EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- As a 34-year-old veteran about to embark on his 17th NBA season, Kobe Bryant knows that he's much closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning.

That doesn't mean, however, that he's going to quietly fade into the background, even on a team that he described as "on its face, the best talent I've been around."

The Lakers might have added a three-time Defensive Player of the Year in Dwight Howard and a two-time MVP in Steve Nash since last season, but the No. 1 guy is still going to be No. 24 if he has anything to say about it.

"I got a question earlier about whose team this is," Bryant told reporters at the Lakers media day Monday. "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, a former teammate of Bryant's at the 2008 Olympics, with his happy-go-lucky personality and fun-loving ways, said he is at the point of his career that he is looking forward to falling in line behind the no-nonsense Bryant.

"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 said. "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."