According to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Sixers will reportedly spend the next two days meeting with free-agent swingman Josh Howard. Minnesota and San Antonio are also rumored to be in the mix for the nine-year veteran, who started 18 games for the Utah Jazz last season before suffering a left knee injury in March.
While Howard excelled for the Dallas Mavericks as recently as 2009 (and even made the Western Conference All-Star team back in 2007), he's little more than a role player at this point in his career. In 43 games for the Jazz last season, the 32-year-old Howard - who played almost exclusively at small forward - averaged 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game on 40 percent shooting.
The Sixers are pretty much set at both wing positions, so it's hard to determine what the team's motive is for bringing the 6'7" Howard in for a visit. Minutes at small forward will be hard to come by next season, and Howard is far too inconsistent of a shooter to beat out either Jason Richardson or Nick Young at the 2. That's all in addition to the whole attitude thing he's been slammed for the past few years.
That said, it WOULD be interesting to see Howard's reaction whenever Ayla Brown sings the national anthem next year.
Would anybody like this move on a veteran's minimum-type deal?