Under Rudy T., Bryant and the Lakers are struggling to stay in the playoff chase in the tough Western Conference. Brian Bahr/Getty Images

Rudy Tomjanovich reportedly will step down Tuesday night as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving the organization he signed on to help rebuild less than seven months after having his face branded on the cover of the its media guide.

Let the speculation begin.

What Tomjanovich leaves behind is more than $24 million in guaranteed money and a struggling team still searching for its identity, or at least the ability to mesh with the identity of its superstar player. No matter what reasons Tomjanovich gives, and he will have some good ones (his health, including a year-long struggle with bladder cancer in 2003, is a legitimate concern) rumors will once again center on Kobe Bryant, if indeed the Lakers' one-man circus has once again driven a championship coach right out of town.

One of Tomjanovich's most appealing qualities to the Lakers' brass was his ability to handle star players with big egos, as he did so successfully with Hakeem Olajuwon and Steve Francis. Neither of these players, however, is in the same stratosphere as Bryant, who somehow could not find happiness making millions of dollars on a contending team while playing alongside the most dominant player in the game and being coached by the most successful head man in the NBA today. Was appeasing Kobe's big head too much for the man who only played with his heart?

Tomjanovich, like any coach, has been second-guessed this season, from his inability to successfully integrate Lamar Odom into the offense to his decisions to play Tierre Brown early on instead of sharp-shooting rookie Sasha Vujacic. But Tomjanovich had to know when he signed his five-year deal that this would be a rebuilding process, that with the pending loss of Shaquille O'Neal the 2004-2005 Lakers would scarcely resemble the team that advanced to four NBA Finals in five years.

He had to know the trials his team would endure as a crumbling dynasty playing in the Western Conference with a proverbial bull's-eye on their backs. He had to know how hard it would be to coach an ambitious star like Bryant who feels he has to prove to the world night in and night out that he is capable of being the face of one of the most storied franchises in sports.

He had to know all this -- didn't he?

The question for the Lakers is, what now? There is no shortage of candidates, but can any of them pass the Kobe test? Mike Krzyzewski already turned them down, and Pat Riley has a front row seat on South Beach supervising the player Kobe couldn't play with. What's more likely is that Frank Hamblen, the lone holdover from Phil Jackson's coaching staff and the longest-tenured assistant coach in the NBA, will be asked to take the wheel of this sinking ship and try to salvage the rest of the season. But what about the future?

This year may be a wash (a playoff berth is a possibility and a first round sweep is a near certainty), but the Lakers need to figure out what kind of coach this team really needs. Is it a name, like a Lenny Wilkens (don't laugh, he will surface again) or Chuck Daly? Is it a retread like Brian Hill or Kevin O'Neill? Do they dip into the college pool for a John Calipari or Tom Izzo? Or should they take a chance on a veteran assistant like John Kuester or Marc Iavaroni. Hey, I hear Phil Jackson's available.

As far as their roster goes, LA's hands are tied -- Bryant, Odom, and Brian Grant are all max-level contract players who are tied into long term deals -- which means the Lakers have no choice but to play the hand they have been dealt. But as far as attitude and direction, as far as what they take into the future, the choice of the next head coach will loom as one of the biggest decisions Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak will ever have to make.