Take it easy, Lakers fans....

All right, Lakers fans. Now you've had a week to think about it, sleep on it, perhaps have nightmares about it. Isn't it time to calm down, now? Of course by "it" I mean the Lakers being swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the NBA playoffs. After the sweep, Lakers fans everywhere had a collective seizure attack and started calling for an explosion of the team, claiming that everyone besides Kobe Bryant and owner Jerry Buss needed to be fired, released, or traded. But that is a tad bit of an overreaction, no? First of all, the Lakers did not play well in that series. That is, they did not play up to their potential. Kobe was missing shots he usually makes, Pau Gasol had been nonexistent both against the Hornets and the Mavs, and the bench, one of the Lakers' strengths, disappeared. The lone bright spot was Andrew Bynum; when he got the ball, he dominated. Second of all, the Lakers do not need to blow up the entire roster, but they do need to make a few changes. For one, they have to get younger. LA's is one of the oldest rosters in the league, and that hurt them against Dallas. Finally, as Phil Jackson has said, going for a three-peat is very hard. It is difficult for a team to get motivated for a championship when they have won the past two. The Lakers will be fine.

Having said all that, the Lakers off season should definitely be one of changes. First priority is hiring a new head coach, as Phil Jackson retired (another reason Lakers fans had a heart attack; Phil's last year should not have ended this way). A lot of talk about the replacement has circulated sports talk shows, blogs, and the Internet. Supposedly on LA's short list is Laker assistant and former Laker player Brian Shaw. Shaw played under Jackson and with Kobe and Derek Fisher during the first Laker three-peat from 2000-2002 and was a coach for the last two championships. Another name that has come up is Houston coach Rick Adelman. Adelman is famed for coaching against the Lakers with the Sacramento Kings in their epic playoff battles in the early 2000s. He also led the Portland Trail Blazers to two Finals appearances in 1990 and 1992. The list for a replacement is rounded out by former Laker and LA Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy, and former New York Knicks coach and current ESPN color man Jeff Van Gundy. I'm sure there are other names floating around out there, but those are the ones I've heard the most frequently.

The second part of LA's off season should be dedicated to making the roster better. As mentioned earlier, the Lakers are old and need to get younger. It should be noted that it is likely there will be a lockout in the NBA after the Finals, much like the current NFL lockout, that will keep teams from making trades and signing free agents. Hypothetically, if there is no lockout, the Lakers should try and make some moves to get better. They are in prime position to swoop in and take All-Star center and current Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic. Howard is a free agent after next season, and has made it clear that he wants out of Florida. Orlando definitely wants to trade him, so they can get something for him rather than see him leave to free agency and get nothing, and the Lakers are one of the front runners in landing Howard. Dwight is easily the best center in the league, and the Lakers have arguably the second-best in Andrew Bynum as trade bait. Dwight has said that he would like to play in LA, and Orlando certainly won't pass up trading the best for the second-best since they don't want be left cold if Dwight leaves in free agency.

In short, the Lakers had a tough ending to their season, but it is not the Apocalypse for basketball in Los Angeles. The Lakers will still be one of the top teams in the West next season, even if they don't make any roster moves, and are in excellent position to grab Dwight Howard, improving their team by leaps and bounds. Don't lose hope in them, at least not yet.

Thoughts on NBA Playoffs, Round 1

If this is only the beginning of this year's NBA playoffs, then basketball fans are in for one of the greatest postseasons in recent memory. Seriously, how great was that first round? For starters, there was an 8-seed (Memphis) beating a 1-seed (San Antonio), only the 4th time that has ever happened. Then, there was the dramatic Portland-Dallas series, with the Blazers giving the Mavs all they could handle, and Brandon Roy, after disappointing Games 1 & 2, coming off the bench with 16 points in Game 3, and then scoring 18 of his 24 points in the 4th quarter of Game 4, including a "What just happened?!" four-point-play late in the quarter, leading the Blazers on a comeback after trailing by 18 at the start of the 4th. Roy had made headlines by voicing his displeasure with his playing time in the first two games after Game 2, and then proved his point in Games 3 and 4. Hopefully, this means that Roy is back to his old playing self, the one we saw several years ago, before he had injury issues. During all that, Chris Paul and the 7-seed Hornets gave the defending champion Lakers fits before LA won in 6 games. The Oklahoma City Thunder turned some heads by sweeping the Nuggets in what many thought would be the closest first-round series. In the Eastern Conference, the Indiana Pacers gave the best-record-holding Bulls all they had in an exciting five-game series. Bulls PG Derrick Rose proved why he is the MVP-favorite by scoring 39 in Game 1, 36 in Game 2, and averaging 27.6 points over the whole series. The Celtics and the Knicks, two franchises familiar with each other in the playoffs dating back to the 1960's, met in a 3-6 match up, with the Celtics sweeping. The Atlanta Hawks upset Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in 6 games, they will be playing the Bulls in the 2nd round. Finally, we reach the much-scrutinized Miami Heat, who defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games. In their 4 wins, the Heat looked about as dangerous as any team, with LeBron James showing shades of Magic Johnson in his play, and Dwayne Wade playing some of the best basketball of his career, and Chris Bosh performing well as the third option. In their Game 4 loss, though, they showed why many believe Miami is not a championship team, yet, in their lack of crunch-time performance. The Heat will play Boston in the second round, a match up leaving NBA fans drooling. Other storylines and questions preclude this upcoming 2nd round. Are the Lakers still the team to beat? Are Rose and Kevin Durant of the Thunder joining Wade, LeBron, and Kobe as the elite of the elite with their play in these playoffs? Can the Grizzlies, after winning their first playoff series in their history, keep their mojo working against OKC? These questions can only be answered by the rest of the playoffs. Get ready.

First Post!

Hello Everyone-

Well...I don't know if anyone reading this is doing it because they are actually interested in what is being written, or if they are just following the blog to be nice. Either way, thanks! The plan is to write about the interesting sports topics currently trending. This is mostly for fun, but partly for practice as I plan to major in journalism in college. You all know about my great love of sports, I figured combining that with writing practice would be a good idea.
Expect new posts soon!
Ryan