THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : These Babies Could Use More Time in the Crib

It’s April madness!

It’s a rite of spring. As soon as Dick Vitale screams his last “BABEEEE!” a line of children heads for the NBA draft.

This spring’s prize is Stephon Marbury, a Georgia Tech freshman, who will be followed by a busload of undergrads and perhaps another high school player or two. Kevin Garnett was considered a once-in-a-decade prospect. A year later, every self-respecting prep All-American thinks he’s that good.

This has been devastating to the college game--NCAA tournament TV rankings have swooned in the ‘90s--and it isn’t good news to the NBA, either.

For years, the pros reaped a promotional bonanza from the tournament, which handed it established stars. The Philadelphia 76ers might have yearned for Jerry Stackhouse, but as a matter of league policy, Commissioner David Stern probably would have preferred to see him at North Carolina another year or two, hopefully emerging wise enough not to taunt Michael Jordan, demand trades or pummel opponents.

Given a coincidence of interests between the NBA and the NCAA, I am offering a modest proposal to this mess:

Let undergrads enter the draft, sign with NBA teams, retain their eligibility and keep playing for their schools.

This would guarantee their right to a livelihood. The NBA could bar them until after their junior year--as baseball does now. The players could remain on campus, or play in the CBA, or whatever.

Of course, this would blow the concept of college amateurism sky-high. That would be small loss, since it’s mostly a sham, undercut by sweetheart deals on cars, and other under-the-table deals.

Once, someone asked Magic Johnson how much cheating went on. He said that he had played for the arch-straight Judd Heathcote who wouldn’t stand for anything.

“How about getting discounts on stuff?” he was asked.

“Oh,” he said, laughing, “that’s everywhere.”

The NCAA allows “student-athletes”--there’s another good one. I haven’t met many top players who weren’t really athlete-students and I’ve met plenty who were athletes enrolled in school--to sign a professional contract in one sport and retain amateur standing in another. This would be an extension by degree.

If you wonder how Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins is supposed to get Marbury to do what he says after Stephon signs a $3-million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, I don’t know.

On the other hand, if you ask Cremins if he’d rather have a rich Marbury or none, I think he’ll opt for the discipline challenge rather than the hole in his starting lineup.

The alternative is the current system, with players leaving school earlier and earlier. The college game loses out and NBA teams make millionaires out of kids who take celebrated pratfalls, embarrassing everyone in the process. Then they become free agents and sign elsewhere.

Then there are the real losers, the kids who aren’t ready. Right now there’s a 6-foot-10 high school senior from Columbia, S.C., named Jermaine O’Neal who hasn’t made the necessary SAT score to play as a freshman, whose “representatives” have been saying he may come out. This is an oft-heard bit of nonsense. It was the reason Garnett gave for turning pro rather than attending Michigan.

Jermaine, no relation to Shaquille O’Neal, could sit out his freshman season in college or play at a junior college. He is, indeed, a talented player, but right now he could fit his shoulders through Shaq’s pants leg. If he tries the NBA, his pro career is likely to be over long before it ever should have started.

“We’re assuming that when you’re a pick in the top five, you’re almost a finished product,” Indiana Pacer President Donnie Walsh says. “That isn’t going to be the case any more.

“And when you start dealing with high school kids, we’ve got to worry about what their life is off the court because they’re not ready for this. Now when a kid comes to you, you’ve got to worry about, ‘We can’t let this kid live in an apartment all by himself.’

“That worries me. I don’t think we’re ready for that. I know the kids aren’t ready for it.”

Baseball, which has always drafted high school players, has more experience and that experience has taught it to bring the kids along s-l-o-w-l-y.

“We have two rookie teams,” Dodger farm director Charlie Blaney said, “Great Falls, Montana, and Yakima, Washington.

“There are booster clubs that take the players into their homes. They board with families who have a back bedroom to rent out. They pay $150 a month or so. That’s important because they’re only making $850 a month their first year.

“Mom will wait up after games and fix him a sandwich. Dad will let them use the pickup truck on weekends.

“They’re going from playing two times a week to playing every day, from playing in the day to playing at night, from playing in front of family and friends to playing in front of a crowd, from having no media around to media. They’re experiencing failure for the first time. They’ve been stars in Little League, in American Legion, in high school and it’s never happened to them. We help them with that.”

Marbury et al haven’t experienced much failure, themselves, but there’s lots of it out there waiting for them, just around the bend.

PITINO: LET’S BEGIN BIDDING AT $50 MILLION

Rick Pitino is boyish, engaging, restless--in his brief New York Knick stay he was labeled “Larry Brown on training wheels”--and compulsively ambitious.

Friends have long predicted his return to the NBA, but it will take a good situation. The New Jersey Nets are gazing longingly at him, as are the Boston Celtics, but neither qualifies under the present ownership setup.

Nevertheless, Pitino dined with gadfly Net minority owner Joe Taub before the Final Four. Net President Michael Rowe even declared:

“If we had a coaching vacancy and Rick Pitino was available to be interviewed and would consider the Nets, I believe our current group of owners would be interested in placing him at the top of the list.”

Wait till they hear his asking price: 20. Not $20 million, 20% of the team.

Or maybe he’ll settle for 10% and a few million a year in salary (and an Armani contract, $150 a day for expenses, a car, etc.). Pat Riley’s deal in Miami has set a new standard for popular bench bosses. Pitino, no shrinking violet, has already turned down offers that would have put him ahead of every coach and manager in sport, including one from the Lakers.

The NCAA title was a triumph for his controversial, pressing system. Despite the hype, the Wildcats weren’t the greatest, deepest team ever. (Remember the UCLA team whose backup center, Swen Nater, became a No. 1 pick?)

NBA scouting expert Marty Blake, whose greatest expertise lies in buttonholing the gullible, said Kentucky had “nine draftable players.” That’s a reach, but in any case there certainly weren’t nine playable players. Pitino played only nine, including non-prospects Mark Pope, Anthony Epps, Derek Anderson and Jeff Sheppard.

Pitino once revitalized the Knicks, even as his traditionalist boss, General Manager Al Bianchi, moaned that a press wouldn’t work in the playoffs. It worked in the NCAA playoffs and Pitino will try it again in the NBA as soon as someone hands him a franchise.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

The Chicago Bulls, rolling again with Dennis Rodman back and Scottie Pippen out of his slump, play the Magic today in Orlando. The Magic is 21-4 since the All-Star break, 12-3 on the road after a 9-14 start. However, there are persistent reports of coolness between O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, of hard partying by young players, of tension between players and Coach Brian Hill. Stay tuned.

Payback, they live for it: The Bulls have stomped teams that have beaten them in their next encounter by an average of 18 points. Last week in Miami, Phil Jackson, who has long feuded with Riley, left Jordan and Pippen in until the closing minutes in an 18-point romp. “This was one of those statement games,” Jordan said, “just in case we face Miami somewhere along the road. Not to say Phil and Pat Riley might not have something going.”

Mr. Cool: Rodman returned at Miami, vowing not to let the Great Conspiracy rile him any more. Wary of tricks and provocations--a junior refereeing crew, a foul called nine seconds after he entered the game, Kurt Thomas trying to incite him to fight--he stayed calm. “It’s like Rod Thorn and David Stern were saying, ‘I wish he’d blown up,’ ” said Rodman. “But it’s not gonna happen. I’m gonna stay in this league as long as I’m able and no one is gonna run me out.” Sure, Dennis. Nice, Dennis.

Honeymoon, an idyllic vacation followed by a prolonged period of strife: New Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy ran afoul of the same fate as former coaches Riley and Don Nelson. Team curmudgeon Charles Oakley, just back and obviously feeling his old self, had a shouting match with John Starks in Indianapolis, then ripped Patrick Ewing, who went one for 14 in a home loss to the Magic with O’Neal out. “A lot of guys like to put things on their shoulders,” said Oakley, “but sometimes their shoulders aren’t big enough. Some bugs don’t die. There’s a disease on this team and there ain’t no cure for it.”

Imagine if he could play: Former Clipper klutz/fan favorite Matt Fish is now a favorite in Denver, where he just made history of a sort, goal-tending a missed free throw by a Milwaukee player. “When you leap like he does, things happen,” Coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. . . . Stern, on the recent rash of head butts, fights and walkouts: “We all have those members of the family that we know about but don’t talk about.”

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Enlisting

A look at the underclassmen that have declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft:

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Player Pos. Year School Ronnie Henderson G Jr. LSU Stephon Marbury G Fr. Georgia Tech Darnell Robinson C Jr. Arkansas Samaki Walker C Soph. Louisville Lorenzen Wright C Soph. Memphis

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