A safety net for high schoolers. (Insider: college basketball).

At last June's NBA draft, Kwame Brown looked sharp strolling across the stage in a fine new suit to shake the hand of commissioner David Stern. Brown, from Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Ga., was the No. 1 overall pick. Bill Walton, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal held this same designation, which once seemed a guarantee of instant stardom in the league.

Brown, though, did not resemble a Hall of Famer after putting on a Washington Wizards uniform. He played like a kid who had just left high school. He played like somebody who should have followed what once was the prototypical player development course: high school, college, pros.

What if he'd had that ...