By Brian A. Lester

Much has been made of DeAngelo Collins' decision to enter the NBA draft, but it is not because this is a typical story of another player attempting to make the daring leap from high school to the pros.

Really, that is no longer a big deal. But what is a big deal is that Collins, if drafted next week, will be bringing a great deal of baggage with him.

Collins has a tarnished past and teams are concerned. Collins, after all, has been convicted twice on charges related to violence. Once, he was found guilty of beating up a female friend. In another incident, he was convicted of assaulting a former high school teammate.

Certainly anyone with a tendency for violence is going to be a cause for concern because, sadly, our sports world is littered with athletes who have their names end up on the police blotter instead of in the box score.

There was Wil Cordero beating up his wife, Albert Belle attempting to run over egg-throwing trick-or-treaters in his car, Latrell Sprewell choking his coach and Rae Carruth gunning down his pregnant wife.

All of the above irked fans and made them question why their teams ever acquired such troubled athletes. All of those senseless acts of violence, along with so many others that have made us look differently at the sports figures we are so quick to worship, are vivid reminders that an athlete's ability to hit harder, throw further and run faster than the average human often outweighs his potential for trouble.

But this is not to say Collins will turn out to be a bad person simply because of his checkered past. People make mistakes and the true mark of a person's character is defined by which direction he or she goes in after the mistake has been made.

Look at Allen Iverson. He was considered to be a huge risk when he entered the draft in 1996. He had a troubled past, a bad attitude and hardly appeared to be a player worth taking a chance on.

But the Philadelphia 76ers drafted him anyway. They looked beyond his troubles and fortunately for the 76ers, it turned out to be a good decision.

Iverson has no doubt matured during his time in the league and is loved by the fans in Philly for his blue-collar work ethic. Iverson has steered clear of trouble in the same manner he eludes helpless defenders with his flashy crossover dribble and there is much to be said for that.

But while someone such as Iverson has evolved into a good person, an athlete like Daryl Strawberry will never learn from his mistakes. No matter how many chances he is given, he wastes them and shows no signs of ever changing his ways.

In all likelihood, Collins will be drafted next week. A team will see that he has potential and will be willing to take a chance.

If Collins has truly learned from his past and is willing to make a good life for himself, then the team that drafts him will rest easy knowing it made the right choice.

But if Collins is lured back into a life of run-ins with the law and is simply a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, then one more draft pick will have been wasted.

Personally, I hope Collins is successful and leads a good life. I truly wish him the best because the last thing our sports world needs is another athlete who makes his way into the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Brian Lester is a sportswriter in Ohio and can be reached via e-mail at BAL4@hotmail.com