Sitting here in the S-T-L, I think back to a conversation I had with a front-office administrator of one of the teams at All-Star Weekend in the A-T-L about players and their potential.

At one point he said: "If there is one thing I have learned in all my time in this league is you get what you see. People try to project guys to be what they think they are going to be, but Eddy Curry is Eddy Curry."

I couple that with a separate conversation I had with a scout, who told me: "When Vince Carter was coming out, and we were all doing our background research, North Carolina coaches told us that Antawn Jamison is going to be a better player because Carter didn't work hard. For four years, we all thought they were crazy."

	The draft-day trade of Vince Carter, left, and Antawn Jamison has started to swing in the Warriors' favor.

Now, we see they were right.

The bottom line is this: Human nature is human nature, and while it is not impossible for people to altogether change their character, it is rare. Eventually, the person you have been over the course of your lifetime is the person you eventually will become, regardless of how many millions of dollars are poured into a marketing campaign to shape your image.

It's why Caron Butler slipped to the Miami Heat at No. 10, and it's why, I predict, we will see issues in the future with Butler. You figure that one out and get back to me.

The bottom line is this: For years, the Golden State Warriors have taken grief for trading Carter to Toronto for Jamison, then watched as Carter captured the public's imagination with his impersonations of Michael Jordan. But we are coming to realize, as Carter's image takes a major hit in Toronto because of injuries and poor decisions, that as Jamison comes into his own as a player, the Warriors might be who, in the long run, got the better of the deal.

Before I go on, let me first state a disclaimer: This has nothing to do with the whole All-Star Game starting-spot fiasco that Carter found himself unwittingly embroiled in. That was a made-for-TV contrivance to garner more ratings for the league, and Carter came out looking like the bad guy. He probably didn't deserve the moniker in this instance, but then he was tagged with it only because of his recent history.

Before we touch on that, though, let's go back to the trade itself. When you look in the history books, you see only Jamison swapped for Carter and think, "What the heck were the Warriors thinking?"

According to the Warriors, who had the fifth pick in 1998, they say Toronto, who had the fourth pick, already was locked in on Carter. Golden State says it wanted Jamison. The Warriors say they heard that Dallas, who had the sixth pick, was trying to move up to take Jamison. So the Warriors, to ensure they got Jamison, say they told Toronto to pick Jamison, they would take Carter, and they would swap the picks, with cash going from California to Canada, presumably at a decent exchange rate.

That's Golden State's version. There is some question whether it was actually the case because Dallas since says it was already locked in on the deal that sent Robert Traylor to Milwaukee for Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity -- speaking of lopsided deals.

Regardless, the deal went through, and as Carter catapulted to 24 points a night through his first three seasons, won the Slam Dunk contest, garnered a max contract and took the Raptors to the playoffs, Jamison withered in Golden State, where he never won more than 21 games and was questioned and second-guessed by teammates who never thought he earned the money or mantel of leadership bestowed upon him.

	Vince vs. Antawn
	Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison will forever be compared, having been traded for each other on draft day in 1998. Below is a comparison of their statistics (2002-03 numbers are through games of Feb. 13).
		Year	Gm	PPG	RPG	APG
	Carter Jamison	'98-99	50 47	18.3 9.6	5.7 6.4	3.0 0.7
	Carter Jamison	'99-00	82 43	25.7 19.6	5.8 8.3	3.9 2.1
	Carter Jamison	'00-01	75 82	27.6 24.9	5.5 8.7	3.9 2.0
	Carter Jamison	'01-02	60 82	24.7 19.7	5.2 6.8	4.0 2.0
	Carter Jamison	'02-03	16 50	18.9 22.3	3.8 6.9	2.6 1.9

But the first sign that something was amiss with Carter came last season, when he suffered a knee injury on the first day of the season. It eventually kept him out of 22 games. Quietly, there were rumblings that he did not work hard to convalesce, and they became much more pronounced when Carter re-injured the same knee this season -- in the third game.

It's difficult to question injuries, but when he had offseason knee surgery and then re-injured the knee right away, it leads to speculation that maybe the proper amount of rehab time and energy were not put in. He didn't help himself any when, while his team was getting trumped one night in Atlanta, Carter was seen on stage during a Nelly concert dancing a jig. It was probably not a big deal, but not a good public-relations maneuver for a guy whose commitment already was questioned when he attended his graduation ceremonies at UNC the morning of a big playoff game, which the Raptors lost.

And lest you think this is simply the work of a sportswriter spouting off shady rumors, let's listen to Keon Clark, a former teammate of Carter's who, now with Sacramento, is in a position to enlighten us:

"When I was there, it's interesting," Clark said. "He wants the recognition, but he isn't willing to work for it. ... I remember someone asking him who was the best player in the NBA. He said, 'It could be me.' That's all you need to know. 'It could be me.' He would talk about it. It takes intitiative."

Jamison, meanwhile, is beginning to craft a nice little career in Oakland, where he is averaging 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and, without Danny Fortson needling him, has helped lead the Warriors to a 23-28 record as they visit Toronto for a game Friday night.

His game is unorthodox because he is not really a post-up player, but neither is he a perimeter player. My way of looking at that is he is getting his numbers and still has a tremendous amount of room to improve.

There was some talk that Jamison should have been seriously considered for the West All-Star team, given his success this season. Instead, Carter went and Jamison didn't.

I wonder if that changes in the future.

Frank Hughes, who covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.