With Dwight Howard gone for the Houston Rockets and Kobe Bryant recovering from injury, Los Angeles Lakers forward/center Pau Gasol is looking forward to reassert himself as a leader on the team.
"I think I have the most uncertain period behind me," Gasol told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The team has suffered a lot of changes, but as far as me, I am back in the position of a lot of responsibility, which I like, and I'm just going to focus on getting healthy.
"Now with Dwight gone I am the reference inside and I am more like I was a couple of years back when we made the finals three straight times and won two straight championships," he added.
As Gasol looks forward to the future, another Laker veteran, Steve Nash sat down with Grantland to discuss numerous topics including how the experience of being a Laker is incomparable:
"When you look back on the career and you can say you played for the Lakers for eight or 10 years, that's an incredible opportunity. If I were 27, in the prime of my career, there wouldn't even be another consideration. It would be the number one place you could play."
Even though Nash has only been a Laker for a short time, he worked extremely hard to make adjustments to his game for the betterment of the team:
"I knew it wasn't gonna be the same. I felt like I was going to try something new, and that I was going to adapt - and to accept that, and embrace it."
Despite only playing in 50 games this past season, Steve Nash rushed back from injuries and tried his best to help the team. He averaged 12.7 points and 6.7 assists in his first season as a Laker.
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