Dwight Howard talks leaving Magic/Lakers

Houston Rockets C Dwight Howard will face the Orlando Magic Wednesday night and Howard recently spoke of the decisions that were made when he left the Magic and this past off-season, the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Everybody's saying I was a 'coward' for leaving [the Lakers], and I knew I was going to get that," Howard said. "But I think with the situation I had to do what was best for Dwight....I know when I wanted to leave Orlando, and I decided to stay, I wasn't happy on the inside. I wanted to please everybody else and ended up hurting a lot of people by doing it the way I did. So, this time it's like I had a second chance.

"I said, 'You know what? People are going to hate me for whatever reason, so I can't allow that to stop me from making my decision.' I thought that my decision took a lot of guts because everybody's saying, 'How could you leave the Lakers and six billion fans?' But I don't care about being an outcast or about being somebody that may look bad. All I've got to do is win now, and I'm in the right situation."