Prep Game More Like Drive-Thru to the NBA

Once upon a time, the McDonald’s All-American high school game was a wholesome rite of passage, the Golden Arches as gateway to the nation’s finer universities.

Alas, like a super-sized order of fries, what was taken for granted is now on the verge of extinction, the victim of uncontrollable market forces.

Despite the continued well-intentioned involvement of chairman John Wooden, the McDonald’s game has devolved since its inception 26 years ago into an adieu to amateurism. College coaches are banned by the NCAA from attending the game, leaving pro scouts, agents, want-to-be agents, middlemen and assorted unsavory characters the run of the place.

You half expected to find the Hamburgler lurking near the locker rooms at the Ford Center on Wednesday night.

Not that several of the schoolboys who played in front of a raucous 14,040 minded the attention. Those who expect to go straight to the NBA found the surroundings appropriate.

They aren’t pioneers, of course. Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal, Amare Stoudamire and LeBron James, among others, came before and others surely will follow. This time the names include Dwight Howard, J.R. Smith, LaMarcus Aldridge, Sebastian Telfair and Al Jefferson, a bumper crop that could exceed half a dozen first-rounders, scouts say.

Also among them is Robert Swift, a 6-foot-11 center from Bakersfield who signed with USC but is drifting inexorably toward an immediate payday.

College-bound players filled out the rosters. Two Southland products, Jordan Farmar of Woodland Hills Taft and Arron Afflalo of Compton Centennial, will attend UCLA. They struggled against an East team that had more size and, truth be told, more players who will be on NBA rosters in November.

But even the pair of future Bruins had more on their minds than showcasing their skills on national television in a one-sided but thoroughly entertaining 126-96 East victory.

Farmar and Afflalo spent recent days putting a full-court press on West teammate Malik Hairston, a forward from Detroit Renaissance High. He is the only McDonald’s All-American undecided on a college who is actually expected to go to college.

Some recruiting services say Hairston will choose among UCLA, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio State. Others say it’s down to UCLA and Kansas.

Sitting courtside watching the girls’ game that preceded his game Wednesday, Hairston didn’t appear in a hurry to end the suspense.

“I’ll make the decision when it comes to me,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of research. There’s a lot of thought going into it.”

Others suggest Hairston has made his choice.

“I don’t know he hasn’t made a decision yet,” said Farmar’s mother, Mindy Kolani, from her lower-level seat. “He just might not be ready to discuss it.”

She took a deep breath. The entire Farmar family is making like a horseshoe magnet, pulling Hairston toward Westwood.

“We think he’s wonderful,” Kolani said. “UCLA fans would be so lucky to have him.”

Coach Ben Howland would have liked to help the last-minute push, but he couldn’t because the NCAA passed a rule three years ago that bars college coaches from watching players compete during the academic year except at games sanctioned by a high school governing body. And he couldn’t watch McDonald’s practices because this week is an NCAA “dead period,” prohibiting face-to-face recruiting.

The NCAA bemoans early entry to the NBA, but this rule doesn’t appear to help. The void was filled this week by the likes of general managers Pat Riley, Larry Bird and Danny Ainge, who not only got to watch the game but were able to see several days of practice.

“It affords an excellent opportunity to judge their talents,” Laker scout Bill Bertka said.

And it sends a subtle message that the players are auditioning for the pros. Sometimes, a player skips the game for fear that a poor showing will hurt his draft status. Exhibit A: Tyson Chandler of Compton Dominguez, who two years ago was the second pick in the NBA draft.

The concerns of McDonald’s organizers and Wooden have shifted from college coaches engaging in last-minute recruiting to pro scouts, agents and the lure of a paycheck.

But there is little anyone can do to shut off the spigot of attention. Phones in the players’ hotel rooms are turned off -- a quaint, ineffective gesture in the age of cellular phones.

And like a traveling rock show, the all-star action will move to a different town. Next up is the Nike Hoops Summit on Sunday in San Antonio, which also happens to be the site of the Final Four.

Think NBA decision-makers, agents and everyone else who glommed onto the players the last several days won’t be there as well? The difference will be that college coaches can join in the fun because the dead period will be over.

Meanwhile, Farmar, Afflalo and Hairston are throwbacks, thinking only of college for now.

“My plan was to enjoy the game and compete,” Farmar said. “It wasn’t as much fun as I hoped because we lost. But I had fun. I’m lucky to be here and I know what my future holds.”