The Magazine's Ric Bucher sits in on a lecture from the prince of dimes.

After checking in with Chris Webber for a story I'm doing on him for an upcoming Mag issue, I hung in the Kings' lockerroom while a roundtable discussion on the merits of higher education erupted. And leading it was no other than Jason Williams.

This, of course, is the same JWill who barely got through two years of college, one at Marshall and another at the U. of Florida. First he's talking about buying a college degree and putting it in his father's Christmas stocking, then he concludes that whatever time he spent on studying was too much. "I wish I'd spent more time on my jump shot than learning to read and write," he says. "'Cause it's not what you know, it's who you know." I don't think he's kidding.

As he talks, JWill sits in front of his locker, furiously dribbling a basketball with his left hand -- the ball so low to the lockerroom carpet it could be simply vibrating. JWill shifts the topic to the Europeans in the room, Peja Stoyakovic and Vlade Divac. "You've been getting paid since you were 12," says Darrick Martin to Peja, who simply grins as he stretches on the floor. Divac boasts that three years of European education is worth 10 in the U.S. system. "Oh, I'm sure of that," JWill says. "I know any of yours has to be better than mine." Hedo Turkoglu walks in from warming up and sits down next to JWill. Someone asks him if he has his degree. JWill answers for him. "Sure he does," he says, pretending to palm Turkoglu's dome. "Look at the knowledge up here."

There was a time when I worried that the pressure of being the next Maravich would overwhelm Williams, but not now. He missed a couple of, um, innovative shots that allowed the Rockets to rally from a 15-point deficit and take the lead before Sacto recovered and won, but he's beginning to blend those Picasso passes and abruptly-launched shots into the context of the offense. And, clearly, he's finding a niche in the room. He's not the introverted lunkhead that the Floridian drawl and aversion to reporter's questions once suggested. He's comfortable enough with who he is to poke fun at himself.

This kid is going to be all right.

Ric Bucher is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.