It was a practice just like any other for the 

Miami Heat.

The starters were out on the floor running 

through their offensive schemes against the 

scout team. Among the latter, per usual, was 

then-assistant coach Juwan Howard.

Howard, having played 19 years in 

the NBA, standing at 6-foot-9 and doing 

everything he can to keep in shape, almost 

always ran with the scout team in practice.

In a typical pick-and-roll play, Howard 

handled the ball at the top of the key. It was 

all set to run smoothly — the player came 

over to set the pick for Howard who then 

dribbled around him to execute the play. 

Fighting hard through the screen, guard 

Dion Waiters barrelled through the defender 

hitting Howard square on the chin, and 

cleanly knocking out one of his teeth.

So how did Howard react?

He held his tooth in his hand, waited for 

the right moment to head to his office, placed 

it down on his desk and resumed practice. 

After 
subsequently 
seeking 
medical 

attention, Howard returned to the Heat 

facilities later that day to coach that night’s 

game. There was even a rotation of the 

assistant coaches who had to talk to the 

media at halftime, and Howard’s number 

was called.

“And I still talked, tooth missing and 

everything,” Howard told The Daily. “Why 

not? A) we’re gonna make no excuses and B) 

you gotta embrace the suck. And that time I 

embraced the suck.”

For Howard, the act of palming a 

recently-separated tooth and continuing on 

business-as-usual was summed up in the 

question “Why not?” It was an afterthought 

— a testament to his professionalism and 

commitment.

For his players, though, the act revealed a 

man who was undeniably committed to the 

game, his team and his family.

“When his tooth came out, he didn’t even 

come out of the game,” then-Heat guard Josh 

Richardson told The Daily. “And I remember 

just being like, ‘That’s crazy!’ And we’re all 

looking at his tooth like, ‘Uhhhhh, you gonna 

get that?’ He just like had it in his hand.”

Tooth in hand, Howard continued down 

the road of a transformative time in his 

career with the Heat.

***

If there was one thing the players knew 

Howard for as a coach it was energy. Energy, 

energy, energy. He would routinely single-

handedly liven up flat practices or get on 

guys for not showing an attitude up to his 

standards.

And typically, he did that the only way 

he knew how: by being vocal and playing 

basketball.

Talk to former players on those Heat 

rosters and they will regale you with tales 

of ‘17’ — the nickname given to Howard by 

LeBron James for his 17 years (really 19) in 

the NBA. They recount stories from practice 

where Howard, unlike nearly all other 

assistant coaches, would run with the scout 

team and do everything he could to dunk on 

players often 10-plus years younger than him 

or block their shots.

And the team loved it. Vociferously 

screaming, “Get that shit out of here!” after 

registering a block or dunking right on 

a guy’s head, Howard would revel in the 

team’s cheers.

Walking in the building every morning, 

Howard made sure everyone knew where 

the level of energy was going to be that day 

— as high as it could possibly be. Getting 

excited about things as banal as a cup of 

coffee, Howard would bellow, “Got my 

coffee today!” strolling down the halls of the 

facilities.

Howard’s honesty also enamored his 

players.

As an assistant with the Heat, Howard’s 

official responsibilities included developing 

the big men on the roster and optimizing 

defense. In these efforts, Miami’s centers 

Hassan Whiteside and Bam Adebayo are 

testaments to that.

Ask either one and they will be quick to 

point to Howard’s honesty as a trait that sets 

him apart. He will tell you like it is every 

time regardless of whether it’s something 

you want to hear or not.

“He 
was 
honest,” 

Adebayo said. “He never 

lied to me. He never ran 

away from the fact that I 

needed to hear something, 

he would say it, he never 

shied away from that. 

And I feel like that’s what 

really brought me closer to 

Juwan was that he was so 

honest with me.”

Added Whiteside: “He 

was like the guy that’s like, 

if there are guys playing 

around or something, he’ll let ’em know. He’d 

say, ‘You’re not taking this serious,’ or he’d 

let you know. I mean he was just honest. He’d 

keep it to you straight every time.”

For almost all of Howard’s Miami 

coaching stint, he was just an assistant. 

Assigned to player development and defense, 

he was never able to use his leadership skills 

as the man in charge. That is, until the 2016 

Summer League rolled around.

Each year, each NBA team selects one 

of the assistant coaches to lead its Summer 

League roster in early competition. In 2016, 

it was Howard’s time.

It was Howard’s first time ever serving 

in a head coach position. In many ways, it 

was the perfect opportunity for the young 

coach — an ability to get his feet wet with the 

position without being completely thrown to 

the wolves.

While he wasn’t reinventing the wheel 

or tasked with redesigning Heat concepts, 

Howard was able to learn some of the 

minutiae of the position — how to talk in 

timeouts, who to call on when games are 

getting close, how to scream on the sidelines.

“He defined guys’ roles early, and I think 

that was good for a coach to be able to do 

that,” said Richardson, one of the key players 

on that Summer League 

team. “He would give good 

speeches, get his message 

across, and he’s a good 

speaker in front of guys, 

and I know that’s probably 

tough in your first coaching 

job having to give an 

opening speech at training 

camp, or having to be the 

guy talking to the team 

every timeout and stuff 

like that, but I think he did 

a great job navigating that 

for the first time.”

The Heat would place fourth that year, 

going 3-2 through the tournament. 

But Howard left with something far more 

valuable than the trophy — confidence in 

his ability to become the head coach of a 

basketball team someday.

“It taught me a lot in that I enjoyed the 

experience, I learned from it,” Howard said. 

“I left there that summer thinking, ‘You 

know, I can be a head coach in this league.’ It 

gave me a vote of confidence.”

Before that, Howard had had no problem 

being vocal. No experience talking to a team 

with the title of “head coach,” sure, but he’s 

always been a leader in the locker room.

And no one recognized that more than 

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

He’ll give you 
the shirt off his 
back, that’s the 
type of person 
he is.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 // TIPOFF 2019
4B 

