SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Dwight Howard wore a not-so-subtle lavender plaid suit as he sat on the Houston Rockets' bench during Friday's game against the Sacramento Kings. Eager to seize upon the significance of Howard not being in uniform like the rest of his teammates, one Kings fan within earshot posed a question for the Rockets center:

"Hey Superman, why are you always hurt?"

Howard appeared a little irritated but stayed quiet.

View photos Dwight Howard is averaging 17 points and 12.3 rebounds this season. (AP) More

"I don't take it a negative way," Howard told Yahoo Sports. "I think it's all positive. If I wasn't doing anything right or wasn't playing basketball the way I was in the past, nobody would ever talk about me.

"Good, bad or indifferent I am going to remain the same person no matter how many times I get talked about or beat up or hit. I'm never going to change."

Howard has been verbally beat up a lot in recent seasons by opposing fans. He thinks it's mostly because some fans are still bitter about his departures from the Orlando Magic in 2012 and the Los Angeles Lakers in '13. After one fan heckled him on Saturday during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Howard told him to "Let it go."

"Orlando people are upset that I left without them really knowing what was going on then," Howard said. "I had a situation in L.A. where people swore up and down that I went out there and played like crap, which is crazy. It just made me realize that I shouldn't focus on the negative stuff. There are always going to be people trying to pull you down or pull you away from what your purpose is.

"I realize now it's a lot bigger than basketball. I'm not going to allow no one or nobody to stop me from accomplishing what I want to accomplish on and off the floor."

The Rockets also don't appear to have earned much respect, despite Howard and All-Star guard James Harden leading them last season to their first Western Conference finals appearance since 1997. While Houston appears to be more talented than last season, the Golden State Warriors, Clippers, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are often talked about as the conference's contenders.

"Any team that I've been on has never got any respect," said Howard, who played in the 2009 NBA Finals with Orlando. "So we don't expect that, but we are going to go out there and play. We don't think the teams that we play disrespect us. I think they have a lot of respect on the floor.

View photos The Rockets will continue to rest Howard during some back-to-backs. (Getty Images) More

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