Kobe Bryant's a Steve Nash fan. How could he not be?

The recent acquisition from the Phoenix Suns will undeniably open up the Lakers' offense and, in Bryant's view, improve their championship hopes.

"He gives us a much, much better chance," Bryant said Friday. "He gives us a great chance."

Bryant hadn't spoken to reporters since the Lakers were eliminated by Oklahoma City in five games of the Western Conference semifinals in May.

A lot has changed since then. Bryant knows it.

He has never played with a point guard as dynamic as Nash, who is fifth all-time on the NBA assist list.

"It enables me to do what I do naturally, which is finish plays ... as opposed to having to put guys in the right spots and facilitate the offense and playmake for everybody and still score," Bryant said after Team USA's first practice in a weeklong training camp for the Olympics. "I don't have to do that anymore because that's what Steve does best."

Bryant did not, however, indicate much about the Lakers' chances to land unhappy Orlando center Dwight Howard.

"I don't know if they're done," he said about more changes on the Lakers roster. "I don't think that they're done, but they obviously have a track record of doing things that has proven to be beyond what other teams in the league can do. The moves that they make just seem to come out of nowhere. Steve Nash just came out of nowhere. The Pau Gasol thing just came out of nowhere. That's just kind of been our M.O."

Bryant claimed to be looking at the Howard situation from afar.

"I follow it, as I'm sure everybody else does," Bryant said. "I don't know what's going on in his inner circle, what Orlando's looking for, what they want to do. I just wish the best for him and hope he ends up in a situation where he's happy."

Bryant has professed his hatred for the Suns in the past because Nash and Phoenix beat the Lakers in the first round of the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. He's quick to forget such things now that he's teammates with Nash.