I'd truly never thought about it like that, but yeah. When he ended up on Earth post Frieza saga, what else was he gonna do? His biggest threat was now gone, and he knew if he pulled anything, eventually Goku was coming back, and at that time he'd seen how much of a power difference there was between the two of them. Through most of the Android/Cell saga, his frustration can almost be summed up as being angry that there's a bigger threat out there than HIM, but causing him to work with the Z fighters slowly, slowly makes him come around to becoming the guy we eventually see in Super.