Josh Howard's new lease on life

Sometimes, athletes have to remind us that the things they value aren't necessarily the same things that we -- fans and the media -- do.

For example, you might assume that Josh Howard, who spent seven years with the Dallas Mavericks before he was traded last February, is laced with regret right now and moping around somewhere because he isn't with his old team in the midst of its competitive NBA Finals with the Miami Heat. You might assume Howard is bitter about the perception that the Mavericks were happy to be rid of such a problematic player even though he was a major cog on the 2006 Dallas team that lost to the Heat for an NBA championship.

Your assumptions would be wrong.

Howard is not angry at the Mavs for trading him to the Wizards and he is not bitter about the people who refuse to see beyond some of the controversies he's created.






In fact, he's honest-to-goodness happy, despite the reality that things for him professionally are as uncertain as they've ever been.

"Of course I want to be a part of it," Howard says. "I think any player who spent as many years as I did there and did the things that I did, as far as on the team, it's hard to lose those feelings. But it's good to see those guys, especially Dirk [Nowitzki] and 'Jet' [Jason Terry], get a second chance to go back and try to win a ring again."

With Dallas trailing 2-1 to the Heat ahead of Tuesday night's Game 4, it was hard to resist jumping into the what-if machine and wonder if Howard, a versatile swingman who averaged nearly 20 points per game in three of his last four seasons with the Mavs, could be playing the same role with the current team that he did in '06, when he averaged 15.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.