Although the Lakers are headed toward the lottery, with a 28-37 record after last night's 112-109 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, West has assembled a group of promising, if not blue-chip, talent.

The trick in getting the most out of blue-chip talent is to have the supporting talent assembled right from the start.

Not a Big Team North Carolina has waves of blue-chip talent, Georgetown has Alonzo Mourning and other teams have this component or that.

The Huskies also have blue-chip talent.

In the first four and a half minutes, George Mason fell behind by 16-2 and, worse, looked like overwhelmed and overlooked blue-plate-special players against the decidedly blue-chip talent of the Tar Heels.

Financing stock purchases also became a means for Internet start-ups to lure blue-chip talent.

For Oregon State, which frequently loses blue-chip talent to its Pacific-10 rivals U.C.L.A. and the University of Arizona, foreign players have been a life buoy.

As part of the Curry deal, the Knicks also gave the Bulls the right to swap first-round picks in 2007, when the draft is expected to be stocked with blue-chip talent.

He was considered a "blue-chip" first-round talent that dropped to the third round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft due to his contract status with Ak Bars Kazan.

Her first highly coveted recruits, Shay Doron and Kalika France, marked the beginning of an ever-expanding stream of blue-chip talent choosing to take their talents to College Park.