With Dwight Howard out of the picture, Kobe Bryant continues his reign as the face of the Los Angeles Lakers, just the way he likes it. Bryant certainly made an effort to get Howard to re-sign with the team. He sat in on the sales pitch meeting. He said all the right things to prove to Howard that the Lakers truly needed him. But the center departed for the Houston Rockets and Bryant is not concerned at all about it.

While speaking with reporters at his basketball camp, Bryant said he was happy for Howard and his new deal with the Houston Rockets. He promises that the two have no hard feeling towards one another, but they are not friends either.

"I'm happy for him," Bryant said. "I've said that before. I'm happy for him. It's important for free agents to make decisions that they feel is best for them. That's really what it's about, being a free agent. You have to make decisions that you feel is best for you, best for your family and best for your brand, whatever it may be. So, it is what it is."

Bryant has not been following the news as to why Howard left. Sources say the center could not handle sharing the spotlight with Bryant and that the star's intentions of playing at least three more years were too much for Howard. He wanted to be the top guy for a team and Houston gives him that opportunity. Bryant believes that Howard was never ready to take over as the face of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I think everybody is cut differently. Howard has his way of leading that he feels like would be most effective and would work for him, and obviously the way we've gone about it with this organization and the leaders that we've had-myself, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-we've done it a different way," Bryant said.

Steve Nash echoed those statements, saying that Howard was never really a good fit for the Lakers and never really found his niche with the team. Nash noted that he did not think Howard ever felt comfortable with the team and never really wanted to play for the Lakers in the first place. That did not stop the team from doing everything they could to hold on to Howard, making billboards and pitching television shows.

Bryant has no plans on re-following Howard on Twitter. Now that the two are each other's competition, Bryant does not believe in following his enemies.