He thinks Houston has similar talent to the 2008-09 Magic squad he led to the NBA Finals.
On Tuesday, Howard compared Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons to Hedo Turkoglu and Rockets shooting guard James Harden to Courtney Lee but also added that Harden has more scoring ability. He compared Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley to Rafer Alston and Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin to Anthony Johnson.
Howard said he was disappointed that, last February, after the Magic acquired Tobias Harris in a trade, the team granted Harris' request to wear No. 12, Howard's old number.
"I just think that despite whatever happened, there was a lot of things that I did and that we did as a team, and that number was special down there," Howard said. "And I was a little bit upset about that."
(Howard likely didn't know, and perhaps still doesn't know, that Harris wanted to wear No. 12 as a tribute to a close friend who had died of leukemia at 17 years old.)
Still, Howard indicated he's focused more on the present than the past.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Houston TV reporter asked Howard whether he's a true Texan now.
Howard responded he has a cowboy hat at his new home and some chaps to wear over jeans. He added he plans to order some cowboy boots in his size.
The reporter asked if Howard will wear that outfit one day.
"I'll say this," Howard responded. "If we're in The Finals, I'll wear my outfit to the game. And I'll wear it after we win."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...t-howard-1016-20131015,0,4370990.story?page=2



