He wants another chance. That's basically why Chris Herren is at UMass-Boston this week, wearing No. 9 for the Dallas Mavericks summer league team. (And do they ever have a team of summer leaguers.)

He's played in Italy. He's played in China. He's played in Turkey. He'll go back overseas again if he has to. But listening to Herren yesterday, this is one hungry (famished might be a better word) and determined 27-year-old who believes he has learned from the past and is pointing straight ahead.

His last NBA stop was here, in the 2000-01 season. He appeared in 25 games for the Celtics that year, but spent most of the season injured (shoulder) or on a Rick Pitino-inspired weight-loss program. He averaged 3.3 points for the Celtics and then was basically let go.

''When it's all said and done, I should have worked harder at my job in Boston,'' Herren said. ''I let a lot of things get in the way. The injury set me back quite a bit. But I simply didn't work hard enough. You can't keep your job when you don't work hard enough. I know the mistakes I made and I'm trying to fix them now.''

Based on his play in the Mavericks' first two games, he stands a chance of getting a chance in Dallas, or perhaps elsewhere. A big part of summer league is not necessarily the team you're with, but the eyes of the coaches, general managers and other team officials in the stands.

It's called Maximum Exposure and it's something Herren and his agent, Michael Martin, felt was the right thing to do at this point in his career.

''We got calls from some other teams who wanted him in for workouts, like Indiana,'' Martin said yesterday. ''But we needed to get the exposure for him. There's nothing promised here, but it's a chance to showcase himself.''