Young guns like Kedrick Brown get a chance to cut their teeth at Shaw's Pro Summer League. (Dave Lyle/NBAE/Getty Images) LOT-TERY TO LOOK FORWARD TO Over the past three years, more and more top draft choices have made their debuts at the Shaw's Pro Summer League. This year, three teams expected to pick among the first 13 slots in the draft field a team in Boston's week-long summer basketball tourney. In all, eight teams appearing at the Shaw's Pro Summer League are scheduled to have first round selections: PICK TEAM 7 New York Knicks 11 Washington Wizards 12 Milwaukee Bucks

The name of the game remains the same. What continues to change is the size and scope of the Shaw's Pro Summer League.

For years, summer leagues were a place for undrafted rookies and hoop vagabonds to play in front of scouts during the emptiest portion of the NBA calendar.

But as the makeup of the NBA changes, so is the process by which its talent is found, evaluated and developed. With players entering the NBA younger than ever, with international game becoming more and more prevalent and with clubs trying to uncover unknowns to help alleviate salary cap pressures, the role of summer leagues has changed.

At the forefront of this is one league in particular -- the Shaw's Pro Summer League. Last season, the Boston-based league drew a number of NBA general managers, head coaches and scouts, as well as a record number of agents and basketball personnel from some of Europe's top leagues.

Why? For the most part, it was because the league hosted some of the NBA's top young talent. Those at the Shaw's Pro Summer League got the first look at Kwame Brown -- the NBA's No. 1 pick overall -- in a Wizards jersey, as Washington featured him on their squad. Seattle brought their two top picks, Vladimir Radmanovic and Earl Watson, while the New Jersey Nets squad gave serious time to one first-round selection, Richard Jefferson, as well as two other draft choices, Jason Collins and Brian Scalabrine. All three played roles in New Jersey's run to the NBA Finals.

There was never a thought of not bringing Kwame,?said Washington Head Coach Doug Collins. It was a tremendous teaching opportunity for him to be with his teammates and the coaches and to get a sense of what this game is all about. We couldn't pay the Celtics enough for this opportunity to help with this young guy and with the rest of our players.

But no team used the 2002 Shaw's Pro Summer League to test its draft picks like the Celtics. All three of Boston's 2001 first rounders -- , Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte -- played prominent roles in the team抯 success at the Shaw's Pro Summer League.

Knowing that all this talent takes place in then intimate confines of Clarke Athletic Center at UMass-Boston, where fans sit just a few feet from NBA players, coaches and front office personnel, and it should come as no surprise then that the league attracted an estimated 30,000 fans last year, with nearly 50,000 attending the NBA's 揊an Fest?-- a basketball festival that takes place outside the gym.

Three of the teams in the 2002 Shaw's Pro Summer League -- which runs from July 15 through the 21 at UMass-Boston -- are scheduled to have lottery picks, and all but three teams have a selection to make in the first round.

As the quality of talent in the league continues to change, so too does each of the participating team's goals.

The Celtics, for example, have used the week-long event in the past to look at and develop prospective free agent signees (Adrian Griffin, Mark Blount, Kris Clack, Khalid El-Amin, etc.). As Boston found success with players farmed out at the summer league, now the team plans to use it to also develop the players it already has.

This is not unlike the system used by the Pacers and Sonics, among others. For the past few years, the Indiana used the Shaw's Pro Summer League to work out players whose talent warranted a spot on an NBA roster, but whose skills needed fine-tuning before heavy regular season game action. Players like Jonathan Bender, Al Harrington and Austin Croshere immediately come to mind.

This year, Boston fans can expect to see coaches devoting much time and energy to second-year players Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte.

We are anxious to capitalize on the success of the 2001-02 season and build on the strong foundation that brought us deep into the playoffs this year,?said Celtics General Manager Chris Wallace. The summer league will be an important part of our training mission to prepare our team for what we believe will be an even better season ahead. This will also be a wonderful opportunity for New England basketball fans to continue watching professional basketball up close and personal during the offseason.