Dwight will play the Lakers on Thursday and he had a lot of say about his former team and fans.
“It’s time for everybody to get over it,” Howard continued. “It happened. It’s in the past. I’ve gotten over it. It didn’t work out (with the Lakers last season). The timing was off. It just wasn’t (there). Everybody was injured.
“People can say that I ran from the situation, that I couldn’t handle the pressure. But I think there’s more pressure coming here to win than there was in L.A., because I left the Lakers to come play for somebody else. So I’m supposed to feel like there’s more pressure to win now, because everybody is like, ‘He left the Lakers; can he win?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m happy. I’m going to win regardless.’ I think people just need to let it go, and if they don’t, then that’s on them. I’ve let it go. It’s in the past.”
“I’m in a great place physically, I’m in a great place mentally, and I like this team,” he said. “We’re like a band of brothers. We really enjoy being around each other. We hang out off the court. The chemistry, from Day One, has been great. And that’s what you want out of a team. You want that chemistry. It makes you play better. I’m happy.”
“I came to a place where I could be Dwight,” Howard said. “This is the perfect place for that. These people have no reason to judge me for everything. This is a fresh start.
“I came here saying, ‘I’m going to be Dwight Howard. I’m going to be who I’ve been for the last 27 years, and I’ve never been a bad person. I’ve never been a bad guy.”
Best way for Dwight to get over it is to stop talking about it, but I digress.