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GREENSBORO - It's been a rough year to be Josh Howard - or at least Josh Howard's public image.

After a 2008 in which the NBA star from Winston-Salem spoke up for marijuana, spoke out against the national anthem and got ticketed for street racing, he'll open 2009 by attaching his name to a high school basketball showcase.

The Josh Howard Foundation will be the presenting sponsor of the seventh annual N.C. Scholastic Classic, a six-game event held on the Martin Luther King holiday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Monday's announcement marks the first time Howard's two-year-old charitable foundation has lent its name to the event.

"We often help solicit local sponsorships for events we host. In this case, the foundation actually approached us," said Andrew Brown, public relations manager for the coliseum. "Josh is looking for positive things to attach his name to in the community where he grew up."

Howard, a unanimous pick for 2002-03 ACC player of the year as a senior at Wake Forest, has flourished in five-plus seasons with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks

But making spin moves on the court was easier than spin control off the court in 2008.

• In April, Howard spoke candidly about using marijuana. "What can I say? If you can do it and it's not affecting your everyday life, why stop?" he told the Dallas Morning News. "If I'm able to do it, but not while I play basketball, it lets you know I can quit whenever."

• In July, Howard was charged with speeding, careless and reckless driving, and speed competition. Howard was stopped on U.S. 421 in Forsyth County, and police said his black Lexus was going 94 mph in a 55 mph zone, racing a silver Volkswagen.

• In September, a video shot on a cell phone at fellow NBA star Allen Iverson's charity flag football game in July went viral on YouTube. When the camera phone was on Howard while the national anthem was being sung, he said: " 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this (expletive). I'm black."

It's not role-model stuff, but it's not the whole story, said Tabetha Bailey, public relations manager for the Josh Howard Foundation.

"Honestly, some of the things that have been published have been negative," Bailey said. "Fair or unfair, it doesn't matter. It's not going to stop Josh Howard from caring and giving and doing. He's one of those unselfish givers within the community.

"Everyone knows about the speeding ticket, but no one talks about how he held a free (basketball) camp on that same day for more than 200 children and fed all of them."

Bailey said Howard's foundation has done a lot of good in Dallas and North Carolina: feeding 325 families on Thanksgiving, running a Christmas toy drive, giving away back-to-school haircuts for youngsters.

In June, the foundation plans to add a scholarship program for college freshmen from single-parent homes.

"You can't turn your back on your community, regardless," Bailey said. "That's why we wanted to sponsor this tournament - because it focuses on the scholastic. You can play ball all day, but not many people make it to the NBA. ... We felt this one was a better fit because it focuses on so much more than the shooting of a basketball."

Four teams from Guilford County - Page, Ragsdale, Greensboro Day and Northern Guilford - will compete in the event, which features more than a dozen Division I college prospects.

"If he's doing something good for high school sports, I'm all for it," Page coach Robert Kent said of Howard. "I admire him for trying to do something good for the Triad community, but with the hopes that he understands what kind of role model he is."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com