Even before last season ended, a lot of people already believed that Dwight Howard will opt-out from his contract and ultimately decide not to re-join the Houston Rockets because of a reported feud he had with the team's other star, James Harden.
But in a recent interview with ESPN's Tim MacMahon, the 6-foot-11 center denied that the two of them had any issues while playing together the past three seasons.
“Well, sometimes things don't work like they should. I've never had an issue with James. I wish him nothing but the best. I just think the timing of everything was a little bit different.”
The statement from the eight-time all-star may seem surprising as it has been reported in the past that they have a “cordially bad” relationship and he even admitted to ESPN's Jackie MacMullan last May that there was indeed something wrong with the two of them that he wants to figure out.
“I don't know. … I want to figure that out, too. I've been trying to wrap my mind around this season, what went wrong, and sometimes you can allow outside things to interrupt the circle. That probably happened with us.”
Now that he is with his hometown team, the Atlanta Hawks, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year is looking forward to a new beginning and a fresh start. He also wants to prove to all his doubters that he can still be the dominant force he once was during the earlier days of his career.
“No offense to the people that I had around me, but I just wanted to start over, start fresh. Like I said, it's a new beginning, so I wanted everything to be fresh. I didn't want to bring any old baggage or anything from my past to this organization. They believe in me, this city believes in me, so I just wanted to make sure that when I'm out there on the court that I'm free, that I can give this city and this team everything that I've got.”
No doubt, and they're going to push me to be that player that I can be. It's going to happen.
Follow Us
Subscribe