Former Dallas Mavericks (and Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz and I think maybe he played a few games with the San Antonio Spurs?) forward Josh Howard will be back in town soon, coaching the newly created men’s basketball team at the University of North Texas at Dallas, which will begin play later this year (presumably) in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and will be called the UNT Dallas Trailblazers. Yes, the Josh Howard that former coach Avery Johnson punched in the nuts. Yes, the Josh Howard who got in trouble in 2008 for saying, “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is going on. I don’t celebrate this shit. I’m black.” (Which, fair.) Yes, the Josh Howard who once said, “You can’t control what the ball do. It’s crazy, man.” (Which, again, fair.)

He was a fascinating and often great player during his time here from 2003 until he was traded in 2010, a steal at the tail end of the draft that brought us LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh, among others, and maybe the team’s best all-around player in 2007-08. I loved him at the beginning and was frustrated by him at the end; I go into all of that in detail here. (RIP, FreeDarko.)

Was he a knucklehead on occasion, getting arrested for drag racing, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, getting high before that wasn’t really a big deal? Sure. Yeah, he did all of that. Should that define him? Of course not. It obscures what he was at the time, a college graduate who gave back to his community, and what he’s been since you forgot about him. He worked hard to come back from knee injuries to get another shot at the NBA, toiling in the G League with no promises, not an easy thing to swallow for a former All-Star. And for the past four years, he’s been the head coach at Piedmont International University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he grew up.

He is all of these Josh Howards, his own block universe, all of it happening at the same time. That is the kind of experience that is valuable, I think, in dealing with helping young men take the next step, whether it is in basketball or life. So I, for one, am excited to see Howard get a fresh start in the city where he began his professional career. The full release follows.