Ok, so i'm sure that i'm not the only one talking about Josh Howard today.  But I have a little different slant on the whole thing.  This guy is everything that is right about basketball.  First off, every GM in the league should be ashamed of themselves for letting him fall all the way to the Mavericks with the 29th pick in the draft.  A lot of people give Don Nelson credit for finding a lot of European talent and bringing it to the league, he was a visionary in that regard.  I now have to applaud Donnie Nelson, with help from his dad, for being the visionary that says "college seniors are actually better then highschool players".  I know it sounds like a wild idea, but it's true.  While the 2003 draft will go down as one of the best ever, you have to look at some of the players taken ahead of Josh Howard.  No one will argue with Lebron, 'Melo, D-Wade, Bosh, Hinrich, and TJ Ford.  Even Luke Ridenour, Boris Diaw, and David West have turned out to be pretty darn good players.  The gambles in the first round are the reasons that some teams are now in the lottery instead of still playing.  How can you pass up Josh Howard, the ACC player of the year.  Yes that ACC.  The one that is traditionally ranked as the best conference in college basketball.  He went to Wake Forest, the last ACC player of the year from Wake turned out to be pretty good (Tim Duncan), and then teams again dissed "the Wake" when they passed on Chris Paul this last year.  So who was better then the best player in the best conference.  Jarvis (is he still in the league) Hayes, Reece (people confused me with the candy) Gaines, Troy (I don't even know who the hell this guy is) Bell, two serbians that I can't even pronounce their names, Dahntay (I went to Duke) Jones.  (As an aside, here is a prime example of my Duke rule, never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever take a Duke player in the draft if he's a senior.  There is a reason this guy stayed there for 4 years, because he's not very good, and Coach K is a genius.  Go ahead, name one Duke senior that ever turned out to be a half way decent NBA player.) Other notables drafted drafted before Howard include Travis (i'll fit in in Portland because my last name is) Outlaw, Carlos (I get confused for the guy on Desperate Housewives) Delfino, Ndudi (this is why Garnett hasn't been in the playoffs) Ebi.  So this brings us to the end of the 1st round where the Mavericks select Josh Howard.

Now the amazing thing to me is that he slipped that far.  What's even more entertaining is that the Mavericks also picked up Marquis Daniels that year as an undrafted Free Agent.  But I digress.  The reason that the Mavs will beat the Spurs in 6 or less games in this series is that they've been able to re-load on talent while staying competitive.  The spurs have just gotten older.  I had originally given the advantage to the spurs because I thought Popovich would outcoach Avery Johnson, I don't think that will matter.  Josh Howard never has a play called for him, he typically guards a teams best player and all he does is produce.  28 points without having a play called for you is pretty good on the road, is better, on the road against the spurs in the playoffs is awesome.  They beat the spurs by 22 points in San Antonio. ( A side note, Duncan was 12-14 from the line.  I have good money that says he doesn't shoot 85% from the line in another game this series.  So the game should have been even more a blowout.)  I know this is only one game for Josh Howard.   I know he's still young, but the mavericks look like they're going to be in good shape for a long long time.