Veteran center Dwight Howard is getting ready for his first season as a member of his hometown Atlanta Hawks. His preparations seem so extensive, though, that he isn’t paying attention to the rest of the league.
On Friday, when speaking with SiriusXM NBA Radio, Howard revealed that he hasn’t “even looked at” the league’s newest superteam in the Golden State Warriors, via James Herbert of CBSSports.com.
When asked to confirm he hasn’t paid any attention to them, Howard stuck to his guns:
I have not. That’s the honest-to-God truth. I’m happy for K.D. I know a lot of people have been killing him for leaving and going to Golden State, but hey man, he looks happy out there. I did have a chance to, I went to the bowling alley and I saw the first half of their game against the Clippers and he looks happy. He’s in a great situation for himself. But I haven’t really had a chance to really sit down, I don’t really know who’s on their team. I just glanced on the game for a couple minutes. Like I said, I saw the expressions on K.D.’s face of how happy he was. I’m happy for him. They’re going to be a really good team. Hopefully, it would be great to be playing ’em in the Finals. That’d be fun. ‘Cause I personally, they’ve beaten the teams I’ve been on the last couple years, and I want to beat those guys really bad.
Howard was of course referring to former Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kevin Durant, whose two-year, $54.2 million signing made the Warriors the NBA’s most dangerous team heading into the 2016-17 season.
Durant became the third appendage of a Warriors’ three-headed monster that includes two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry and fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson.
Given a supporting cast that contains Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and newly acquired forward David West, there aren’t many people around basketball who will argue against the Warriors representing the Western Conference in the 2017 NBA Finals.
They are already looking pretty good in the preseason, too.
Howard, though, must focus on getting the Hawks over the hump in the Eastern Conference. Signing a three-year, $70.5 million deal, per Spotrac, the eight-time All-Star joined a team that’s made the playoffs in each of the past nine seasons but has made the conference finals just once.
He’ll also be tasked with replacing four-time All-Star Al Horford, who joined the Boston Celtics over the summer.
Even with all that pressure, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t know much else about a Warriors team that has dominated headlines for the better part of two years now.
But for those who are like Howard and unfamiliar with the Warriors and their roster, you can click here to view their entire team.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
