Here’s Dwight Howard talking to the media at All-Star weekend. He’s one of the four dunkers in the upcoming Slam Dunk contest.
Q: Have you talked to the other contestants about their dunks at all?
Dwight Howard: Well you know, we talked, but nobody is going to tell their dunk secrets to anybody. It’s just going to be a lot of fun, I just can’t wait.
Q: Is it safe to say your dunks will be things we’ve never seen before?
Dwight Howard: I think about three of my dunks have never been seen before. Well, all of them have never been seen, so hopefully I get a chance to do it. If not, I do have two of my dunks on Youtube.
Q: What’s your favorite Bourbon Street memory here in New Orleans?
Dwight Howard: Ah, man, I haven’t really been out on Bourbon Street, but I did go to a restaurant and they had some fried barbeque oysters and they’re awesome.
Q: Are things easier for the Magic now with trades sending players to the West?
Dwight Howard: No, we still got a tough road in front of us. We’re fighting to be a great team and some teams that we look up to as far as the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics, you know, they’re great teams and we want to be right there in the mix. I think people always forget about the Orlando Magic when they talk about good teams in the East, so we really want to build on becoming a good team.
Q: Do you think there will be years ahead of Yao versus you, two true centers?
Dwight Howard: Oh yeah, I think there will always be that between me and Yao. Like everyone says, big men are like dinosaurs, they’re becoming extinct. Me and Yao and Andrew Bynum, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, there’s not a lot of us. We’re trying to keep centers going and let everyone know you still need a good center to win basketball games.