Kobe Bryant likes Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, but 'it's my team'

• Lakers added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash this offseason
• Kobe Bryant says, "It's my team" but is happy to share
• Expectations are high for Big Four ... or whatever you want to call them

LOS ANGELES — Going back to the NBA's 2003-04 season, several teams went into the year with groups dubbed the Big Three or Big Four — a collection of superstars that seemed destined to win the championship.

But only one won an NBA title in the stars' first season together — the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, who brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play with Paul Pierce and went all the way to the title.

Two other attempts — one earlier, one later — fell short.

In 2003-04, aging stars Karl Malone and Gary Payton joined the Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, who were in their primes, but they fell one rung short, getting whipped by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals.

In 2010-11, the much-hyped arrival of LeBron James and Chris Bosh in Miami to play with the Heat's Dwyane Wade resulted in an emphatic loss in the Finals to the Dallas Mavericks.

And now we have another Big Four knocking at the door, this time back in Los Angeles and again involving Bryant.

Joining Bryant, a five-time NBA champ and 14-time All-Star, and forward Pau Gasol, a two-time NBA champ and four-time All-Star, are superstars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.

Howard and Nash have never won an NBA title but bring lots of individual hardware. Howard, 26, is a three-time NBA defensive player of the year and considered the best center in the game. Nash, a two-time MVP, is still, at 38, considered an elite point guard. Gasol is a proven force who played a huge role in the 2009 and '10 Finals.

Bryant may be the wild card right now, as he deals with a right foot sprain that will keep him out of the preseason, though his return for the regular season seems likely.

So what will it be for the 2012-13 Lakers? Will they be a juggernaut like the '08 Celtics, or will they be found lacking a certain something in the playoffs like the '04 Lakers and the '11 Heat?

"It looked to me like that Boston team was on a mission every night. They played as a team right from the beginning," Lakers coach Mike Brown says. "Maybe Miami had some bumps and bruises they needed to go through. Luck plays into it, too. Malone got hurt in '04. We just have to take care of who we are and do what we need to do in order to stay the course."

How long will it take for them to realize their potential? Will they? Is Nash too old? Will alpha dogs Bryant and Howard bring out the best in each other or squabble over whose turf is whose? Is Brown, whose first year as Lakers coach ended up with a Western Conference semifinal loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, up to the challenge of sorting out the roles and building a champion?

Leave it to cerebral Nash to get right to the heart of the issues facing the Lakers.

"Probably from the outside it appears that this is going to be a cinch — a bunch of great players come together and win 60-something games and go in as a contender," Nash says. "But it's going to be a big challenge for us. With so many personalities and dominant players, to try to find a cohesion and understanding is going to be a big challenge for the players — accepting roles, sacrificing. It's going to be a challenge for the coaches to find the best way for us to play.

"And it's going to be a challenge for me. Having played the same way more or less for the past eight years (with the Phoenix Suns), to come in and play a different way with different players is going to be a big challenge. But it's one that I'm thrilled to be a part of and open-minded as I go into this."

Is Nash still fit enough to do this? "I feel as good as I've ever felt. We'll see if that's the truth or if Father Time is catching up with

me."

Nash assists Howard, Bryant

Nash might need to make adjustments, but it is clear that, when he is on the court, the ball starts in his hands and he distributes the touches. Will this be cool with Bryant, who has a tendency to monopolize the ball?

Bryant says he's overjoyed at playing off the ball more often.

"Steve is the quarterback," Bryant says. "Now I get to just run routes."

But if you want to talk about who takes the last shot or whose team it is in a broad sense, that would still be Bryant, according to Bryant.

"I got a question earlier about whose team this is," Bryant told news reporters at the Lakers media day. "I don't want to get into the, 'Well, we share.' ... No, it's my team. But I want to make sure that Dwight ... when I retire, this is going to be his. I want to teach him everything I possibly know so that when I step away this organization can ride on as if I never left."

Howard has one year left on his contract but clearly is intrigued about the idea of carrying on in Los Angeles long after Bryant is gone. And he seems willing to play Luke Skywalker to Bryant's Yoda.

Nash, who is so calm and respected that he could be the perfect middleman in any ego struggle between Bryant and Howard, is predicting serenity."I'm willing to go through that process, learn from one of the greatest to ever play the game, and I think it will be great," Howard says. "I think learning from a guy like Kobe, I know he's going to be tough on me, but I expect that and I want him to do that. So I'll take all the heat that he's going to give me, because I know at the end of the day that's going to make me a better player and a better person and it's going to make this team better."

"I think they both feel very blessed to play with each other," Nash says. "Kobe, especially at this stage of his career, has an unlimited amount of appreciation to have a center of Dwight's ability, a player who can control the paint at both ends of the floor. For Dwight, it's a pleasure to have somebody who can take the pressure off him, who can create his own shot, who can take the shot at the end of the game. Dwight can concentrate on being a center that racks up big numbers and makes it difficult for the other team and rely on Kobe to do all the finishing."

Gasol thrilled to stay put

On paper, this was just what the Lakers needed: a savvy playmaker to relieve Bryant of the facilitating responsibility in the fourth quarter and a consistent defensive dominator (as opposed to Andrew Bynum) to make up for the lack of defensive ability in the aged lineup — Nash, Bryant (34), Gasol (32) and Metta World Peace (32).

"You know you've got a guy on the back side who is very good at coming across from the weak side and protecting the rim," Brown says of Howard. "(Plus) he's a charismatic guy, a fun-loving guy. He wants to be liked.

"When you have those things in your favor, it's easy to make friends."

And, of course, it's never been a problem for Nash to make friends. With his 84th assist this season, he will reach 10,000 for his career — joining all-time leaders John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson and Magic Johnson.

"I look forward to playing with Steve and being the receiver of some of his dishes," says Gasol, the Spanish 7-footer who has helped the Lakers win two championships and also has been heavily criticized during their playoff failures after the last two seasons. "He's a point guard who understands the game."

Gasol says he's thrilled to be part of this opportunity after having been traded away before last season (a deal for Chris Paul that was voided by NBA Commissioner David Stern) and then seeing his name included in Howard trade talk. Eventually, the multiteam deal sent Bynum packing but not Gasol.

"I'm very excited and happy to be here," Gasol says. "It's a new season, a new adventure, a new journey. We all understand the opportunity we have and how hard we have to work to be successful.

"We all know the goal is a championship, but we understand you don't win championships on paper. You have to have a certain level of desire, and you have to want it more than anyone else."

For Gasol, this is like a new lease on his Lakers life.

"It feels really good to be in this situation and not be involved with the stuff that went on last year," he says. "There was a lot going on, but last year is behind us. We learned. We grew. We moved on. And we're here."

Team must adjust to changes

Change is everywhere. Brown has installed the Princeton offense, which is new to just about everyone on the team. It will be intriguing to see how Nash, who has built his Hall of Fame career off pick-and-roll basketball, will adjust.

Scoring depth, a major problem last year, was addressed by adding forward Antawn Jamison and guard Jodie Meeks.

Jamison, 36, is a career 19.5-points-a-game scorer and a two-time All-Star.

Meeks, 25, averaged 10.5 and 8.4 the last two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.

And there's this wild card — World Peace, the former Ron Artest. He averaged career lows in scoring average the last two seasons — 8.5 and then 7.7. What does he have left to give?

World Peace now refers to the Lakers as "five rock stars," including himself in the big picture.

Five rock stars. Big Four. Whatever you call these Lakers, they're expected to do something special, even before they've done anything at all.

"Everybody's going to wish that it happened yesterday," Brown says. "But there are going to be some peaks and valleys throughout the season.

"What our response is to those peaks and valleys will determine whether we reach our ultimate goal of being a champion or how we evolve into being a team, knowing that, hey, the Western Conference champs? That's the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA champs? That's the Miami Heat.

"Nothing is given to us, and we have to respect that."