Howard insists drama, back issues are permanently behind him

For the third time in four years, Dwight Howard is looking for a fresh start with a new team. This time, it's with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, who he signed with as a free agent earlier this month.

Drama and discontent has followed Howard at his last two stops in Los Angeles and Houston (as well as his later years in Orlando), but he's adamant things will be different this time. He says he's in a better place, both mentally and physically, than he's been at various points in the last few years.

"All the things that happened the past couple of years really just made me stronger, made me have some thicker skin," Howard told Steve Hummer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The 30-year-old center admitted this week he had tension with James Harden during his three-year tenure with the Rockets, something both men tried futilely to deny throughout the past season. Howard also admitted to craving more touches, and a more active offensive role.

Since undergoing back surgery in the summer of 2012, before his first and only season with the Lakers, he hasn't often looked capable of handling such an expanded role. But Howard said those back issues are behind him for good.

"My back hasn't been an issue, and I don't think I'll ever have an issue out of my back for the rest of my career," he told Hummer.

Meanwhile, the eight-time All-Star is trying to draw motivation from the prevailing sentiment that the Hawks' odds of competing for a championship got worse by adding him and losing incumbent center Al Horford.

"It angers me because it makes you feel like it's impossible," he said. "But I know that if all of us are on the same page and I'm in the best shape and I'm dominating every night, we're going to have a great opportunity."

Not the smallest of "if"s, but not necessarily untrue.