FanHouse SeanWilliams

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

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.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "Former NBA bad boy Bonzi Wells scored 52 points and hauled in 14 rebounds as he continued his spectacular start in Chinese basketball's top league, leading Shanxi Zhongyu to an overtime victory." - AFP, via You Been Blinded.

* "[Channing Frye's] primary World of Warcraft character is Dookiedrawls, a level 76 gnome frost mage -- though he maintains he's not as serious about the game as Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, who has a 'really nice level 80 paladin.'" -- Williamette Week, via TH.

* Bob Cousy: "This [parade] thing, as I said I had no idea what to expect, I have never seen anything like it. There had to have been a million-and-a-quarter people on a Thursday morning throughout that whole route! There were green people everywhere! They were hanging from the trees and the poles." -- Hoops Addict.

* "Once an energetic spark off New Jersey's bench, [Sean] Williams may need MapQuest to find his way back into head coach Lawrence Frank's good graces." -- Hoopsworld.

* Chris Paul's little things, a new Carnival of the NBA, and Mark Cuban's insane idea to take over sports pages everywhere.

More youngsters than ever saw cash-conscious teams pass up on typically no-brainer rookie scale options this fall. Warriors PG Marcus Williams will be a free agent next summer, with guys like former No. 5 pick Shelden Williams. The move is usually reserved for real busts. For overachieving, underpaid kids, the long rookie scale is just a fact of life: you make money in your fifth year, unless you're a second-round pick (then it's the fourth year).

Sean Williams doesn't quite fit in any of this talk. As a late first-rounder, he could be locked in for four years at low salary. He's good enough to justify the few million N.J. will spend. But he thinks he's better, and he wants to hit that beloved second contract sooner. How bad does he want it? Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports Williams asked the Nets front office to decline his third-year option, an otherwise guaranteed $1.6 million for the '09-10 season. Williams' logic?

"I told Rod I didn't want him to pick up my option," said Williams, whose third year - 2009-2010 at $1.629 million - was picked up on Thursday. "It had nothing to do with me not wanting to be here as part of this team because I love this team. "It's part of the business. I want to get to my second deal as fast as possible."

If Kevin Durant asked Sam Presti to decline his '09-10 option, do you know what Presti -- who without question is doing everything in his power to make Durant as happy as possible in OKC -- would say? He would laugh in Durant's face. The rookie scale might be the greatest tool teams have these days. Utah couldn't afford to be a contender the last two seasons without the rookie scale. New Orleans wouldn't have Peja Stojakovic or Tyson Chandler if it wasn't for the rookie scale. It is sacred, and it is vital.

And a scrub who can't get off the bench is asking his lottery team to give up one of its few contract powers so that he can ... make more money sooner? How much do you think teams are clamoring to pay you exactly, Sean? Unless you do something to change Lawrence Frank's mind in the next few months, you're closer to being out of the NBA than making a $5 million salary.

One has to wonder what Sean Williams' reaction to losing to an actual game of any real relevance might be, since he got a little aggressive with a postgame middle finger salutation to either Daniel Gibson or LaMarcus Aldridge (likely the latter) following the Rookie-Sophomore game.



Actually, this was a pretty funny-friendly gesture, he just happened to not be thinking about the eleventy-billion cameras hanging around Nawlins this weekend. I won't hold it against him, although David Stern might.

HT: Filtering Craig

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identifying the bird-flipping rookie. We apologize for the confusion.

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.

New Jersey has issues, as no one will argue. Jason Kidd has gotten into the habit of blaming everyone, and that's likely the proper stance. If he pays attention to West Coast press, maybe he'll add another reason to place fault in Rod Thorn's lap.

Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee reports the Nets personnel boss made only a nominal attempt to re-sign Mikki Moore, the big man who filled in for Nenad Krstic and performed admirably well.

Moore said Chicago offered him three years for $12 million, while Thorn called with a three-year, $10 million offer that was contingent on a quick response – "like 30 minutes," Moore said – that came before the Kings' proposal.

This isn't to say signing Mikki to a three-year, $13 million deal would have made things perfect in Jersey. But you know, Malik Allen and Jason Collins are combining for 36 minutes a night. Allen and Collins are combining to give Kidd and Friends 6.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Moore's dropping about 8/6 in 27 minutes for Sacramento -- not tremendous numbers, but consider how good he was when running with Kidd (he led the league in both FG% and post-dunk screams)... you can imagine the upgrade over the current scenario. (He's also hilarious entertainment on the court, which the Nets could probably use.)

It seems Lawrence Frank is coming around to realize how terrible his frontcourt has become, as Sean Williams and Josh Boone seem to be getting longer looks. But it's going to take a lot more than that to make Kidd happy again.

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.