In the seemingly upside-down logic of the NBA, Williams was simply too valuable to keep.

The Jazz will seek a "journeyman veteran" to back up point guards Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez next season, assistant coach Phil Johnson said Saturday, rather than give Williams more money for fewer minutes. The team allowed their right to match Williams' three-year, $5.5 million offer from Milwaukee to lapse Saturday night, and the second-year guard is expected to sign with the Bucks today.

"It was a difficult decision to make," Kevin O'Connor, Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations, said in a statement.

He's got another decision now: replacing Williams. The Jazz intend to carry three point guards next season as insurance against an injury to either of the holdovers, and the No. 3 man will have some NBA experience, Johnson said.

"It's easier for a guy who has experience to adjust to a situation like this one, where he knows going in that the other guys are going to get a lot of minutes," Johnson said. "You want a guy who works the right way, stays ready, competes with the others a little bit and can step in and hold things together when you need him."

Those criteria would seem to exclude rookies like Jermaine Boyette or Ruben Douglas, who occasionally handled point guard duties for the Jazz's Rocky Mountain Revue team last month.

The list of experienced point guards without an NBA contract isn't a long one, but there are some possibilities there, Johnson said. The Jazz aren't looking for a superstar, after all.

"Maybe you go after more of a journeyman veteran, a guy who's been in a similar situation. You don't tell a guy 'Hey, you're not going to play,' but you do have to be clear about the situation going in," Johnson said. "We've got a mini-list going now, and Kevin has talked to [the Jazz's coaching staff] about what we need."

Johnson did not discuss any specific players, and O'Connor is in Athens all week. Several of the available point guards appear to be unlikely fits; age, playing-time expectations or salary considerations probably rule out candidates like Travis Best, Kenny Anderson and John Crotty, a former Jazz guard who has played only 12 games in the past two seasons.

But a handful of free agents seem to fit the Jazz's needs, veterans like former Clipper Darrick Martin, ex-Jazz guard Rusty LaRue, or onetime Cavs starter Brevin Knight.

Knight, who made the all-rookie team in 1998 but has worn six different NBA uniforms in the past four years, finished the season with Milwaukee - which now replaces him with Williams.

O'Connor will take his time filling Williams' spot, Johnson said, and may consider international players as well. "There may be somebody who gets cut from another team, too," Johnson said, the way that Mark Jackson ended up with the Jazz a few days after training camp opened in 2002. "I wouldn't be surprised if we don't know until fall camp starts."

The only thing they know for sure now is that they won't see Williams in Utah again until the Bucks visit the Delta Center on March 26, a fact that both sides see as unfortunate but understandable.

"Mo would have been happy either way. Kevin and Jerry [Sloan] were great to Mo, and he loved his season in Utah," said Mark Bartlestein, Williams' agent. (Williams did not return several calls seeking comment.) "He certainly has no hard feelings about how things worked out. He knows why they made this decision."

Here's why: The Jazz didn't want to lock themselves into a three-year guarantee for a 21-year-old whose minutes likely would have dwindled next season. The Bucks, with 21-year-old T.J. Ford's future clouded by a spinal injury and only veteran guard Mike James on the roster, had no qualms about making that commitment.

Williams' average of $1.8 million per season wasn't unreasonable - the Jazz could end up paying that much, or more, to his replacement - but with several future draft picks in hand and Arroyo and probably Lopez under contract for several more years, O'Connor didn't want to limit his roster-spot options next summer and beyond.

Especially since, as O'Connor put it, "we have realigned our basketball rotation" by adding free agents Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur this summer.

"When you look at our roster, with Matt [Harpring] coming back [from knee surgery], and Andrei maybe not having to play so much four [power forward], the minutes Mo got at the two [guard] probably won't be there," Johnson said. "Raja Bell had to play a lot of forward last year, but his minutes probably come at guard now. The reality is, Mo's got a big upside, but unless one of our guys got hurt, I'm not sure how much he would have played."

A second-round pick in June 2003 - he's the fifth Jazz second-rounder since 1991, along with Ike Austin, Bryon Russell, Shandon Anderson and Jarron Collins, to beat the odds and earn a multi-year contract - Williams was on the floor for 772 minutes as a rookie, averaging 5.0 points in 57 games. The Jazz have also given up their first-round pick from 2003, Sasha Pavlovic, who was selected in the expansion draft.