Dwight Howard requests buyout, wants to join contender.

Ultimately it will be up to Harden and CP3. When Howard was focused on the Rockets we were pretty good. CP3 running the second unit with Howard will be pretty damn good.

 

i expect neither of those guys to have any interest in him, especially harden

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23863678/dwight-howard-brooklyn-nets-working-buyout

"I want to be in a situation where I have an opportunity to help a team win," Howard said Thursday during a phone interview. "That's my only goal. All I need is a real chance and a clean slate where it's not people talking about my past."

Howard said he was blindsided by the trade, a transaction that allowed Charlotte to distance itself from the tax line.

"I was just really in total shock because I wasn't expecting it to happen," he said. "I thought this season was really good. For one, this is the healthiest I've been and two, my stats this season has been one of the best since I've been in the NBA."

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year recipient has yet to communicate with Hornets' brass.

"Everything happens for a reason," Howard said. "I'm not going to allow this to distract me from what my goal is, which is to continue to get better as a player."

He also expanded his game, in what he called a "resurrection year," with the addition of a midrange pull-up jumper.

"This year was an opportunity for me to show what type of player I am and where I can go," he said. "This season I made the most jumps shots that I've made my whole career. I've improved my pick-and-pops. My [isolation] numbers are very high. I'm in a position where I can still dominate on the post, but I can do more things now because I understand the game on a different level. Furthermore, I still want to continue developing and growing as a player."

This past season, Howard finished sixth in the league in screen assists (4.2 per game), a screen that directly leads to a made field goal by the teammate using the pick. He was one of only three players to average at least 16 points and 12 rebounds per game. He averaged 20.6 points and 12.1 boards in March.

"I want to give a team all of me, on and off the court," Howard said. "And basically, an organization that will give me a clean slate and just let me be who I am. I still can jump, I still can play, I still can contribute and I can contribute in any system."

Howard's talent has never been questioned. However, along his NBA journey, he has dealt with the perception that he's a locker room issue. And although there were no major rifts reported in-season the last two years, rumors of the Hornets players disliking him surfaced as soon as word leaked that he was joining his fourth different team in as many years.

Atlanta Hawks guard Kent Bazemore played with Howard during the 2016-17 season. He said his time being around Howard was a pleasant experience.

"Man, [Dwight's] gotten so much of a bad rap, but he's a great teammate," Bazemore told ESPN. "For such a long season, his energy and his laughing helps you get through. And if you're going through a tough stretch personally, it's good to have that type of person around. Before he signed in Atlanta, there was all this bad stuff said about him. We had our press conference together, so we got to know each other well. I found that he has a good heart and he works hard every day to turn that perception around. I'd imagine it's tough to continue hearing that stuff, but the things he did in the Atlanta community was amazing and he did it with a smile. That's the kind of person he is and that's who I know."

Howard questions the motives of his detractors.

"I know a lot of people are going to always have questions and try to point it to one thing or the other, but a lot of times you always have to consider the source," Howard said. "And when somebody always downplays another player, you have to check their character also. But there's always going to be rumors. But on the flip side, when I was in Atlanta, I was considered the best teammate and I got the award for being the best teammate. I've always prided myself on treating people how I wanted to be treated.

"If you come into the locker room, I'm literally somebody that tries to bring joy in the locker room. I try to talk to everybody to get to know them more on a personal level. But I'm not somebody that goes around trying to destroy your team or the locker room because I want to win, but now that I've been traded, that seems like it's a subject to get people to talk about that instead of the value that I bring to a team."

Whichever team that ends up being, he plans to step his game up even further.

"I felt like this year was a resurgence for me and the biggest reason is because I'm healthy," he said. "I didn't have any problems this whole year. My whole goal is to come back next season, improve and try to win a championship for my team."​

 

Remember when many thought Melo would make OKC #2? And HOU #1?

Lets hope Howard lands with the Warriors. Him, Durant and Draymond will get along justttt fine.

 

Lol Draymond would have made Dwight cry if he started his routine cancerous act in the bay as well

 

Probably true.

 

LMAO!!!!!!

 

How about Dwight to the Pelicans after Boogie goes to Dallas?

 

Dwight Howard running with the SECOND UNIT??? He couldn't run with the first unit the last time he was here. Will never happen!

 

Lol watch Washington or Milwaukee take the dive.

 

Perfect fit in Philly.

Backup to Embiid. Locker room gonna be lit...

Dwightwitter Wars.

 

Mirotic is a much better fit next to AD than cousins imo. adding howard to play alongside AD makes them easily worse to me

 

Dwight said "contender" though.

 

Very few teams that are contenders and have nothing to lose by signing him. If contender matters Dallas is out of the race. Sixers/Celtics would be fools to entertain him and risk their young players getting bad habits.

GSW probably is the one place that is a contender and has nothing to lose. They need a big man as well with the decline of Javale and Zaza. If this was a prop bet Golden State would be the favorites by far.

 

Dwight sux and will make a contender worse, not better.

Nobody needs a low post only big man in todays NBA. Especially not one who cannot convert in the low post.

I hope he goes to the Warriors so he can get in the way on the court with his refusal to adapt; and off the court with his primadonna antics.

 

If they can win with McGee and Swaggy pick they should have no problems winning with Howard.

 

There are no contenders in the league just the warriors.