Chris Broussard of the New York Times chronicles the decline of the Knicks, starting in the summer of 2000 when they traded Patrick Ewing.

The Knicks were afraid Ewing would be disruptive if brought back for one more season, so they accepted a package of aging, injured, ill-fitting players with long-term contracts.  In all, the Knicks have taken on $137.4 million in contracts for players they acquired through the Ewing trade. They could have kept Ewing around and chopped his $16 million off their payroll after the 2000-1 season.

Broussard says the Knicks are now the worst positioned team in the league, both financially and in terms of getting better.

Now they are eyeing the lottery.  In the related piece, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News says that Knicks GM Scott Layden is on his way to China to scout Yao Ming.  Ming used to be reported at 7'5", but is now showing up as 7'6".

While the Heat tries to sneak into the playoffs, general manager Randy Pfund and player personnel director Chet Kammerer scurry about the globe, searching for the right player to fill what likely will be the team's highest draft choice in seven years.

''The main thing is to see all the guys we consider first-round picks,'' said Pfund, who will attend more than 50 college games this season. ``Chet identifies who we consider the lottery picks, and I try to see them during the season or the conference tournaments.

``I've upped the schedule a little bit, because we have a first-round pick this year, and it could be potentially higher than usual. We're trying to make doubly sure we see people we want to see.''

The depth of this draft hinges on how many underclassmen go pro, especially at guard and small forward.

If there are a lot of early entrants, the Heat has a decent chance of filling its point guard need, even if its pick is in the teens.

Missing the playoffs would mean a shot -- albeit a very slim one -- of landing likely No. 1 pick Jason Williams, Duke's junior point guard. The non-playoff teams with the worst records have the best chance to get a top three pick in the weighted lottery.

After the first three picks, the order of other non-playoff teams are based on inverse order of record.

Beyond Williams, only two other pure point guards are considered potential lottery picks -- Illinois junior Frank Williams and Boston College junior Troy Bell. Memphis freshman Dujuan Wagner, a combination guard, would be a high lottery pick but said he expects to stay in college.

Gonzaga senior Dan Dickau, a gifted offensive player, is a borderline lottery pick. Other potential first-round point guards include Maryland senior Juan Dixon, an ace defender; former Fresno State standout Tito Maddox, who lost his college eligibility for accepting illegal benefits, and Kansas junior Kirk Hinrich, who has raised his stock. That list also would include Duke's Chris Duhon if he leaves as a sophomore.

Potential second-rounders who could move up if they impress during the NCAA tournament and pre-draft workouts include Arizona junior Jason Gardner and Oklahoma State senior Maurice Baker.

''Dickau is an amazing college player, and so is Gardner,'' ESPN's Dick Vitale said. ``Frank Williams has a tendency to drift. You have a lot of good point guards. Whether they translate into pros remains to be seen.''

But, among seniors, ''the point-gaurd class is thin -- Dickau, Dixon, Baker,'' said Chris Monter, who publishes Monter Draft News. ``Teams think they can get point guards later in the draft, like Jamaal Tinsley and Tony Parker last year.''

Small forward would be the Heat's other main area of need. Duke 6-9 junior Mike Dunleavy, an exceptional shooter who can play guard or forward, would be a top-five pick. Kansas 6-11 junior Drew Goodenwould be a high lottery pick and could play either forward position.

Pfund insists the Heat isn't reluctant to draft a foreign player, despite the regrettable decision to trade a No. 1 pick for Estonian forward Martin Muursepp in 1996.

''There's no big hangover for us from Martin Muursepp,'' Pfund said. ``There are issues of when [foreign players] will be available to you, how long will they take to fit in. But if we had been in position to take a European player recently, we would have considered it.''

Kammerer spent a week in Europe recently, and he and Pfund have scouted 7-6 Chinese center Yao Ming, who will go either first or second in June's draft.

Although it's difficult to envision a Pat Riley-coached team drafting a high school player, Pfund and Kammerer have scouted prep players recently.

Two high school seniors who are considering turning pro are power forwards Amare Stoudemire (a likely top eight pick from the Orlando area) and De'Angelo Collins (a projected mid-to-late first-rounder from Inglewood, Calif.).

''When we see high school players, it's low-key, with no interviews,'' Pfund said.

Ohio high school junior guard LeBron James might be the top pick if he came out, but NBA rules prohibit that, and James said he wants to return to high school for his senior season.

Only 24 hours after the NBA Trade Deadline RealGM is already turning its clocks ahead to the 2002 NBA Draft, or more specifically who will be there and who will not.

Drew Gooden, the 6'11" forward from Kansas University, looks as though he might be a lock to enter the draft.  He is averaging 20.7 points and 11.2 rebounds in his junior season, and the way he talks he is saviouring the moment and is bound to turn pro.

"This could, probably will, be my last year. We don't know yet, so I don't take anything for granted," said Gooden.  He is expected to be named the Big 12 Player of the Year in two weeks, something that he takes pride in.

"One of my preseason individual goals was to be (Big 12) Player of the Year and make first-team All-American," he said. "I think it's getting closer and closer to that every day. They are important as far as individual goals. My team goals are more important to me, winning the Big 12 Conference, the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament. I'll take those three over player of the year honors any day."

Another probable high draft pick could be Dejuan Wagner out of Memphis, if he came out of course.  Wagner's decision appears to be opposite of Gooden's, the high-scoring guard confessing his love for the University of Memphis and his teammates, stating that he'd probably stay ad take care of unfinished business.

"Right now, I think I'm gonna come back," Wagner said. "I've still got a lot to learn."

Coach Calipari left the decision up to him, stating that Wagner has created many close friends on the team which is something he seems to value highly.

"First of all, in the end if he feels that is what is best for him (going pro), there will be no questions and there doesn't have to be any reasons," Calipari said. "The bottom line is his comfort level. If Dajuan thinks he is ready for that lifestyle to take on the world as a man with no safety net, and if he's ready for a basketball life of 90 games . . . that's the decision he has to make."

Those closest to Wagner, who averaged 21.3 points per game as a freshman, say he is unlikely to be swayed by money or potential position in the NBA draft.

On one small level, one of the most celebrated NBA players ever to leave high school directly for the pros couldn't imagine being LeBron James.

Kobe Bryant said last night he could not envision himself as a high schooler on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

``As a junior?'' Bryant said before his L.A. Lakers faced the Cavs at Gund Arena. ``No, I never would have gone to class.''

Bryant was joking.

But he was very serious when he talked about making the jump in 1996 from Lower Merion High School outside Philadelphia to the NBA. Bryant was selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Lakers on draft day for Vlade Divac.

Bryant now is considered one of the NBA's best. But in his rookie year, he averaged 15.5 minutes and 7.6 points, quite an adjustment for the National High School Player of the Year.

``You have your good times,'' Bryant said. ``You have your down times. You have your misery times.''

And the misery times were just that.

``There was a lot of space between those times,'' Bryant said. ``But when they occurred it was like they would last forever.''

Bryant knows of James, the St. Vincent-St. Mary junior who was featured on the SI cover a week ago. The two met one time briefly at an All-Star game, but Bryant said it wasn't enough to form a relationship.

Bryant said he did not go see James on Wednesday night because he didn't know he was playing. Instead, Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal attended with ex-Cav and ex-Laker Ron Harper.

Bryant's advice to James would be basic.

``Do what you want,'' Bryant said. ``If you want to go to college, you'll be able to learn a lot, I guess. I don't know. People tell me it's a great experience going to college. (If you don't go) you miss out on keg parties and things like that.

``If you come to the NBA, you have to be ready to make a sacrifice. And it's a huge sacrifice.''

Because?

``It might not be a business from your standpoint, but it's a business from other people's perspective,'' Bryant said. ``People are going to be paying you millions of dollars to put a good product out there. From that standpoint, the game becomes a little more serious.''

Cavs coach John Lucas said he worked with Bryant ``every day for two years'' when Bryant was in high school. Lucas didn't think it was overwhelming for James to be on the cover of SI, but he did think it vital for James to get an honest assessment of his skills.

``You need to get advice from guys who have been in the league instead of talking to an AAU coach or some shoe company,'' Lucas said. ``You can have somebody assess you. I do it when they play with our guys over the summer. I tell them all the time, `When you play against a pro in the summer, he's just having fun and you're playing at the highest level you can play. When you play against a pro when the season starts, it's a different pro.' ''

Bryant said he occasionally thinks back to what it might have been like in college -- even for one year. But now that he has millions of dollars, a palatial estate outside Los Angeles and two championship rings, he can't imagine making a different decision.

``If (James) wants to make the jump and go to the NBA, he's as good as everybody says he is or he's not,'' Bryant said. ``If he is, he still has to improve his game. If he's not, he has to improve his game anyway. It doesn't really matter. When you come to the NBA you have to improve no matter who you are.''

Until then, Bryant said James should think of getting better -- especially when he winds up on the cover of national magazines.

``It's nice to see that as long as he can take it in stride, see it as an opportunity to improve and not being at the top of everything he'll accomplish,'' Bryant said. ``See it as a starting point.''

Shaquille O'Neal hasn't seen a high school basketball game in years. He broke that drought on Wednesday night when he attended St. Vincent-St. Mary against Orange.

O'Neal was there to watch St.Vincent-St. Mary phenom LeBron James. It was worth the wait.

"I haven't been to a high school game in awhile but us No. 1 players must stick together," O'Neal said. "I knew who he was because I read Sports Ilustrated and I talked to a few people about him. He's a good player."

James scored 33 points in St.Vincent-St. Mary's victory. O'Neal said James has an excellent game on the high school level and he expects him to "do some damage" on the next level too.

That next level means professionally. O'Neal also said that he won't offer James any advice on going pro out of high school or going to college.

"I don't give out information because what happens to him, necessarily didn't happen to me," O'Neal said. "Experience is the best teacher. He'll have to do what's best for him and what's best for his family."

Second that emotion:

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has some advice for James if he asks.

"Do what you want. If you want to go to college you'll be able to learn a lot, I guess. I don't know," Bryant said. "But if you come to the NBA, you have to be ready to sacrifice. It might not be a business for you, but it's a business from other people's perspective."

Trades:

With the exception of the trades between Indiana, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Dallas and Denver, the trade deadline ended quietly yesterday. The Cavs didn't make any moves.

"It's been very quiet," said Cavs coach John Lucas. "One thing the CBA [Collective Bargaining Agreement] did was make it harder for teams to make major deals. That's why I'm sold on the way we're doing it by developing our players and trying to create franchise players."

The next Michael Jordan graced the cover of Sports Illustrated last week -- again.
 
LeBron James, 17, joins Harold Miner, Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant, Jerry Stackhouse and Felipe Lopez, among others, who have been hailed as the next Jordan. The difference here is James, a 6-foot-7 high school wunderkind from Akron, Ohio, made the cover as a high school junior.
 
The magazine is touting him as a kid who would be a lottery pick if he -- now get this -- decided to skip his senior year of high school. Some are even saying he would be the No. 1 pick because of his athletic ability and basketball skills.
 
They say he can play. He has skills like Magic Johnson, Bryant and Jordan. Stackhouse, who saw him play, said James can make "an 80-foot bounce pass on the dime." Shoe companies are already stumbling all over themselves for his services, and agents are slipping him business cards.
 
I believe this is way too much for somebody this young.
 
The problem is, what if he doesn't become the next Jordan? Society would view him as a failure. If the kid, heaven forbid, decides to attend college and stay two or three years, people would ask what is wrong with him.
 
And what if he is the next Stackhouse and not the next Jordan? Failure.

When Dan Dickau transferred to Gonzaga, he requested jersey No. 12 in honor of his idol, former Bulldog John Stockton.

The team refused, even though the Utah Jazz star's number has not been officially retired. So Dickau inverted the numbers and wears 21.

He's a mirror image of Stockton in other ways; both are gritty, high-scoring point guards.

But it is Dickau who has led Gonzaga to a No. 9 national ranking, thanks, in part, to mentoring from Stockton.

"He comes pretty much every fall for pre-training camp," Dickau said of Stockton, a Spokane native. "I generally shoot in the morning with him for an hour and he'd play pickup in the afternoon for an hour or an hour and a half."

What most impressed Dickau about the NBA's career assists leader is the hard work Stockton puts into his game.

"He's 39 and one of the top point guards in the league," Dickau marveled.

Dickau, 23, is one of the top point guards in the nation this year and a candidate for the Wooden Award. He's the main reason the Bulldogs are 23-3. The 6-footer is averaging 20.4 points and five assists. He's making 88 percent of his free throws. He's shooting 47 percent from three-point range, ranking first in the West Coast Conference. Despite playing more than 34 minutes and handling the ball for much of that time, he's averaging just three turnovers per game.

Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon-Journal reports: LeBron James' fame is about to reach epic proportions.

Representatives from Sports Illustrated announced yesterday that James will grace the cover of this week's issue, which hits newsstands today and many homes tomorrow.

The cover is a portrait shot of the St. Vincent-St. Mary junior with the headline ``The Chosen One.''

It details James' relationship with Jordan and other NBA stars, such as the Boston Celtics' Antoine Walker and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant. It reviews the schmoozing James has done with rap stars like Jay-Z and Browns coach Butch Davis.

It also details the rather dark side of James' childhood, from his moving from place to place, to his excessive school absences, to the crimes he witnessed.

Philadelphia

- Rumors have circulated that Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's LeBron James, considered the best high school player in the country, will declare himself eligible for the 2002 NBA Draft in June.

A player jumping from high school to the NBA has become common place in recent years, but James would break new ground because he's only a junior.

NBA Commissioner David Stern, however, said he hasn't received any indication that James would try to make the jump. He also said the league doesn't have any concerns of James challenging the rule.

"Our current collective bargaining agreement provides that the player in a high-school class has to have graduated, and that's the rule we have and that's the rule we will have until the collective bargaining agreement is replaced by something else," Stern said. "Our lawyers tell us that [if James challenged the agreement] it wouldn't be successful."

Malone stays home:

Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone remained in Salt Lake City yesterday, missing the All-Star Game because of his mother's illness, team officials said.

Shirley Turner was admitted to a Salt Lake City hospital with an undisclosed ailment.

Malone was not replaced on the Western Conference roster.

Free's world:

Former Cavs guard World B. Free is now involved in community relations with the Philadelphia 76ers. Free, who had 23 points in one quarter against Detroit in 1985, said if it was up to him, his Cavs No. 21 would be retired.

"Cleveland was a town that was needing something when I got there from Golden State," Free said. "When I first got to the city, people said I'd play in front of 1,500 fans. I thought that was OK, because I knew by the time that I left, games would be sold out. I came in with a positive attitude and it worked."

Rule changes:

The new NBA rules that include zone defenses have done what the league has wanted by increasing scoring. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said he hasn't noticed any significant differences in games.

"We pretty much just do the same thing," Bryant said. "It helps us on defense. Minnesota benefited the most because of their big lineup, and that will help them when they zone teams up. The new rules don't really matter because you have the best basketball players in the world and they should be able to adapt to any situation."

Extra security:

As expected, the security measures during All-Star weekend were heightened. No one could enter the team hotel without proper credentials or a room key. Media and employees of the First Union Center had bag checks and went through a metal detector before entering the arena.

LeBron James & Carmelo Anthony.

They combined for 70 points in a game where only 136 were scored.

Think about that. Two guys playing for two different teams scoring more than half the points in this, one of the best high school matchups of this or any season.

Final Score: Oak Hill Academy 72, St. Vincent-St. Mary 66.

Oak Hill, which was ranked No. 1 in country for most of this season...

Oak Hill, with eight NCAA Division I players...

Oak Hill, with players from across the country, sometimes, all over the globe...

Oak Hill and Akron's St. V-M walked into Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena with arguably the two best high school players in the country.

What a show.

Oak Hill's Anthony threw down thunder dunks in traffic, rumored to be jumping so high that he was tracked on radar at the nearby Philadelphia Airport.

And James doing what only LeBron can do, stealing an opponent's dribble, then taking the ball behind his back, soaring and hammering home a two-handed slam.

And Anthony, catching the ball 20 feet on the wing, faking left with his head... right with his shoulder... dribbling through his legs, then softly sinking a 10-footer.

And James, blocking what seemed to be a sure layup for Oak Hill's Chad Moore, scooping up the loose ball... taking three huge steps... skidding to a stop, uncorking a 3-pointer that seemed so high, it might hit the ceiling -- then peacefully dropping through the hoop, barely tickling the nets.

And Anthony...

And James...

And it was like that all day.

There is James, who is already a legend at the age of 17. The Akron kid spent part of Saturday with Tracy McGrady, the NBA forward who was in this area this weekend for the NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan...

They all know about James, just a 17-year-old high school junior.

And the NBA scouts and college coaches left the arena yesterday with even more to talk about.

They saw James nearly hoist his sometimes jittery Irish teammates on his back and carry them to an upset.

``I don't think anyone expected us to win except the guys on our team,'' St. V-M coach Dru Joyce II said.

You also could count some of the Irish fans, three busloads worth, who made the trip to New Jersey. It was by far the most support any school had on this day of six games involving some of the nation's premier high school teams.

They watched Oak Hill's Anthony, a slick, 6-foot-8 forward who is surprisingly strong under the basket, yet has James-like quickness when he's out on the wing, driving to the hoop.

As Joyce II said, ``We faced a lot of great players this year, but Anthony is the best.''

He finished with 34 points and 11 rebounds, no doubt making Syracuse fans drool as he's committed to the Orangemen.

That's unless he changes his mind and takes a shortcut to the NBA -- where he's rumored to be a lottery pick.

James piled up 36 points and nine rebounds. He was often double-teamed -- sometimes even triple-teamed. He inspired Oak Hill coach Steve Smith to say, ``He's just a great, great player, and what makes him so terrific is how he makes his teammates better.''

The passing.

In recent statistics, James was leading the area in scoring at 30 per game, but he was second in assists, fourth in rebounds.

The total game, that's the 6-foot-7 James...

James tried to play it yesterday, but as Joyce II said, ``LeBron just didn't have much help from his friends.''

Joyce II thought some of kids might have been ``a little uptight.''

His son, point guard Dru Joyce III, said ``It was more like we were too fired up.''

Take your pick, but for long stretches of the game, no one for the Irish (other than James) could drop a nickel into a trash barrel from five feet away. Balls banged off the rim in every direction, some jumpers never even touching any iron.

Last year, their only loss of the season was to Oak Hill, by a single point. This year, Oak Hill is ranked No. 4 with a 27-1 record, and the Irish also had only one loss and a No. 5 ranking.

In the middle of the first quarter, the Irish were behind by 10 points. They did rally to take a 26-25 lead near the end of the first half, but were outscored 6-0 when James rested.

By the middle of the third quarter, Oak Hill was in front by 15 points, and while the Irish did turn up the defensive heat to make it close, they never did take a lead.

Coach Joyce was discouraged because his players ``missed so many open, I mean, wide-open shots.''

Other than James, no Irish player had more than nine points.

But give Oak Hill credit, this team is loaded.

The starting backcourt is headed to Wake Forest (Justin Gray) and Cincinnati (Chad Moore). At forward, there's Syracuse (Anthony) and Miami, Fla. (Eric Wilkins).

The center is Sani Ibrahim, who is supposed to be this year's DeSagana Diop, an Oak Hill big man headed straight to the NBA. He is 6-foot-10, and has far more skills and is in better condition than Diop was when he scored only 11 vs. St. V-M last year, yet that was enough to convince the Cavs to take him with the No. 8 pick in last summer's draft.

Ibrahim had 16 points and 15 rebounds and displayed some sweet post-up moves near the basket.

Oak Hill also has substitutes headed to Temple and Wake Forest. It has a 6-foot-9 kid who supposedly is headed to Davidson, yet he never took off his warmup.

This is not your normal high school basketball team. It's a boarding school in rural Virginia that takes premier high school players, usually for only one year, and helps them put their academics in order to qualify for basketball scholarships.

Yet James walked away with the MVP trophy in this game, handing it to his mother, Gloria, who will need a mansion just to hold all the honors that her son will receive during his career.

James was obviously upset by the loss, but said: ``We played hard, and there's no reason to be embarrassed. They're a good team.''

No reason to disagree with that.