It Pays to Play the Game : Youth basketball: Recruiters lure players as young as 10 with free high-tech sneakers, free travel and sometimes even cash.

At Victoria Park in Carson, someone has an eye on the action. Same for the Queen Anne and Denker recreation centers in Los Angeles, as well as playgrounds and gyms near you.

Wherever the cadence of bouncing basketballs can be heard, someone will be watching. Children as young as 10 and 11 know it. The adults influencing them--parents, coaches and scouts--also know.

Everyone is looking for the heir to Jordan’s throne.

This new star may not rise out of the streets of Los Angeles. So the eye also is cast on other basketball hot spots--New York, Chicago, Washington, Detroit. . . .

But rise he will, and most likely he will graduate from what has become a flesh market--an off-Wall Street carnival of bartering and brokering. Instead of stocks and bonds, the player dealers push bodies. The biggest and best are delivered to high schools, youth traveling all-star teams and colleges for a price.

Sometimes, the fair market value to get a player is a pair of high-tech basketball sneakers. Other times it is meal money or a trip to a summer all-star tournament, hotel and transportation included.

And then there are the cash payments.

“(Young players) see the older guys at the colleges with the perks,” said Benny Davenport, coach of the L.A. Westside Blazers youth team since 1967. “They think it is their God-given right that they get these kinds of things, too.”

It may not be their right, but it is part of today’s game of moving basketball players through the system.

The Roundball Roundup

Whether people want to believe it or not, kids who play on all-star traveling teams are getting paid.

--Josh Oppenheimer, Northern Arizona guard from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High School

One summer day a fews years ago, Chris Mills was playing pickup basketball with members of the L.A. Rockfish, a traveling all-star team.

The Rockfish boasted 11 future Division I scholarship players. Mills--a member of the American Roundball Corp. (ARC) summer team--was on his way to becoming one of the country’s top five recruits. Some of Los Angeles’ best talent was lighting up the gymnasium in Hollywood that afternoon, recalled David Benezra, Rockfish coach.

Suddenly, a representative from Mills’ youth all-star team appeared with a car full of sporting goods--a sort of Foot Locker on wheels. He feared that Mills might consider defecting to another program and wanted to ensure that would not happen.

Mills was offered the store.

Then, Benezra said, a rival coach arrived with a trunkload of enticements and a similar offer.

It is unclear how they knew where to find Mills. But certainly this future All-American from Fairfax High School was the prize in a bidding war.

Benezra could do nothing but watch, mouth agape. He said it was difficult to believe the methods the youth coaches used to court Mills, who said recently he does not recall ever playing pickup basketball with the Rockfish.

But when it comes to players with extraordinary talent, coaches apparently will do plenty. A few years later, Mills was the center of a college recruiting scandal that rocked the University of Kentucky.

Mills’ father, Claud, allegedly was sent $1,000 in a package with game film by a Wildcat assistant coach. That disclosure was the catalyst for an NCAA investigation that resulted in Kentucky’s probation. Mills transferred to the University of Arizona where he will be eligible to play next season.

Dozens of Los Angeles players, coaches and officials say that situations such as Mills’ illustrates the corruption of Southern California youth basketball.

They say the Southland is rife with recruiting wars that begin with shoe-company sponsored leagues and teams. The recruiters are suspected of being equipped with top-of-the line sneakers, other sporting goods equipment and cash to entice players, an allegation shoe company officials deny.

On one side is the American Roundball Corp. league of the San Fernando Valley. It is sponsored by Nike, manufacturer of the popular Air Jordan basketball shoe.

ARC also sponsors elite traveling all-star teams that play in national tournaments in the off-season.

On the other side is the Slam-n-Jam league of Carson. It is sponsored by Reebok, manufacturer of the popular Pump basketball shoe.

Slam-n-Jam also sponsors elite traveling teams.

In between are smaller organizations that play in the two leagues--the Westside Blazers, KNE Spurs, B&B; Bulls, Orange County Crush, South Coast All-Stars and Orange County Express. These are mostly neighborhood programs with little or no corporate sponsorship.

All, however, want L.A.’s best players, and in some respect all recruit them.

The players and parents contend that basketball keeps youths off city streets, away from gangs and drugs. Why shouldn’t they use their talents to get ahead?

So, the youths learn to expect free trips to summer tournaments around the country, shoes, sweats, uniforms, meals and, in some cases, money.

Some of this is done in violation of high school and collegiate sports rules, according to officials. Representatives of governing bodies such as the California Interscholastic Federation and the NCAA acknowledge the problem but say it is difficult to stop.

“I had a friend who was thinking about a high school,” said Randy Horn, a guard at L.A. Cathedral High School. “The coach was talking to him a lot, picking him up and taking him out to dinner. My friend was more excited about going out than worrying about whether it was right or wrong.”

Said Robert J. Minnix, a director of enforcement for the NCAA: “You and I can talk about morality and ethics. But don’t tell some kid from the streets about that.”

And on the streets of Los Angeles, the flesh market is thriving. The peddlers--known as body snatchers, bag men, barracuda parents--are plying their trade at the gyms and playgrounds, each looking for the next great prospect. Oppenheimer, who grew up with L.A. youth league basketball, said the city’s best players are recruited three times. First, he said, youth league coaches battle for junior players. Then, high school coaches enter the ring, and finally the colleges.

Said Trevor Wilson, a graduating UCLA forward who developed through ARC: “What’s scary is, you see a lot of sixth-graders who have talent, and they will have a lot of guys gnawing at them. I don’t think kids (that age) are mature enough to handle that.”

Down in the Valley

Sometimes we just get used.

--Randy Horn, a junior guard at L.A. Cathedral High School

In a few years, many of the players on the Mid Valley I eighth-grade all-star team will be coveted by college coaches.

Names to remember: Cameron Murray, brother of UCLA’s outstanding freshman, Tracy; Damon Ollie, brother of North Hollywood senior standout Dana Jones; Terryl Woolery, brother of Fairfax star, John; Lorenzo LeuLaui, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound power forward, and Alex Lopez, a 6-10 center.

This 14-and-under team successfully competes against many high school varsity teams, say local scouts.

They are the showcase team of Rich Goldberg, director and founder of ARC.

Goldberg, a junior high school teacher and owner of a Burbank sporting goods store, is the architect of a basketball empire. He is credited with turning out some of L.A.’s biggest names--Mills, Wilson, Higgins and Don MacLean.

How he persuades such talent to join his league is subject to debate. Supporters say he is the reason so many L.A. players are recruited by Division I colleges. Critics claim he has taken recruiting to new depths.

“I call it the decline of basketball in Southern California and I trace it to Goldberg,” said one coach who asked not to be identified. “He was the one who started paying the players, letting them do all sorts of outrageous things.”

Beyond the usual perks such as shoes, gym bags and uniforms, charges have been leveled that Goldberg buys players outright. Recent allegations surround eighth-graders Ollie and LeuLaui.

Ollie was a member of the KNE Spurs that play at Dorsey High School before defecting to ARC’s all-star junior high team last summer. LeuLaui, who lives in Santa Ana, was with the Orange County Express before leaving 1 1/2 years ago. Each player left his neighborhood program for a team that plays and practices in North Hollywood.

Coaches from both neighborhood teams say they lost their stars because Goldberg paid the parents. Ollie’s mother, Spurs’ coaches charge, was paid $10,000. The LeuLauis were given $15,000, according to reports.

The disgruntled coaches were unable to document their accusations, but insist that the circumstances were unsavory at best.

Gail Ancar, Ollie’s mother, disagrees.

“If they didn’t have that to say, they would have something else to say,” she said. “The free shoes, trips and all that didn’t have anything to do with Damon switching teams. Anyone who says that Rich Goldberg bought Damon Ollie, I don’t care what they say. They ought to quit being so jealous.

“If something like that is offered to you--a chance to go on trips and play for a more competitive team--then why not take it? Everybody doesn’t live in the Valley and make $100,000 a year. With ARC, it’s more exposure for Damon.”

Said Woolery’s mother, Tamara: “If you go to see how Damon is living, you’ll know Gail was not given a lot of money. She is not that type of person to sell her kid.”

Mike Morrison, coach of the Spurs, said he tried to arrange for Ollie and Woolery to play for both teams. Morrison said Goldberg agreed, but later persuaded the families to have the boys play solely for ARC.

Goldberg offered another version. He said that Ollie, Woolery and some other Spurs were asked to choose which would be their main team, Mid Valley or the Spurs, when the teams entered the same Thanksgiving tournament. Ollie and Woolery selected Mid Valley.

“The next day (Morrison) calls Damon and Terryl and throws them off the team,” Goldberg said. “It was a straight out-and-out lie because he said they could play on both teams without repercussions. Then he went around accusing me of inducing the kids to play, which is ridiculous. I never had a problem with the kids playing on both teams.”

Woolery’s mother said: “Rich is helping the kids who aren’t the superstars. So I can’t fault him for helping the superstars, too. I do think he has a genuine concern for the kids.”

Lorenzo LeuLaui’s situation is similar to Ollie’s. LeuLaui was playing with the Express, which gained some measure of recognition with Bob Gottlieb, a college coach for six seasons at the University of Jacksonville and Wisconsin Milwaukee.

With the addition of LeuLaui in 1988, the Express improved dramatically. That did not go unnoticed by Goldberg. LeuLaui and Gottlieb’s son, Doug, were allowed to play on Mid Valley’s all-star team in an AAU tournament in Seattle at Bob Gottlieb’s request.

After the tournament, LeuLaui decided to switch to Mid Valley, said Lorenzo’s father, David.

In the book, “Raw Recruits,” by Alexander Wolff and Armen Keteyian, Gottlieb said he was told “that Rich Goldberg had come by (LeuLaui’s) house that fall. Goldberg told him how much he liked Lorenzo and the family, how he knew they were poor. He wanted to help them put a down payment on a new house, help them buy a new car. He offered David $15,000.”

Gottlieb said in the book that David LeuLaui later told him he had received $5,000.

“I’d asked the father whether he thought he’d have been offered that money if his son wasn’t a basketball player,” Gottlieb said. “And he said, ‘Yes. It’s a miracle. Goldberg giving us this has nothing to do with my son being a player. It’s because he wants to help me, because I’m a poor man. What’s wrong with that?’ ”

Gottlieb said in an interview that he was so upset that he tried to recruit some of Goldberg’s best players.

“I couldn’t offer them anything except a chance to get good coaching,” he said. “None of them were interested. I was so angry about what happened with Lorenzo. Goldberg was supposed to be a friend.”

He said he has not talked to Goldberg in 18 months, although his team plays in one of ARC’s youth leagues.

David LeuLaui, a machinist, said Gottlieb’s account is a fabrication. He said Goldberg never gave him money. He said Gottlieb confused the fact that LeuLaui bought a used van with money from a savings account.

“He thought that money came from Nike,” LeuLaui said. “I told him where it came from.

“I am the father of six children. I wish Rich Goldberg gave me $15,000. But it is ridiculous to think he would give money for a seventh-grader. If he gave me the money, I would tell you. I have nothing to hide.”

LeuLaui said Goldberg does help defray the cost of trips Lorenzo takes with the team. Goldberg makes sure Lorenzo has transportation from Santa Ana to North Hollywood for games and practices and pays for out-of-state trips, such as one over spring break to Las Vegas.

“He paid for the trips to Seattle and back East,” LeuLaui said. “I gave my son $100 to give to him to help him because Rich is not a rich man.”

Goldberg, who spends three nights a week plus weekends making sure his leagues around the Southland run smoothly, also denies the allegations.

“It makes me wonder why I’m doing (this),” he said. “I’m not looking for a college job, and I’m not even looking for a high school job anymore. We do it for the kids. Some of these others do it for their own self-interest, and that’s the big difference.

“Gottlieb is frustrated. He’s an ex-college coach who can’t get a job. He is in it totally for himself and his son. He’s not in it for the kids, and the kids know it. It’s just total jealousy. There is no way I would have ever done that (pay the LeuLauis).”

Although those involved categorically deny payoffs, no one questions Goldberg’s influence in helping eighth-graders pick their high schools.

Youth league directors often align with certain high school coaches because they have access to school gymnasiums and players for summer all-star teams.

The arrangement also serves high school coaches. They have a breeding ground for talent, starting with boys as young as 8. It is not beyond a youth league director to deliver a player to a high school if the prep coach cooperates by sending players to the director’s league.

Ollie, LeuLaui and Woolery are considering tiny Campbell Hall High School in North Hollywood, where ARC plays some games and practices. The 6-10 Lopez last week announced he would attend the school. Their presence would make Campbell Hall, a Southern Section 1-A school, an instant basketball power.

Campbell Hall’s coach, Joe Jackson, attended a tournament last February in his gym in which the eighth-graders were participating.

His presence might be considered a violation of the Southern Section’s rule against undue influence, said Dean Crowley, Southern Section associate commissioner of athletics. High school coaches are not allowed to contact prospective players, although it happens more than the high school governing body cares to admit.

Crowley sent each Southern Section principal a memo three years ago, advising them of potential problems when ARC teams use school’s gyms.

“I think in a lot of cases the principals don’t even know the gyms are being used,” Crowley said. “And the coaches don’t know what the rules are.”

Besides Campbell Hall, Goldberg has leagues at Artesia, La Puente Nogales and Santa Ana Century high schools. Crowley said Goldberg now contacts his office in an attempt to comply with regulations.

Since the players in question have opportunities to play for some of the city’s more prestigious programs, many wonder why the stars of Mid Valley would consider Campbell Hall.

“Picking a high school can be as hard as picking a college,” said Ancar, whose eldest son, Dana, has accepted a scholarship to Pepperdine.

“Anything can happen basketball-wise. I wanted Damon to have the academics first.”

David LeuLaui said Goldberg wanted the eighth-grade team to stay together through high school. The only way he could do that without moving every player into a certain district was to place them in a private school that is not confined to enrollment boundaries.

But LeuLaui told his son, who is a straight-A student, North Hollywood was too far a commute.

So, LeuLaui is considering all the Santa Ana schools, such as Mater Dei, Saddleback, Santa Ana Valley and Century. He said Lorenzo is leaning toward Century, where he plays in one of ARC’s spring leagues.

Lorenzo said he also was contacted by Coach Leo Klemm, who is thought to aggressively recruit junior high school players to Santa Monica St. Monica High School.

The Campbell Hall case is not the first instance in which Goldberg has attempted to place players.

In 1982-83, Goldberg was a walk-on coach at Calabasas High. When he arrived with Trevor Wilson, the principal was upset, said John Reich, the school’s present athletic director.

Wilson had been coached by Goldberg since he was 13. Although Wilson lived across the valley in Sherman Oaks, he was supposed to move in with a family in exclusive Hidden Hills, within Calabasas’ district, Reich said.

But Wilson was forced to leave after a few days on campus, Reich said. Goldberg left after the season when the school hired a full-time teacher to coach.

Wilson eventually played for Reseda Cleveland after bypassing Van Nuys, where his brother, Hunter Greene, was a star.

“When Trevor was coming up, there were a tremendous amount of (high) schools trying to recruit him,” said Greene, formerly a standout for the University of New Mexico.

Goldberg said that Wilson asked to attend Calabasas because his junior high did not have a competitive team. He said Wilson, a sister and his mother, Antoinette, moved into a wing of a home in Hidden Hills.

“The whole family moved there,” Goldberg said. “This was for academics as much as basketball. I’ll admit it probably was a mistake. But Trevor decided to leave on his own because he was so far behind in school.”

Said Greene, who maintains that Goldberg was a major influence in helping Wilson become a college basketball player: “My mom, my two sisters and I never left Sherman Oaks.”

Goldberg’s partnership with Joe Dunn, coach at Burbank Bellarmine Jefferson High School, also has been questioned. They are co-owners of a sporting goods store.

Goldberg advises some ARC players to attend Bell-Jeff because, “(Dunn is) the best coach in the Valley,” said Alex Lopez’s mother, Deborah.

Goldberg said that he and Dunn did not direct players to Bell-Jeff.

“If that’s true, then why aren’t all the Mid Valley kids going there?” Goldberg asked.

American Roundball Corp. leagues are conducted in 32 cites around the country, from Bloomington, Ind., to Seattle. The flagship operation is in Southern California.

Yet, Goldberg’s operation might be crumbling. Sonny Vaccaro, who does promotional work for Nike, said he will reevaluate the shoe company’s sponsorship of ARC this year.

“I’m embarrassed,” Vaccaro said of the situation in Los Angeles. “I hope we can settle it down and do the right thing. I nor Nike will allow anything to go on underhanded.”

Vaccaro said he does not know specific instances of player payment, but “a value system must be set up. It can’t be the most important thing in the world to be on a team that has the best team.

“It’s not that important to me if Rich wins a summer league title or if Reebok wins one. What’s important to me is having a thousand kids in the program.”

Dan Jones, director of Nike’s basketball promotions, said the company spends about $150,000 annually on ARC in equipment, scorekeepers, game officials, T-shirts and uniforms. Jones said the total reflects 32 ARC leagues nationwide, not just Southern California.

Jones said it is a misconception that Nike or Goldberg give away shoes to the 5,000 to 7,000 young players who participate nationwide. He said Nike does give shoes to traveling summer teams that play in all-star tournaments.

“Despite what has been said, Rich Goldberg has a good reputation in the L.A. area,” Jones said. “He has exposed a lot of kids to basketball. He has provided that opportunity through a lot of hard work.”

Besides the Slam-n-Jam league, Reebok sponsors the state high school basketball championships.

“Do you pull out all sponsorships?” Vaccaro asked. “What are you going to do? The shoe companies are not going to go out of business if we stop sponsoring summer league teams. We’re giving something back. That’s what we were trying to do. It’s a give-back to the community.”

Despite Vaccaro’s stance, some L.A. coaches blame shoe companies for escalating the recruiting wars.

“The system doesn’t want to hear about saving any kids from the inner city,” the Blazers’ Davenport said. “It wants to put the shoes on the next Michael Jordan.”

Vaccaro, who started the Dapper Dan all-star game in Pittsburgh 26 years ago, said he accepts responsibility for allowing ARC to operate unchecked. He said the problem started when basketball left the neighborhoods and went national in the early ‘80s.

The NCAA’s Minnix agreed. He said competition with all-star games, all-star camps, AAU, National Junior Basketball, Basketball Congress International and other leagues has changed the game’s fabric.

Up in the City

There’s nothing wrong with California youth basketball. Just because there are a few bad people out there doesn’t mean the rest of us are doing anything wrong . --Issy Washington, director of the Slam-n-Jam youth league

Issy Washington, 50, says he has not missed a basketball season as a player or coach in more than 40 years. He started the Slam-n-Jam league more than 11 years ago and, until Goldberg started the ARC, had the only game in town that mattered.

Washington has fewer detractors than Goldberg, but his critics say this former Air Force major has catered to young superstars by giving them Reebok shoes and accessories to keep them in his league.

“These guys like Issy Washington are awfully, awfully powerful,” Minnix said. “If you don’t cater to them, they won’t bring their kids to the tournaments. They demand a few goodies a coach with a few more morals might not ask for. The shoe companies pay homage to these guys more than the high school coaches.”

Washington dismisses the criticism by denying that he recruits players. He also denies giving players special treatment with shoes or accessories. He said Reebok gives him 50 pairs of shoes to give to underprivileged youngsters.

Washington also said he buys Reeboks at cost, from $25 to $30, to distribute to Slam-n-Jam players.

He said Reebok gives him $20,000 to run his league and $20,000 to run a national tournament. He also receives about $40,000 in equipment.

Washington charges an entry fee of $125 a player. Participants get shoes, T-shirts and organized games for their money. ARC’s entry fee is $65.

Some players, often the stars who come from poor families, are given discounts to play in the leagues. Washington and Goldberg say they do this out of charity, but it is the majority, paying full freight, who apparently make up the difference.

Washington said his approach to youth basketball is different from Goldberg’s.

“I’m not trying to win a national championship like he is,” Washington said. “I’ve never won one. I don’t control anybody except the guys out of Victoria Park. I’ve never sat in on a home visit with a college coach, and I don’t steer kids to high schools. But you just can’t control all the coaches in the league.”

Washington cites efforts in tutoring inner-city youths in taking college entrance exams as an example of how Slam-n-Jam helps the community.

“I’m down here where the real wars are happening,” Washington said. “What we’re trying to do is give some of our kids the same opportunities as rich, white kids. A loss of a $72,000 scholarship is a loss to the black community.”

He said Slam-n-Jam is so popular that 800 players applied for 600 slots this spring.

Players from most teams must try out. Those turned away often play in the less competitive National Junior Basketball league, which revolves around high schools, not regions.

Washington, also chairman of boys basketball for the Southern Pacific Assn. of the AAU, said he does not need to recruit because high school coaches send players to him.

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” Washington said. “To say I, Reebok or Nike control all the kids . . . none of the kids are getting involved with this free stuff.

“I keep hearing I am having a feud with Rich Goldberg. Well, I’m not. And I don’t care about losing top players to Rich. We’re still going to beat him.”

Slam-n-Jam has about 50 teams with 10 to 12 players a team playing in three locations during the spring. Washington no longer offers summer leagues because he said he did not want to interfere with high school summer programs. But Team Reebok is well represented in all-star summer tournaments.

Pat Barrett, who coaches an outstanding Orange County-based sixth-grade team that competes in Slam-n-Jam, said of the 600 participants, as many as 75 eventually will play NCAA Division I basketball.

Mindful of that possibility, college recruiters become the sycophants of youth league organizers such as Washington.

The Age-Old Game

If I wanted to go out and recruit for my team, I could go to L.A. and give a kid a pair of shoes and sweats and their parents some gas money to take them around and they would be with you at all the tournaments.

--Pat Barrett, formerly an assistant coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei High School

The L.A. flesh market has been operating for years, although probably not to the degree that it is today.

“A lot of youth ball coaches were connected to high school coaches (years ago) but people didn’t know it,” said David Benezra, who started coaching at the Beverly Hills YMCA when he was 14.

“Plenty of coaching friends of mine in the South-Central area were driving around, getting shoes from coaches to give to the players on their team and influencing them to go to certain high schools.

“There was one guy who would drive from park to park in the off-season. He picked up the kids and said, ‘I’ll take you to McDonald’s, give you a free T-shirt and I want you to play for my team.’ His roster changed from week to week.”

Benezra said that former Pepperdine star Dwayne Polee, as a youngster, played for seven youth teams in the span of a month during one season.

“There were no rules regarding switching teams,” Benezra said. “It was whoever had the best deal going that week.”

Many youth coaches are considered basketball junkies who simply love the game. They feel important when watching a youngster they coached play in the Final Four or NBA. They can tell friends that they made a difference.

But others see the young players as opportunities to gain recognition in the basketball world. They believe that attaching themselves to a superstar can lead to an NCAA Division I coaching position, employment with a high-powered booster, or perhaps, at least, a pair of season tickets.

Once a player and his parents trust this person, he can control the college recruiting process. When Benezra coached the Rockfish, he was criticized for wielding too much control.

But Benezra, who last season coached at Northern Arizona, said he worked with the parents to educate them on how to best select a school. He said he never dealt players.

“I’ve been in a position where I could have lied and told some big Division I school that I can deliver a player,” Benezra said. “They’ll go for it. There are some desperate programs out there. They are desperate to find somebody who is a pipeline to the best kids.”

That is the essence of flesh peddling. The talent broker serves as a middleman between college or high school recruiter and family.

Barrett, who started coaching youth teams in Orange County in the early ‘80s, has been accused of peddling Tom Lewis to colleges in 1985.

Today, Barrett said the criticism has left him drained.

He said some adult had to help Lewis when he was a senior at Mater Dei High School. Lewis was living with the Barrett family because of problems at home. Barrett was Mater Dei’s assistant coach. The circumstance seemed suspicious.

“(Brokers) are looked at as either trying to help the kid or wanting something in return,” said Barrett, who, either as a youth league or specialist coach has worked with Higgins, Mills and Ed O’Bannon, among other players, and has refused to help in their recruiting. “I was put in that either-or category with Tom. I never did anything wrong with Tom. I’ll never be in that position again.”

Lewis decided to attend USC, but later transferred to Pepperdine when Trojan Coach Stan Morrison was fired.

Ken Curry, coach at Los Angeles Harbor College, used to have a lot of clout as a coach of the L.A. Magicians, one of the first city all-star teams. Curry coached such players as John Williams, Maurice Williams and David Greenwood.

If a recruiter wanted to talk to a Magician he would first contact one of the coaches--Curry, Joe Clark or Joe Dunn.

“We almost became quasi-agents,” Curry said. “It got to the point where it wasn’t just with high school coaches. We might have had too much of an influence.

“My personal opinion is that all-star teams and traveling teams have too much of influence on a child’s recruitment, compared to high school coaches.”

High school coaches voice other complaints. They say the value of team play is lost in spring and summer leagues, where the emphasis is on playground moves and scoring.

“In the spring, a lot of coaches just let their guys run up and down the floor and there is no benefit to kids,” Mater Dei’s Gary McKnight said.

McKnight started coaching in youth basketball but has developed California’s premier high school program. His Monarchs won the Division I State championship last month.

“These coaches are almost like pimps,” he said. “It’s just an ego thing for them to be attached to the best kids.”

Yet his players and most high school stars compete in Slam-n-Jam or ARC, for the simple reason that athletes who want to be recruited must participate.

“There are (few) college coaches who go and scout high school games anymore,” said Coach Mike Miller, who led Ribet Academy of La Canada Flintridge to the Southern Section 1-A title this season.

“The players have to participate in the leagues now, otherwise they’re passed by. There is a limited number of scholarships.

“Players are being led to the slaughter.”

Those who survive hope to find their names on the next pair of big-selling sneakers. Those who fail are seldom heard from again.

Times staff writer Steve Elling contributed to this story.

PERSPECTIVES ‘The system doesn’t want to hear about saving any kids from the inner city. It wants to put the shoes on the next Michael Jordan.’

BENNY DAVENPORT

Youth basketball coach

‘Whether people want to believe it or not, kids who play on all-star traveling teams are getting paid.’

JOSH OPPENHEIMER

Guard at Northern Arizona

THE MARKETPLACE * O’BANNON: The family of Ed O’Bannon, the Artesia High standout who is the Southland’s prime recruiting target, has tried to shield its son from the college bidding wars. C12

* PRESSURES: Josh Oppenheimer, who attended Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, remembers being a recruiting target at 14. And he isn’t happy about the decision he was drawn into making. C13

* DRAWING A CROWD: At 6-feet-10, 14-year-old Alex Lopez of Granada Hills is already attracting the interest of recruiters. C13