Like wild-eyed participants in a modern-day gold rush, today's best high school basketball players charge into the NBA draft with dreams of unimaginable fortune dancing in their heads.

They don't worry about the hard work it will take to succeed.

They don't think of the inevitable pitfalls they'll encounter before their gamble pays off.

They just pack their bags and jump.

Ready or not.

The NBA's next infusion of players barely old enough to vote comes Tuesday night, when the league's annual draft is conducted at Madison Square Garden.

As many as six high school prospects are expected to be selected in the first round, continuing a decade-long trend that has changed the landscape - for better or worse - in professional basketball.

Since Minnesota used its first-round pick on a skinny 19-year-old from Chicago in 1995 and then watched as Kevin Garnett blossomed into a perennial

All-Star, high school players have impacted every draft. This year, expect more of the same.

Gerald Green, a 6-foot-7 swingman from Gulf Shores Academy in Texas, could go as high as No. 3 in the upcoming draft. Martell Webster, a 6-7 shooting guard from Seattle Prep in Washington, won't slip out of the lottery.

Will they be James-like sensations, or Brown-like busts?

Will the next group of incoming high school stars hit the Mother Lode, or will their dreams turn into fool's gold?

Good question.

A DIFFERENT WORLD

In 1997, Golden State coach P.J. Carlesimo was choked and punched by one of his veteran players, Latrell Sprewell.

Now an assistant at San Antonio, Carlesimo knows first-hand that professionals don't always act professionally, especially youngsters who make the gargantuan leap from the preps to the pros.

"It is dangerous to say these kids are less professional," he said. "I just think they are less experienced."

Like many coaches, Carlesimo believes high school players should not attempt to gain that experience in the NBA, if playing in a quality collegiate program is an option.

"The time you spend in college is an important part of growing up," he said, "and I don't think it's anything basketball-related they miss out on. College is usually their first time away from home, and that makes the whole experience a big part of growing up. That's what they're missing when they come right to the NBA.

"All of a sudden, they're thrust out there with a million bucks in their pocket, they're traveling on charters, they're living with older guys. It's just not the real world. . . . It's not even the real world for guys who have experienced three or four years of college."

That's why some high school players - no matter how talented - don't make a successful transition.

They never learn to deal with the lifestyle.

"Players have tremendous freedom in this league," Carlesimo said. "Guys are going to be treated like men. They've got to go to bed, they've got to be places on time, they've got to manage their life. And these kids who jump, they've never done that before."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan agrees.

"Kids who don't go to college - even for a couple of years - miss out on a lot of things that mature you as a person," he said. "And once they get to the NBA, they find out that we're running a business here. How much time do we have to spend with them every day? Two or three hours? . . . There are really very few demands on their time."

Perhaps young players need better advice in the initial stages of the draft process, another veteran coach suggested.

"A lot of kids are getting a bad message," Detroit's Larry Brown said. "You know, they are told to come out when maybe they shouldn't. . . . When I was growing up, the important thing about playing ball was getting good enough to get a college education. Now, these kids feel like they're a failure if they aren't drafted."

A LOT TO LEARN

After high school players are drafted into the NBA, many must play catch-up when it comes to some basic professional skills.

Like developing a team concept.

Perhaps players who skip college have never faced high-caliber opponents in hostile environments with a championship riding on the outcome.

Perhaps they have never been expected to play with a sore ankle or a bad cold, just because their teammates needed them.

Perhaps they have never been asked to put the team ahead of themselves.

"That just doesn't exist with a lot of these kids," Sloan said. "They come out so early, they are the team."

Said Brown: "I would hope everybody understands how important it is to have a culture in the locker room about being a team, respecting the game and respecting your teammates. . . . That's the way sports are supposed to be [played]."

"They are living their dream," said Danny Ainge, Boston's executive director of basketball operations. "But there is, for whatever reason, a sense of entitlement. That sense of entitlement is dangerous to any team, and it's rampant in the NBA."

Sometimes, NBA coaches find themselves teaching young players important lessons at inopportune times.

During a late-season game against San Antonio, New Orleans coach Byron Scott benched his prized rookie, high-schooler J.R. Smith.

Scott didn't like the way Smith was performing, and the two argued at halftime. Finally, Scott asked if Smith wanted to play in the second half.

"I didn't get an answer for a few minutes," he said, "so I used some choice words. The one things I'm not going to tolerate is attitude, especially from a 19-year-old kid. . . . I just didn't think he gave the kind of effort we needed. It looked like he didn't want to be out there, so I obliged him."

Clearly, Scott felt that Smith owed his team and his teammates more than he was giving.

"The game is not respected enough by the younger players," Scott said. "They take too much stuff for granted."

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

Whether it is related to the recent influx of high school players or not, one thing is clear: The NBA has an image problem, thanks in large part to the Nov. 19 brawl between the Pistons and Pacers that spilled into the stands.

In all, five players and eight spectators were charged because of their actions. Indiana's Ron Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season. Others, including former high school draftee Jermaine O'Neal, received lesser suspensions.

"This has been the most bizarre year I've ever seen in basketball," said Memphis president of basketball operations Jerry West. "I've never seen some of the things or been involved in some of the things that have gone on."

In Boston, Ainge has grown so weary of witnessing unprofessional behavior that he has promised to make changes. All-Star Paul Pierce, for instance, is reportedly being shopped as trade bait.

"There are some code-of-conduct issues we're going to evaluate," Ainge said. "We need to step up our code of conduct and become more like the old Boston Celtics. We need players to change."

He isn't just talking about the Celtics.

"There are a lot of things you see throughout the league," Ainge said. "I just feel we need players who are going to respect the game more, respect their teammates more - respect the coaches, the media, the ballboys, everybody. There is too much of a lackadaisical attitude and that's frustrating. There's just not enough respect for people or the game itself."

How does the situation improve?

"We just have to make stricter guidelines and have higher expectations," Ainge said.

Kobe Bryant jumped from high school to the NBA. His problems have been well-documented: a sexual assault charge in Colorado, his part in breaking up the Lakers and a handful of childish outbursts during Los Angeles' dismal season without Shaquille O'Neal.

After a 103-89 loss at Cleveland, Bryant stormed into the locker room and announced that no one should shoot the ball except him or Lamar Odom. Their teammates, he said, would have to settle for "scraps."

After another game - a blowout loss at Golden State - Bryant barked at interim coach Frank Hamblen that he had been left in the game too long.

"He needs to grow up," longtime NBA assistant Tex Winter said. "He needs to understand there are an awful lot of good players out there and he's one of them. But not the one, necessarily."

EATING THEIR YOUNG

College coaches, of course, would like to see the country's best high school players spend a little time with them instead of leapfrogging into the NBA.

Some of their reasons are selfish, but many make sense.

"The NBA [is] eating their young," said Georgia coach Dennis Felton. "They're getting less skillful players -less fundamentally sound players - and they're losing a generation of players who don't make it. [Players] who come go out too early, don't make it and wash out."

At Michigan State, coach Tom Izzo often loses recruits to the NBA.

"In the last four years, I have noticed an incredible pressure on players - sometimes from their own families," Izzo said. "The poor kid. That's all he thinks about. It's not about winning and having fun and meeting people. [It's] how can I get out? That puts pressure on you."

There's peer pressure, too.

If a top high school player picks college over the NBA, Izzo said, "It's almost like it's unacceptable to their manhood, even though it's against Mother Nature," meaning most teenagers aren't strong enough physically or mentally to make the jump.

That's one thing that bothers Sloan.

When youngsters declare for the draft, it puts a heavy burden on NBA teams trying to evaluate them.

"It's such a long, tough thing - playing a season in the NBA," Sloan said. "These kids don't have any idea what they're getting into. The travel. The practices. The games. Dealing with injuries and a lot of other things. . . . Some guys can adapt to it, I guess. But how do you determine who those guys are going to be?"

Said Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor: "Ten or 15 years ago, we were getting more proven products. We're not doing that today."

Mentoring can be critical to the success or failure of a young player.

In San Antonio, the Spurs drafted Tony Parker in 2001. He had just turned 19, but quickly became the starter on a championship-caliber team.

Part of the reason?

David Robinson and Tim Duncan were in charge of the locker room, and they guided Parker through his formative years.

Referring to Duncan, coach Gregg Popovich said, "His leadership is exhibited most in the fact he practices every day. He practices as hard as anybody any day. He runs whatever we're doing. Offense. Defense. Sprints. He does it with his teammates and he expects them to do the same thing."

"I had to learn," Duncan said. "I wasn't asked to be a leader early in my career. I was allowed to learn through time - just [by] watching the guys around me and in front of me. It's just something that came with time."

NO MORE 18-YEAR-OLDS

The NBA wants to stop the annual invasion of high school players and the new collective bargaining agreement reached earlier this week will include a 19-year-old age limit.

In other words, most players won't be eligible for the draft until they attend at least one year of college.

"We'd like to get our scouts and general managers out of high school gyms," Stern said. "The very fact our scouts are in there cause [too many] kids to think they are going to be drafted."

Cutting down on the number of high school players who are drafted "would be good for our business," Stern insisted. The quality of NBA basketball would improve, making the game more attractive and marketable to the public.

For every high school star who makes headlines in the NBA, Stern believes, there are others who don't make reach their potential.

"LeBron was extraordinary out of high school," he said. "Tracy McGrady and others were not. They just grew into All-Stars. So for us, a player coming in later will be the same player. He will just be more skilled and schooled . . . The important thing to look at - and there's no doubt LeBron was great - but I just don't think our teams should be in position as a business matter of making judgments on 18-year-olds playing against other 18-year-olds."

Continuing to draft high school players will only continue a system that obviously needs re-tooling.

"By virtue of being in the gymnasiums," Stern said, " [we] are encouraging these kids to think that they are going to be drafted by the NBA and have careers in the NBA. But they are not."

The league's ultimate goal?

"We want to make sure the skill level of our players continues to grow," Stern said.

- Some information in this article was obtained from reporters who cover the NBA for other newspapers.

What do you think?l Is there a problem with lack of professionalism in the NBA, or is it par for the course for professional athletics? Are players coming straight from high school bad for the league? Or do NBA teens get a bad rap? Send letters to sportseditor@sltrib.com