires a little bit of selfishness.

That was about the time Rasheed got ejected against Cleveland last year. When he finally gets passionate, it's frustrating to see him channel it incorrectly.