FanHouse Sean Williams

Sean Williams was arrested today for the second time in a month. In February, he was briefly jailed after violating a "no-trespassing" order by attending a basketball game at Boston College, though charges were dropped when coach Al Skinner intervened to say he invited Williams to the game unaware of the order.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a former coach can bail him out of today's situation. According to the Star-Ledger, Williams was arrested on "undisclosed charges after being involved in an altercation at a cell phone store" in a shopping mall near Denver. The Nets are in town to play the Nuggets this evening.

The Nets and Bulls are discussing a trade that would send Larry Hughes to New Jersey, according to two published reports. The Bulls would receive Bobby Simmons in return, with little-used Maurice Ager included to make the salaries match.

Hughes has been disappointed about his lack of playing time in Chicago, especially since Kirk Hinrich returned from injury. It's not clear how much more time he could expect to see in New Jersey behind Devin Harris and Vince Carter (especially with Keyon Dooling playing well off the bench), but sometimes a move simply for the sake of a change of scenery is a good thing.

Clippers rookie Al Thornton has been having a very solid season, but playing on a team that's so far out of playoff contention, not many have noticed. So when the lineups for the Rookie Challenge were announced yesterday, Thornton was unfortunately left off the squad. He and his teammates got the news before last night's contest against the hawks, and they were less than pleased.

And that news sent a wave of anger and colorful language throughout the Clippers' dressing room.

"That's some bull right there," the Clippers' Sam Cassell said. He also said some words that can't be printed, and he certainly had an argument.

Cassell said Wednesday, "There's a conspiracy going on. We must be in the state of Florida now. Did they watch that game, Jersey against the Clippers? Did they see Al Thornton that night?"

"That night" that Cassell is referring to, Thornton torched the Nets' Sean Williams (who made the Rookie team) for 22 points on 8-12 shooting. And last night against the Hawks, it was apparent that Thornton felt that he had something to prove.

In a game where Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette sat out with the flu, Thornton received extended minutes and dominated, going for a career high 33 points, hitting 13 of his 20 field goal attempts. If you're scoring at home, that's 16 points better than actual All-Star, Joe Johnson. Thornton may have been left out of the All-Star weekend exhibition this year, but with more performances like this, he'll be a lock to get to Phoenix next year.

As we inch closer to All-Star 2008 in New Orleans, the lineups for the weekend's events are starting to fall into place. Today we found out who will be participating in the "T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam," and just like last year, it's looking like it's going to be an easy win for the Sophomores.

The Rookie squad will feature Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Luis Scola, Mike Conley, Juan Carlos Navarro, Yi Jianlian, Sean Williams, and a very busy Jamario Moon.

The Sophomores will load their roster with Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Rajon Rondo, Daniel Gibson (aka Boobie), Jordan Farmar, Andrea Bargnani, Ronnie Brewer, Paul Millsap, and an equally busy Rudy Gay.

So after looking at the lineups one right after the other like this, how can you not see another Sophomore blowout? In Vegas the Sophs won by 41 points, and although I don't expect the spread to be quite as big this time, it's still a mismatch, and one that the league should change if they want to make this an interesting event.

My solution would be to mix the Rookies and Sophomores up by conference, and play the game East versus West. While that might not always give you the best game, it would be exponentially better than what we have now. I just think that the Sophomores have too much of an advantage every year having that additional season of NBA experience under their belt. By mixing the teams up and playing it by conference, we're likely to get a much more competitive game.

When we were Crystal Ballin' about the Wizards, the best case scenario we discussed was Al Thornton, which was only two picks away from becoming a reality. But I don't think Wizards' fans will be too disappointed, considering they got a killer shooting guard with their sixteenth pick when they selected Nick Young.

Our man The Big Lead did an excellent job breaking down Nick Young's strong points, but his numbers were so impressive that they deserve repeating: Young shot 52% from the field, 44% from three-point land, and did so in the very solid Pac-10 Conference. If DeShawn Stevenson ends up leaving as a free agent, it's going to be straight raining in Washington with Young and Arenas in the back court.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 28th NBA Draft.

Needs: How about drafting someone that might actually play this season? The Wizards could use help in a variety of places: Scoring at the four or five spots to get an upgrade over Brendan Haywood and Etan Thomas, more consistency at the two than DeShawn Stevenson provides, and someone, *anyone* that can play some defense.

Best Case Scenario: That Al Thornton is still available at 16. He can score and defend, his athleticism is off the charts, and after four years in the ACC, he appears ready to contribute immeiately. If you read all of the 72 mock drafts that are out there, and take bits and pieces from each one, you can almost convince yourself that this might actually happen.

More Likely Scenario: Sean Williams or Jason Smith. With most of the athletic scorers likely gone, expect the Wizards to go for a big man here, and one of these two should still be around.

Please Don't Take: Rudy Fernandez, because you probably can't sign him.

Second-Round Possibilities: D.J. Strawberry, who worked out for the Wizards recently and considers himself to be a "Bruce Bowen or Raja Bell" type of player. Adding a player that wants to play defense, especially at the NBA level, would be a great pickup in the second round.

Ah, Draft Express. Where would we be without you in this run-up to the Big Night? This time, you're bringing us a side-splitting quote on what Sean Williams means for the league:

"It's an absolute joke," one executive lamented to us privately this week. "For the sake of our profession, and the NBA in general, Sean Williams should not go in the first round," the executive said.

My first reaction here: dude, don't draft the guy then. Rejoice in your competitors wasting a pick on a walking time-bomb. This isn't a referendum on the league's moral fiber, it's the NBA Draft. Then, I got thinking: could this be a ploy? Like this team really wants Williams, and is trying scare everyone else off?

Besides, like Williams could crack the first round if Stern were that worried about him.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 28th NBA Draft.

The Pistons are at a crossroads. With just one NBA title to show after five trips to the Conference Finals, they're now one of the league's oldest teams in a division with two of the league's up-and-coming-est teams (the Bulls and Cavs).

To re-tool on the fly and preserve their place among the league's true contenders, the team needs to get younger and more athletic -- and soon. Fortunately, they have two first-round picks: the 15th (courtesy of the Magic) as well as the 27th.

Needs: Pretty much everything but power forward. The team hasn't had a legitimate backup point guard in years, and considering there's at least a chance Chauncey Billups leaves, they might be in need of a starter. Following the Carlos Delfino trade, the team could use a swingman to backup Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince -- though there's always a chance Joe Dumars plans to address that need via free agency (Grant Hill? Morris Peterson?).

Oh, and a starting center would be nice, considering Chris Webber isn't expected to return and the only other option currently on the roster is Nazr Mohammed.