During the toxic, final season in Orlando, Dwight Howard says he turned
inward and shut himself off from the world. Now that he’s a Laker,
Howard feels he can turn back into his goofy, fun-loving self.
Per SI:
“Now I’m here, and now I can just relax and have fun and be who I am,’
Howard said. ‘I guess last year I really just sheltered, or kept myself
away, because it was like, I say this, and then it’s going to be turned
into something else, or somebody is going to take it the wrong way and
make it seem like I’m a certain type of person. So I really just tried
to stay to myself. But now I’m basically free. It’s a lot of fun. This
is who I am.’
Howard was responsible for much of the ‘Dwight-mare,’ not
only the trade requests issued to Orlando but also the way in which he
let his once-spotless image be tarnished by all the secrecy and
silliness. In the face of nonstop scrutiny about his future, Howard put
on a what-not-to-do media relations clinic that not only turned him into
the NBA’s next villain but also left him more guarded and defensive
than ever before.
‘Everybody had a perception based on what was put out
there on TV, and it wasn’t the right one,’ Howard said. ‘There’s nothing
I could really do about it. So when I see that, I do get upset and it
hurts me because I’m like, ‘This is not me.’ I’ve never been a
distraction to a team. I’ve never been a bad teammate, never been a guy
who does all these things that people said I was doing. But I’m going to
show these [Lakers] guys that this is who I am. I love to have fun. I
love to bring people together, and I’m going to go out there every night
and give you 110 percent.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment