Let's make a deal

Really, how did the Lakers even get to this point? If this Kobe diva move isn't more than a public ploy to yank on the fans' emotions and guilt the Lakers' decision-makers into a couple of high-profile transactions in the next few months, will it all have backfired when, after all the significant changes happen, the kid still isn't able to motivate his teammates to get past Phoenix again in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs? If a true overhaul is what needs to happen, why haven't we heard the same sort of public tantrum from a Hall of Fame winner such as Phil Jackson?

Because his misery already has some bedside company, and it's not worth rocking his 401K provider? What if Jerry West decides he's OK with returning to L.A.

for an image nip-n-tuck, slides into a front-office consultant job for the Lakers, has a free morning one day, makes a few phone calls, and is able to dupe Pat Riley into taking Lamar Odom and two other knuckleheads in exchange for the Heat's 35-year-old, injury-prone center? Does creating a star- driven team win out over a winner-take-all squad in Jerry Buss' mind? Or is he still weighing the pros and cons of drinking and driving around downtown Carlsbad?

Where's season-seat holder J. Nicholson when you need him to scream something about "handling the truth"? If you had to renew your Lakers seats today - and the team does have an early July deadline for most to do so - do you make that leap of faith that Kobe will still be around come this fall?

If this was a DVD movie release, how many alternate endings would Kobe have in him? Now, does Kobe have any juice to get anything done in the Kings' front office, too? Think Billy Donovan really cares about what happened to (in no particular order) Rick Pitino, Tim Floyd, Mike Montgomery, Leonard Hamilton, John Calipari, P.

J. Carlesimo or Lon Kruger? Did any of them ever win back-to-back NCAA hoop titles?

Or play in the NBA? After seeing the distressing video of Dario Franchitti throw out the first pitch before a Reds-Astros game in Houston - an extremely weak left-handed shot-put toss made as if the Indy 500 winner just had major shoulder surgery - was your initial reaction a) "At least he's no Brad Lidge," b) "At least his pit crew coulda changed all four of his tires and Simonized his spoilers before that ball got to the plate," or c) "At least he's got Ashley Judd to give him a healthy shoulder to cry on"? We have no motivating reason to build more clay tennis courts in these United States, do we?

To borrow this headline from the Honolulu Advertiser: Is Michelle Wie's game mired in a bad lie? Now whaddya have to say about LeBron James? Tom Hoffarth's "It's Out of the Question" column appears Saturdays.