Where: Salt Lake Community College

Today's games: Spurs vs. Sonice, 3 p.m.; Hawks vs. Mavs, 5 p.m.; Jazz vs. 76ers, 7 p.m.

Tickets: Available on game days at the SLCC ticket window starting at 2 p.m., or in advance at www.utahjazz.com. Prices are $8 for adults, $4 for children.

At first, Deron Williams didn't like the idea.

When he was being recruited by Illinois, Williams knew that another highly regarded high-school point guard already had committed to the Illini, and he wasn't sure whether coach Bill Self's plan to play him alongside Dee Brown made sense.

Self told Williams he would be the Illini's point guard, with Brown playing on the wing.

Interesting possibility, except for one thing.

At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Williams was at least three inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than Brown, who certainly looked more like a collegiate point guard.

"I didn't understand it," Williams recalled. "Coach Self said he was going to play us together. But I was like, 'How do you play a six-foot guy at [shooting guard]?' "

In the end, Williams decided to play at Illinois, where he eventually became a No. 1 draft pick of the Utah Jazz.

So, what happened?

What convinced Williams to join Brown?

"Dee did," Williams said. "He recruited me to Illinois. I didn't want to go because he was already there. But he said, "Come on, it's not going to be a problem.' "

Today, Williams is a second-year point guard for the Jazz, who view him as one of their foundations for the future.

Brown?

He's playing for the Jazz in the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league, after Utah made him a second-round pick in last month's NBA draft.

Asked about helping recruit Williams four years ago, Brown laughed and said, "At first, I didn't know what was up, either. I was a little confused and curious how it was going to work. . . .

"He was a bigger guard. I was smaller. I shot the ball well enough, though, and was willing to sacrifice my game to get a great player like Deron."

Almost daily telephone calls between the two recruits sealed Williams' commitment to Illinois, as well as his friendship with Brown.

But why did Brown want Williams at Illinois? After all, the two could have ended up battling each other for playing time.

"I'm a team player," Brown said. "If you don't want great players on your team, you don't care about winning. It was my job - my duty - to do that because I care around winning."

Brown played side-by-side with Williams and Luther Head - another shooting guard who became a first-round pick - for three years.

"It worked the whole time," he said.

Two years ago, Williams, Brown and Head helped Illinois reach the NCAA championship game, where the Illini lost to North Carolina. Williams had 17 points and seven assists in the title game. Brown finished with 12 points and seven assists.

"They were the better team that day," Brown shrugged.

Only weeks after the heartbreaking 75-70 loss, Williams and Brown decided to skip their final year of eligibility and turn pro. Both were projected first-rounders, but only Williams made it that far.

In a pre-draft workout, Brown suffered a broken foot, which was his ticket back to Illinois.

"I took it as a sign from God to go back to school and play my senior year," he said. "The pro level has always been my ultimate goal, but it didn't bother me. It was just something I had to do. It was a chance to show people I was a warrior."

Without Williams and Head, Illinois still went 26-7 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where Washington ended the Illini's season and Brown's collegiate career in a 67-64 victory.

Despite being targeted by opposing defenses, Brown averaged 14.2 points and 5.8 assists.

"I think people saw the kind of player I am," he said.

Watching from Utah, Williams agreed: "Not taking anything away from the other players, but if you took him away, they are not going to win 20 games. . . . One thing that happened is people keyed on him a lot harder, but he still did a good job."

There was only one problem with Brown's final season, at least in the eyes of NBA scouts.

His field-goal percentage dipped from .499 to .359 and, on draft night, he slipped down to Utah at No. 46.

"I thought he should have been drafted in the first round," said Williams.

"At first, when I saw my name slipping, it was disappointing," Brown said. "But after thinking about it, I wasn't disappointed at all. Only 60 players in the world get picked in the draft and I was one of them. . . . I felt blessed."

So where will Brown fit in with the Jazz?

Good question.

Other than getting a close friend of Williams who is lightning-quick, friendly, outgoing, happy, confident and smaller than almost every other player in the NBA, they don't know what exactly what to expect from Brown.

"It's hard to say who he is right now," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "It's hard to judge a guy until you see him in some games. But it looks like he's able to push the ball, and I like his enthusiasm for the game of basketball."

Sloan's only advice to Brown during the ongoing Rocky Mountain Revue: "He's got to be tenacious all the time because his size is a factor. Guys his size in the NBA are usually tenacious because they have to be."* Brown was a second-round pick (No. 46 overall) by the Jazz in the NBA draft.

The Dee Brown file

* Dee Brown was the 46th pick in the second round of the NBA draft, by the Jazz.

* At 6-feet, 185 pounds, he played two-guard for Illinois as a teammate of Jazz player Deron Williams.

* Brown will try to earn a spot on the Jazz's training camp roster this week at the Rocky Mountain Revue.