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Timberwolves Buy Out Juwan Howard

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by MLittle577, Oct 27, 2007.

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MLittle577 Contributing Member

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you know it was gonna be posted, so here goes......let's pick him up!

http://www.startribune.com/wolves/story/1512479.html

Wolves reach roster limit by buying out Howard
The Timberwolves negotiated on Saturday to buy out the contract of veteran forward Juwan Howard, a move that once finalized will get them to their 15-player roster limit by Monday's 5 p.m. deadline.

By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune
Last update: October 27, 2007 – 9:01 PM

The Timberwolves negotiated on Saturday to buy out the contract of veteran forward Juwan Howard, a move that once finalized will get them to their 15-player roster limit by Monday's 5 p.m. deadline.
The Wolves also are expected to release Wayne Simien -- acquired with Antoine Walker and Michael Doleac in Wednesday's trade with Miami -- by Monday. Simien is the only one of those three players who was told not to report to the team.

"We've finally gotten down to a number," said Wolves coach Randy Wittman, who added that another roster move always could happen but that he doesn't expect one. "We can move forward now."

Howard hugged teammates goodbye after Friday's exhibition finale at Target Center and did not attend the Wolves' public scrimmage there on Saturday evening. The Wolves open the regular season at home Friday against Denver.

Acquired from Houston in June for guard Mike James and forward Justin Reed, Howard believed then that he would finally get the chance to play with Kevin Garnett, whom he almost joined as a teammate when he was a free agent four years ago. Instead, the Wolves dealt Garnett to Boston in July, and when the team opening training camp last month, Howard clearly but respectfully said he had told the team that, at this stage of his 13-year NBA career, he'd rather play for a title contender.

Howard provided the Wolves with a list of five teams for whom he'd like to play. But unable to make a deal for assets commensurate a player due to make $6.88 million this season and $7.37 million next season -- the two remaining years on his contract -- team officials will pay him a portion of his money due and release him so he can sign with any other NBA team as a free agent.

"I think it made sense for both parties," Wittman said.

On Friday, newly acquired Antoine Walker -- who, like Howard, was a former Chicago schoolboy star -- joined the Wolves. By Saturday, the teammate he knew longest was gone.

"I'm disappointed," said Walker, who, at age 31, is three years younger than Howard. "I was looking forward to it. Me and Juwan grew up as kids together. He was in high school when I was in elementary school. He was a big star in Chicago. I know he's thinking of trying to play for a championship, so hopefully best of luck to him."

Howard did not play in four of the team's eight preseason games. He has averaged 16.1 and 7.1 rebounds in his career. Expect him to choose to play for a list of teams such as Boston, where he'd finally get a chance to play with Garnett, Cleveland, Dallas, San Antonio, Miami and Phoenix.

The Wolves had 17 players in training camp and 18 listed on their roster Saturday. By late in their scrimmage on Saturday, they had only 10 available bodies after Greg Buckner, Theo Ratliff, Chris Richard and Randy Foye sat because of minor injuries.

"We started running out of bodies, which sounds funny," Wittman said.
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#1 MLittle577, Oct 27, 2007

ClutchCityReturns Contributing Member

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MLittle577 said:

let's pick him up!
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Seriously...

I've never had a problem with Juwan that wasn't tied directly to his contract.

#2 ClutchCityReturns, Oct 27, 2007
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ClutchCityReturns said:

Seriously...

I've never had a problem with Juwan that wasn't tied directly to his contract.
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I agree. He wasn't worth how much we were paying him. If we pay him vet min, then by all means welcome back! Plus he was a leader on the team.

#3 superden, Oct 27, 2007
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if we do get him, john hollinger is gonna be all over the rockets piece..X2347203851
lol

#4 JD2010, Oct 27, 2007
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if he doesn't mind getting no playing time, then sure

i guess we can use his veteran leadership in the locker room

#5 t-mac4bigmac, Oct 27, 2007
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i'd take him in a leadership role as a guy on the bench but i'm sure if a roster spot opens up they'd rather give it to mike harris, as would I.

#6 BigM, Oct 27, 2007
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The Rockets won't pick him up right away, if at all. Some other team will snag him right away.

#7 A_3PO, Oct 27, 2007

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*follows the crowd*

Sign him up!

#8 JaWindex, Oct 27, 2007
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I'm down for it. He won't need to do anything that he can't do, plus, from what I've heard, he's great for the locker room atmosphere. We still have 16 players though, so I'm not sure how we can bring him in.

#9 ParaSolid, Oct 27, 2007
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If he doesn't mine sitting on the bench all year being a cheerleader, then sure.

#10 Rockzilla, Oct 27, 2007
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I'm guessing he might end up with Miami. Pat Riley tried to pay him $100 million once, after all.

Also, they might have a 15 mpg type role for him.

#11 Carl Herrera, Oct 27, 2007
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Can we pick him up? I thought there was a rule that prevented us from reacquiring a player we traded.

#12 abcdef, Oct 27, 2007
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Timberwolve's management sucks. Trading james to get him and now buying him out.

#13 devin23, Oct 27, 2007

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devin23 said:

Timberwolve's management sucks. Trading james to get him and now buying him out.
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yeah lol, probably woulda been cheaper to just buy mike james out

#14 DOMINATOR, Oct 27, 2007
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DOMINATOR said:

yeah lol, probably woulda been cheaper to just buy mike james out
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It wouldn't have been, since James has 3 years left on his deal while Howard has 2.

#15 abcdef, Oct 27, 2007
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Celtics have a roster spot open and if JHo agrees to the vet min they'll only need to fork out 800k I don't remember if it's exempt from LT or not.

devin23 said:

Timberwolve's management sucks. Trading james to get him and now buying him out.
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They dumped salary. Howard has two years to go, James three. Now they're presumably paying even less.

Since they've a 5.8TE from the Davis trade I wonder if they would want to replace Howard with another hardworking vet, ie Justin Reed?

#16 hooroo, Oct 27, 2007
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yeah, Twolves management leaves me scratching my head.

No James/Howard to show from that deal...and Blount (who showed a bit last year) and Davis (arguably the best scorer on the roster) gone for over the hill and overweight Antoine Walker??

what, they think "Toine's gonna be their new franchise player

#17 aussie rocket, Oct 27, 2007
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aussie rocket said:

yeah, Twolves management leaves me scratching my head.

No James/Howard to show from that deal...and Blount (who showed a bit last year) and Davis (arguably the best scorer on the roster) gone for over the hill and overweight Antoine Walker??

what, they think "Toine's gonna be their new franchise player
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They've dumped salary in all those deals. They're rebuilding and moving/shortening bad contracts.

#18 hooroo, Oct 27, 2007

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abcdef said:

It wouldn't have been, since James has 3 years left on his deal while Howard has 2.
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Plus they got rid of Reed.

I'd say no. We have to cut people, not pickup people we've traded. He was a good locker room leader though...

#19 ArtV, Oct 27, 2007
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I don't think we have anything to offer him. We don't have the LLE because we used it last offseason on Bonzi and I think the veteran's excepton was used on Mutombo this season. Anyway, I don't want him anywhere near our team. Let's move on.

#20 rocketsregle, Oct 27, 2007

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