With Patrick Ewing.

Or Charles Barkley.

How about Shawn Kemp?

Or that other big dude with the last name of O'Neal?

Or just about every other player in the NBA who is older, wiser, stronger - and ready to climb right into his baby basketball face.

Hello, Jermaine. My name is Dennis Rodman. Is that your foot I'm stomping on?

O'Neal, a 6-foot-11, 226-pound South Carolina native, is one of two players to make the huge leap from prep to pro this year.

He was the 17th draft pick, taken by the Portland Trail Blazers. The Los Angeles Lakers' more celebrated Kobe Bryant is the other high school kid.

Why not college first, then the NBA?

"It was tough, but I weighed out all my options, and I figured that the decision I made would help me and my family all at once," O'Neal said, after a long workout at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp at the UH Special Events Arena yesterday.

O'Neal averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocked shots as South Carolina's Player of the Year. He was also a McDonald's All-American and a USA Today All-USA Basketball Team member last season.

But that was in high school. Not in Madison Square Garden or the United Center.

"I think he's talented," said Newell, who has been watching and developing players for ages. "But it's a big, big jump from college to the NBA, let alone high school.

"A lot is going to depend on his ability to learn from the experiences he's going to get in a whole new area of basketball. What he's going to be running into is a real physical kind of game by players who are a lot older and a lot stronger at this point in his career."

O'Neal said he wants to work on his complete game.

"I want to work on my inside moves a lot - the things I have to have to play this year at the forward position," he said. "I also have to work on my weight and my strength."

Newell said that the mental adjustment will be just as difficult as the physical improvements.

"You've got to be tough mentally, especially when you're giving away as much as he's giving away," he said. "When you're that young and you're taking that big step that he's taking, you're going to get tried.

"Every time he goes down the court on defense guys are going to go after him. On offense he's not going to get any calls."

Then there is the huge difference in lifestyle.

"Playing 82 games will probably be the toughest thing," O'Neal said. "Being in one city one night and another city the next night. I'll have to adjust to that."

Newell added: "He's going to have to have a lot of inner strength to put up with the things he's going to run into. There's a lot of sharks out there on the road. Here's a kid 17 or 18 and the rest of the guys are 27 to 30. He's not going to have a lot of companionship."

O'Neal said his favorite player when he was growing up was Michael Jordan. But now it's Scottie Pippen.

"When I'm at these kind of camps I see some of the faces that I've watched on TV for a long time," he said, a trace of awe lingering in his voice.

His goals this year?

"I want to come in and contribute in some kind of way, maybe get a couple of rebounds, a couple of blocked shots," he said. "I really want to make the rookie team. That would be an achievement."

Newell likes his overall future, however.

"He has the talent to play in the NBA, but it will take a couple of years to build up his body," he said. "He has to have patience with himself and be able to learn by watching.

"He has to work real hard on the physical part of his game."

Jermaine O'Neal just smiled when asked about his basketball dream.

"I want to be an NBA all-star," he said. "In two or three years."