Hitting the books has historically taken a back seat in the world of sports as athletes dream big about receiving even bigger paychecks in the professional ranks. For some, on-the-job training is all they need to elevate their talents to that moneymaking plateau.

Back in June, when the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers matched up in the NBA Finals, there were four American-born players in the starting lineup that had bypassed college after high school and made the jump straight to the pros.

Among them were Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum for the Lakers and Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis for the Magic. Factor in the rosters of other teams throughout the playoffs and there were several other former prep stars that had major roles in their team’s success.

From an outsiders point of view it could look and sound like a life of luxury, when in actuality life for an 18-year old making the jump to any profession will have its fair share of ups and downs. How an individual handles those peaks and valleys though will likely dictate the course of that journey.

“It’s always tough when you don’t go through experiences like playing college basketball,” said Lewis, a second round pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1998 out of Alief Elsik High School in Texas. “Learning the transitions of playing in the NBA and traveling all over the world while playing night-in and night-out in back-to-back games is tough, but over time you learn from that experience.”

Nearly 10 years later Lewis earned a lucrative free agent contract with Orlando in 2007.

He points out that the number of young players making immediate impacts in the NBA shows just how successful they can be if put in the right situation early in their careers. It’s just that success is not as commonplace as it may seem to a youngster with big ambitions. For every feel-good story there are plenty more that didn’t turn out as planned.

“There are still a number of guys who didn’t succeed or that’s not in the NBA today,” said Lewis of those draft hopefuls who forfeited their college eligibility only to see things not pan out. “That’s why I think education is still important. Guys should go get that experience because you only have a handful of gifted guys that can go in right from high school and succeed right away.”

And with the kind of investments being made by professional teams, who draft a young prospect and sign them to a multi-million dollar contract, comes plenty of baggage and obstacles to overcome along the way.

“You’re not under your mama’s wing anymore where somebody can discipline you and tell you what to do everyday, so there’s a lot of mistakes that people can make because you’re not groomed like they groom you in college,” he said.

For Howard, one of the most recognizable faces in the league along with former high school basketball draftee LeBron James in Cleveland, the supporting cast was already in place for him to succeed on and off the court when he was drafted out of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy in Georgia in 2004.

“For me, my only expectation was to get better,” said Howard upon entering the league. “I knew that the first summer, the first year, was going to be a big learning experience for me. But the way that the Magic handled it, how they threw me out in the fire, helped me blossom into a better player.”

Other NBA hopefuls have crumbled under such heat.

“It’s different for each player. It’s different for each person,” explains Howard. “There’s a lot of guys who might be physically ready to play in the NBA right out of high school but mentally it’s totally different.”

That’s partly why back in 2005 the trend of making that jump became a thing of the past once the National Basketball Association raised the minimum league age requirement to 19, or one calendar year after a prospective player’s graduating class.

Though that has since opened the door for others to find new ways around the rule, such as the decision made earlier this year by a high school kid in California who is skipping his senior year in exchange for playing professionally in Europe before entering the NBA Draft. Only time will tell how examples such as this affect the current stipulations that Lewis and Howard were fortunate enough to miss out on.

“It’s a big step from playing high school ball and being in a high school world to coming into the real world,” said Howard. “For anybody that does it and they make the best out of it I have a lot of respect for them.”