Stern Wants to Tap the Fountain of Youth

School’s out: Teens dominated another draft last week, with three sophomores and a high school kid going before anyone took a senior, late-blooming Wally Szczerbiak, but that may have been the kids’ last jailbreak.

Signaling his impatience with the children’s crusade, Commissioner David Stern hid them whenever possible. Duke freshman Corey Maggette, a local kid, was left out of media sessions at the Chicago pre-draft camp. Jonathan Bender of Picayune (Miss.) High wasn’t invited to Washington’s MCI Center to sit in the green room, put on his Raptor cap, pose with Stern and tell TNT he didn’t know anything about reports he’s headed for Indiana.

There’s a reason Stern is letting his displeasure show. With labor peace, the league and the union are finally confronting the issue.

Stern wants to add a year to the rookie scale for incoming players under 21, two for those under 20. This would have been bad news for Elton Brand and Baron Davis, both 20, and worse for Maggette and Lamar Odom, both 19, and Bender, 18.

The union has to sign off but has agreed to the plan, in general terms.

“We did agree we’re going to sit down this summer and talk about it,” Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik says. “I think the union realizes it’s a problem for everybody.”

Everyone thought the three-year rookie scale that started in 1995 would turn the kids around, but the agents told them they might as well turn pro and start the clock.

The three years just became five and the children are still pouring over the wall.

From a league standpoint, it’s a pain in the rear. Despite the NCAA’s suspicions and Billy Packer’s ranting about “the enemy of basketball,” the NBA liked it when the NCAA tournament was a ratings-grabber that turned out full-fledged celebrities like Grant Hill, who’d been in three Final Fours.

NBA teams have their own problems--each other. If the kids are there, they must be identified and evaluated, even if it means attending Christmas-time high school tournaments, leading many scouts to wonder what their lives have come to.

Packer notwithstanding, the colleges’ motives aren’t wholly altruistic (see: reports the NCAA is backing away from barring freshman eligibility), since they’re making a lot of money off the kids and keeping it.

However, we can all agree that an education is a good thing and childhood is a terrible thing to truncate, so let’s hope for the best.

ONCE MORE LIGHTLY

What’s a draft without winners and losers? Herewith, our thoughts, in order of draft position.

* Chicago--Jerry Reinsdorf said not to take any fliers, so Jerry Krause played it safe with Brand, who may not be a star but won’t fall on his face and embarrass the Jerries further. Ron Artest was a nice pick at No. 16, but the Bulls ain’t back quite yet.

* Vancouver--Steve Francis may be better as a two-guard than a point, since he’s a scorer who can handle the ball, rather than the other way around. He’s one of four players, with Odom, Maggette and Bender, with real star potential so this could be a great choice--but what about next season, when the team that has never won 20 games has to break in another rookie?

* Charlotte--It’s a shame Davis won’t play before his home folks, but it’s good that the balance of power has shifted to the clubs so the Hornets could take him. He didn’t want to go there, knowing he’s locked up for five years. For three years at $8.3 million, one has to make concessions. Unfortunately, Charlotte may be a swamp, as well as being near the wrong coast, with malcontents Anthony Mason and Derrick Coleman just warming up.

* Clippers--They could hit big with Odom, or miss. Everybody swoons for talent, but intangibles like desire are just as important or Lamond Murray and Rodney Rogers wouldn’t be on their way out of town. Nevertheless, Elgin Baylor made the right pick. If the kid gets it together and Michael Olowokandi turns out, it’ll be a new day.

If not, what can anyone say they haven’t already heard?

* Toronto--The Raptors have Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady to develop so Antonio Davis makes a lot more sense than waiting two or three years for Bender.

Of course, they will have to renounce Charles Oakley to get cap room for Davis, after which they can offer Oakley only the $2-million exception, making it plain they believe he’s headed for the Lakers and they’re giving up.

* Minnesota--Szczerbiak should be a nice player. William Avery slid on the pre-draft circuit, but he’s a good athlete who can shoot.

* Washington--There’s nothing wrong with Richard Hamilton, who seems to have a lot of personality--putting a tape measure on Brand on ESPN’s “Up Close,” he announced Elton’s height as “6-4 1/2”--but unless he walks on water, he’s overmatched.

* Cleveland--New General Manager Jim Paxson’s debut: drafting a backcourt of Andre Miller and Trajan Langdon. Langdon joins an off-guard glut, with Wesley Person, Derek Anderson and Bobby Sura. Miller is a safe pick, but some general managers preferred Jason Terry.

* Phoenix--Passed on the tumbling Maggette, took Shawn Marion, a fine athlete but not much of a shooter.

* Atlanta--The Hawks got Terry, Cal Bowdler and Dion Glover, who sat out his sophomore year at Georgia Tech because of a knee injury.

Of course, they gave up an experienced point guard, if a stubborn three-point-heaving one, Mookie Blaylock, for Terry. General managers say the Hawks are also shopping Steve Smith and Allen Henderson--in short, everybody but Dikembe Mutombo--suggesting General Manager Pete Babcock is starting over.

Babcock simmered as Coach Lenny Wilkens refused to play young players like Roshown McLeod. Looks as if Babcock found the answer--trading Wilkens’ veterans out from under him.

* Seattle--Fate delivered Maggette into the SuperSonics’ lap. Then they delivered Maggette into Orlando’s lap for Horace Grant, asking only that the Magic take Billy Owens, Dale Ellis and Don MacLean off their hands.

The SuperSonics are $9 million under the salary cap but unless they get someone like Mitch Richmond, they’re the same sad sacks who fought for the No. 8 slot--and lost.

Put it this way: If Maggette lives up to his potential, General Manager Wally Walker will have this deal engraved on his tombstone.

* New York--What will Dave Checketts say when Jeff Van Gundy refuses to play 7-foot Frenchman Frederic Weis?

* Denver--The Nuggets traded the pick that became No. 5 to Toronto for Chauncey Billups, believing they were headed for better things. Didn’t turn out that way, did it?

* Utah--Got Quincy Lewis and talented Russian Andrei Kirilenko for later delivery. Not bad with picks 19 and 24.

* Houston--The Rockets got Kenny Thomas, who turned out to be 6-6 1/2, rather than 6-8, but was impressive in workouts. Of course, what’s more important, that he has great hands and footwork, or four disappointing years at New Mexico?

* Lakers--Devean George is intriguing but where a team with their expectations has to go, rookies can’t take them. Not even Davis, whom they pined for.

* Miami--Pat Riley knows he needs firepower, tried to trade for Vancouver’s pick to take Odom, struck out and settled for Tim James, the 25th pick and an automatic longshot.

* Indiana--The Pacers, like the Knicks, suddenly discovered they’re old. Trading for Bender was an attempt to create a future but unless they catch lightning in a bottle, as the Knicks did, it will make competing in the present trickier.

* San Antonio--Got two No. 2s from Dallas for taking 6-10 Chicago prep Leon Smith for the Mavericks. One of the No. 2s was a Yugoslav shooter named Gordon Giricek, whom several general managers liked.

* New Jersey--Evan Eschmeyer was OK--at No. 34, their only selection.

* Orlando--Out of it with no pick before No. 38, the Magic might have pulled the coup of the draft, or decade, trading the creaky Grant for the super-prospect, Maggette.

* Dallas--Didn’t pick until No. 40 but Don Nelson, always thinking, traded for the raw Leon Smith, then drafted a Chinese 7-footer, Wang Zhi-Zhi. For years, Nelson played without big men and now he seems to be collecting them: Shawn Bradley, Chris Antsey, Wang, Smith.

Now if he could just find one who can play.

* Sacramento--Didn’t draft until No. 45.

* Philadelphia--Didn’t pick until No. 47 but Larry Brown, a sucker for talent, traded for Jumaine Jones.

* Milwaukee--No pick until No. 48.

* Detroit--No pick until No. 54.

* Boston--No pick until No. 55. On the plus side, Rick Pitino didn’t make any trades.

* Golden State--Traded the No. 10 pick for Blaylock. Looks OK, unless Terry really happens.

* Portland--The Trail Blazers didn’t pick, but Trader Bob Whitsitt made a deal for Roberto Bergerson, a sharpshooter from Boise State who dropped to No. 52 on suspicions about the rest of his game.

Surprise. Whitsitt has Isaiah Rider back on the block and is running hard after Steve Smith and Ron Mercer.

The off-season, of course, is just heating up, but this column has had it. It’s been . . . uh . . . indescribable.