This week, Bnei Hasharon came to terms with its fourth foreign player. Its latest addition, is the 2.01-meter, 27-year-old, American power forward, Korleone Young.

Justifiably or not, Young is best known in the basketball world for failing to make the difficult transition from high school basketball to the NBA.

Kevin Garnett's unprecedented leap from high school straight to NBA stardom in 1995 spawned many imitators. Some like Kobi Bryant, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady have followed in his footsteps successfully. Others like Leon Smith, Lenny Cooke and Korleone Young have become prime examples of how difficult that transition can be.

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On a spring day in 1998, an 18-year-old Young, hoping to emulate Garnett and Bryant's success, declared for that year's NBA draft. That same day, I was chatting with Marty Blake, the guru of NBA scouting and long-time director of the league's scouting service. "I just heard that Korleone Young thinks he's ready for the NBA", scoffed Blake. "These days almost all of them think they are ready, and almost none of them are".

Before that, Young had received a lot of hype as a high school phenomenon but his unexpected announcement that day was such a bombshell that even his high school coach had no idea of his plans.

That fateful teenage decision determined Young's professional career. Young was drafted in the 2nd round by the Detroit Pistons and he was in way over his head. His only NBA season was plagued by injury and inexperience. Young participated in a mere three games and at age 20 began his career as a basketball vagabond. Last year, he was an All-Star in the Chinese Professional League. If he had chosen differently, he might have been in the NBA instead.

Young, certainly wasn't the only high schooler to fail in the NBA, But for some reason, he drew more attention then others. Possibly it was because of his catchy name and possibly because he was the first widely publicized "flop" after Garnett's success, but Young's name became a catch phase for anyone with issues in terms of high schoolers who skipped college for the NBA

Ironically, Bnei Hasharon has another one of those high school basketball-to-NBA draft-to- basketball oblivion stories on its roster in Ousmane Cisse. Last season, Cisse benefited from the opportunity to work on his game in the relatively high-caliber Israeli league. By the end of Bnei Hasharon's season, he had developed into one of the top centers in the league and may still make it back to the NBA one day

The most complicated part of the Young story, is trying to get an accurate read on his true ability. Young has played in some of the far-flung outposts of the basketball world: Australia, now defunct minor leagues in the States, Russia, China and a little in Italy. Last year, he had his best season as a pro, averaging 31 points and 12 rebounds a game in China. With a little luck, Bnei Hasharon may have landed a real player buried under all the negative stereotypes.