Nellie on Josh Howard:
We are certainly very happy here in Dallas to have a quality player like Josh. I would call the draft a perfect fit where this is exactly what we've been looking for. A player that can play a two or a three, a player who will defend, rebound, is athletic, and young. The style of play that we play is Josh's forte, so I assume it will be a great fit. We are looking for good things to come from him in the future. It is not very often that you can get the ACC player of the year as the twenty-ninth pick in the draft, but that is exactly what happened this year. We feel very fortunate that it happened for our franchise. Josh is a quality player, quality human being, and has a wonderful family situation that we look for and that you don't find very often, so we feel that we are privileged people here in Dallas today.

Lance Young (Josh's agent) on Dallas and Josh:
We are thrilled to be here in Dallas and I think you guys are going to love Josh in the community, as a basketball player, and as a person. Josh and I went through some teams and Dallas was not on our list of where we thought he was going to go, but we are thrilled to have him here. He works very hard and can do anything and everything a coach ask him to do. He plays defense, he is a great rebounder, and great scorer, and I don't think there is anything coach will ask him to do that he won't be able to do. As far as an agent, Josh is the perfect client to have and I think you guys will love him here in Dallas.

Josh Howard on being a Maverick:
I am very thankful to be giving this opportunity and I am still amazed at what happened last night with my name being called at the twenty-ninth pick. I am very excited right now and very eager to learn.

Nellie about what caught his eye about Josh:
We really needed a player who could rebound and defend and that was more athletic. Mike Finley's been playing forty minutes a game for quite a few years for me and we are trying to cut that down, and really need to because of the hamstring pull last year. We need to get deeper, more athletic, and younger at those positions, so he does everything we are looking for.

Josh on coming to a NBA team that reached the Conference Finals:
I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn behind some great players like Finley and Dirk. I am just looking forward to the learning experience.

Josh on a NBA player that he compares himself to:
As far as intensity, I look up to Kevin Garnett because he brings it every night. I am the type of player who wants to play hard every night and win every night.

Nellie on the Mavs summer league for Josh:
We expect him to play on all of our teams this summer to get a good foundation of what we need out of him. His learning curve will hopefully go up in a quick direction and then hopefully he will be ready to go in training camp.

Josh Howard addresses the media a day after being drafted by the Mavs. DannyBollinger/dallasmavericks.com

Josh, his agent, and Nellie discuss his future NBA career in Dallas. Danny Bollinger/dallasmavericks.com

Josh Howard and Nellie show off his new Mavs jersey. Danny Bollinger/dallasmavericks.com