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.