Tracy McGrady appears to have learned that lesson firsthand.

Drafted by the Toronto Raptors out of high school as an 18-year-old, McGrady's development as a player and a young man has been painstaking, to say the least.

His play was erratic at times — brilliant, but reckless — and his off-the-court behavior was just as unpredictable. All of which is understandable for a teenager in this era of millionaire teens, but undesirable in the package of a millionaire professional athlete.

But in his third NBA season, the 20-year-old is beginning to fulfill the promise scouts saw when they urged the Raptors to make him their first-round draft choice in 1997.

"I think there was a period of time where we didn't know if Tracy was going to make it," Raptors head coach Butch Carter told the Toronto Sun last week.

But playing alongside superstar-in-the-making Vince Carter, McGrady is now a legitimate starter.

He's averaging 13.9 points a game for the Raptors, more than five points above his career average. He's being talked about as a candidate for the NBA's Sixth Man Award. And next weekend, he'll be in the spotlight as a competitor in the league's All-Star Game's Slam-Dunk contest in Oakland.

A good amount of credit for his turnaround is being given to an advisor hired by the Raptors to boost his confidence and his social skills as a teammate and high-profile professional.

McGrady's mentor is DeNita L. Turner, the president and chief executive officer of Image Builders, Inc., a company in Laurel, Md., that specializes in personal-enhancement programs for athletes.

The pool of troubled clients is depthless. The daily police blotter has as many names of jocks as the transaction column in the sports section. Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald hired Turner on the advice of head coach Butch Carter, who had met her through her counseling of rookie players during the NBA's annual four-day transition camp in September.

The seminar is a crash course in what players can expect from the media, from their new coaches and teammates — even from friends and relatives.

Turner teaches them about how to handle themselves in social situations, how to network and use the new contacts they will be making, how to command the attention of a room, even the ways of business etiquette.

The skills are tools she learned as a 13-year executive for the Marriott corporation. She ventured out on her own to create Image Builders five years ago, also utilizing the skills she saw exhibited by her parents, who both were high school basketball coaches.

"It's a touch of everything... anything they need to increase their overall effectiveness," she said.

The NBA started the rookie training a decade ago after a wave of mishaps, including the cocaine overdose of former Maryland star Len Bias, who was drafted by the Celtics. The services for a pseudo-finishing school is even more necessary a decade later because the league has begun drafting more players out of high school, such as stars Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.

"It's a hard thing to track," said NBA spokesman Bryan McEntire. "We recognized that people coming into the league find a big difference between college and the pros. You don't have someone there to wake you up or tell you what to eat. We tell them what changes they can expect with their coaches, nutrition, finances, health, drugs, legal aspects, you name it."

Turner wouldn't discuss McGrady specifically or any other client — she has a rule of confidentiality not unlike a psychiatrist or doctor.

But she said a lack of maturity off the court can definitely affect a player's performance between the lines.

"I think for any of us, the more experience we have, the better the transition from high school or junior college to the professional environment in the NBA would be.

"It can be just being away for the first time or not having experience making decisions," she said. "Just trying to adjust to life on the road is difficult. That in itself brings a set of challenges."

The WNBA, also a Turner client, offers a different set of challenges, she said. The young women tend to be older than their male counterparts because they've graduated college. Their maturity level is higher, on average, so Turner adapts her presentations to match their advanced skills.

Turner said that for one male client, she acts as his "inner conscience" so that he can use her as a model for the future.

"I'm there to remind them of what they told me they wanted to achieve," she said.

Most of the time, it comes down to a lack of confidence, Turner said of her clients.

"When you get to the core, they need a little motivation. They haven't been encouraged to think differently or been given an opportunity to express themselves. The people who succeed are those who try and address an individual's need, because when that person is happy as an individual, they can give you more."

So if you're a rookie and you don't have someone like Turner... can you catch-up and acquire the skills you need to be a polished professional? Maybe.

"Are you at a disadvantage? Possibly. But if you have the willingness and want to make the turn, you can catch-up.

"Tracy is a great kid, and he has a lot of enthusiasm. He has a very supportive coach. Just the fact that I'm here and working with him in an environment where people are talking about these issues is important," she said.