UPDATE 2:36 pm: Well, that didn’t take long.
The Miami Heat have announced the rumors that they were close to signing veteran Juwan Howard were not just rumors — they have inked him for the rest of the season, the team announced.
As noted below, Howard is not going to be asked by the Heat to do much other than practice hard to push guys and be a veteran presence in the locker room. Chris Andersen and Joel Anthony get the key big guy minutes off the bench now. In the finals last season Howard played only in the final minutes of the blowout Game 5 Heat win, it will be much the same this year. Howard has not been on an NBA roster this season but reportedly has worked out and stayed in shape. Either way, he’s going to get a paycheck and some level of playoff bonus check, which doesn’t suck for him. -- Kurt Helin
12: 30 pm: The Heat have an open roster spot, and a team preparing to battle deep into the postseason could always use one more serviceable, veteran big man at the end of its bench.
It appears that 40-year-old Juwan Howard is the leading candidate to fill that role.
From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:The Miami Heat are strongly considering signing 40-year-old forward Juwan Howard, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
After playing the past two years with the Heat, Howard has remained unsigned this season. He has stayed in shape and has been working out throughout the season.
The Heat created a roster spot at the trade deadline, sending Dexter Pittman to the Memphis Grizzlies for a trade exception.
While a lack of size and rebounding issues have been weaknesses for this Heat team at times this season, bringing Howard back won’t be a way to fill either of those voids on the court.
Howard’s value is seen more in the locker room, and he knows the team well after being on the roster the past two seasons. His veteran presence will be more important than what he can provide by being in the actual lineup, if he ends up providing much of anything there at all.
During last year’s run to a title, Howard played just three minutes in five Finals games, and did so only in the Game 5 clincher, likely just to get his name into the box score.
