06/26/2005

By HANK KURZ Jr.  / Associated Press

Growing up in the Washington suburbs of Maryland, Michael Beasley was prone to finding trouble and was looking for an outlet to keep him away from the many demons available on the streets.

He found it when he picked up a basketball.

"Just to focus all my energy, my anger, all my problems on the court, just to get everything off my chest, I love it," Beasley said.

Eventually, he even found a player to emulate.

"Back at home, Len Bias was the man," Beasley said at the NBA Players Association's Top 100 Camp, held through Sunday at Virginia Commonwealth University. "That's who I look up to right there. He was a great player. He led his team. He showed good leadership, a good attitude. One mistake. I kind of look at it like that. But that's not all you can look at."

Bias, a forward at Maryland who was chosen No. 2 overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA draft, died two days later after using cocaine.

His story, and others like it, are a big part of the message at the Top 100 camp, which actually brings together about 120 rising high school juniors and seniors for a week of basketball training and life lessons.

The camp, in its 11th season, is run by the players association and gives star prep players selected by the NBPA a chance to get instruction from current and former NBA players and coaches on and off the court.

The goal is to help the players get better at basketball and keep moving in the right direction when dealing with the trappings of fame.

"On the first night, we told them, `We're going to treat you like men. There's a zero tolerance policy. You're here to learn basketball. If you make a mistake by sneaking out of your dorm room, if you get in a fight, if you disrespect one of our counselors, we're going to send you home,'" Tim McCormick, the players' union's regional director of player programs, said this week before leading a session on dealing with recruiting.

Tom Herzog of Linden, Mich., attended for the second year. The rising senior at Flint Powers, a Catholic school, said the instruction taught him to more effectively use his 7-foot body in the low post on offense, and the non-basketball messages will help him as his career moves forward.

Topics include the dangers of drugs, understanding NCAA regulations, respecting and dealing with women, health and nutrition. The topics hit home hardest when acted out by actors and, sometimes, the players.

"They talk to us a lot about girls and they had former NBA players come in and talk to us about how their careers got shortened because they decided to take drugs or they decided to do this with a girl," he said.

The camp is closed to the public, and McCormick said he didn't think it would be fair to those players to make public their private messages.

The campers, however, said they are attentive listeners.

O.J. Mayo, one of three players attending from North College Hill High School in Cincinnati, said the speakers make their stories resonate.

"They're things you've heard before, but it's different when you have different NBA players come and tell you `I was great, but my basketball career got cut short because I used to smoke weed all the time,' or `I liked to drink,'" said Mayo, a top-rated 6-5 guard. "It opens your eyes and lets you know if it happened to him, it could happen to anybody."

Among the visitors this year was Dwight Howard, the top pick by the Orlando Magic in last year's draft, and a former camper here, as well.

Howard signed a contract worth more than $11 million, but the players seemed to appreciate him for his instruction more than for his stature.

"Talking with Tim and Dwight, they know exactly what works," Herzog said. "Anything they say, you respect it a lot more because that's all of our goals — to get to the NBA. We respect anyone who's made it there."

Howard, a unanimous all-rookie team selection this year, fielded lots of questions about workout regimens, teammates and opponents, and even pulled one surly player aside to give him some unsolicited advice.

"I told him that he's one of the best guys in this camp" and the NBA doesn't want jerks, Howard said without identifying the player. "If he wants to get there, he's got to do the right things to get there. These guys here have a lot of say-so, and I wanted to let him know that."

McCormick, who played a decade in the NBA, said 90 players have gone on to NBA careers after attending one of the first 10 camps, and no one ever sent home for misbehavior has gone on to a career in the league.

He also can be found during the free time periods where coaches offer instruction at a corner basket, showing big men the finer points of positioning themselves for more success on offense or defense.

On Thursday, he showed about a half-dozen how setting up just outside the lane would allow them to make their first drop step into the paint, making it that much easier to turn and score or draw a double team.

"I get a real rush out of working with kids that are incredibly hungry," he said. "This is their free time. These kids want to be better.

"They're saying,`Teach me. Show me what can help me be better.'"