THE LATEST LINE: LA LAKERS AT LEAST DESERVE A MENTION

Whether or not these Los Angeles Lakers will ever be regarded as one of the best teams in NBA history is up for debate.

Do the Lakers match up man-for-man with some of the elite squads to ever play professional basketball? Once you get past Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, no way.

But the fact of the matter is this: Los Angeles rolled to its second consecutive championship with a 15-1 playoff record -- the best ever -- and became the first team to go through the playoffs undefeated on the road.

Those dominating numbers alone say that the Lakers at least deserve consideration to be mentioned among the sport's all-time premier squads. It's difficult to compare teams from different eras and it's plenty tough to even gauge the strength of the league on a yearly basis.

But to dominate the way the Lakers did in the last month or soshould count for something.

I'm no historian, so I have no idea where these Lakers should rank on the NBA's all-time lists.

But they should at least be included in the conversation.

* Add another name to the list of minor-league baseball players from Southeast Missouri State University who recently had season-ending shoulder surgery.

First it was outfielder Jeremy Johnson and pitcher Ryan Spille.

And I found out just the other day that pitcher Dan Huesgen also went under the knife in the past couple of weeks and will miss his entire second season of pro ball.

* Wednesday is the final day that underclassmen who have not signed with agents can withdraw from the NBA draft.

One of those agentless underclassmen is Austin Peay star Trenton Hassell, who might face a difficult decision. The mock drafts I've seen have Hassell going late in the first round, but if there is even a chance he could slip to the second round, then he might figure he's better off playing a final season with the Governors.

That latter scenario would no doubt be bad news for the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference.

* Here's wishing SEMO strength coach Tom Kelso all the best as he prepares to leave the school and pursue other career opportunities.

I got to know Tom, who recently announced his resignation effective June 30, well during his 10 years in Cape Girardeau. He's not only a first-class guy but also extremely good at his profession.

* The Speak Out caller of a few days ago hit it right on the head regarding the Speak Out from a bit further back that complained about the Southeast Missourian sports department covering summer boys baseball but not summer girls softball.

This most recent Speak Out talked about coaches needing to call in to let us know the results of their games -- and that is exactly right.

Most of the articles we write regarding summer baseball are based on coaches telephoning us with results. Softball coaches don't call in their results, so we have nothing to go on.

So here's an open invitation to area softball coaches of high-school age summer teams to phone in their results to our sports department in the evening following their games.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian