CHICAGO (CBS) Last week, Chicago Bulls analyst Kendall Gill said that if Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard wanted to win championships, then Chicago was the best fit for him. However, it sounds as if Howard plans on chasing titles while in Orlando.

“I want to start my own path and I want people to follow my path and not just follow somebody else’s path,” Howard told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “I want to have my own path, and I want to start that here in Orlando. But I can’t do it alone. Not only do I need the right teammates, but I need the city behind me. That’s the only way it’s going to get done. We can change this small city that we have — this small market that we have — and we can make it a big market.”

“As of right now, I’m a part of the Orlando Magic and I plan to be here,” Howard said.

“And I want the Magic to do whatever they can to make sure that we can get our city behind us. That’s the only thing that I want to happen: just to have the city behind me and the support of our fans. I never said I was leaving. I never, ever thought about leaving. That’s basically where my head is right now. I never said anything to them [the Magic] about what my plans were because that’s not what I’m focused on right now.”

Howard is still under contract with the Magic through the 2013 season, but could opt out of his current deal in the summer of 2012 and become a free agent. There has been a great deal of speculation that Howard is unhappy in Orlando, and that he would opt out of his deal when he had the chance.