The Week In Review: Illini in the NBA

Since it is never easy to keep up with the performance and news surrounding former Illinois players in the NBA while you are also watching your favorite NBA team and keeping up on your fantasy team's performance, IlliniBoard.com thought a nice new feature to add would be a recap on the relevant news surrounding former Illinois players in the NBA over the past week.

FRANK WILLIAMS - NEW YORK KNICKS

Frank Williams Attempts to Pass the Ball During Preseason This Year (AP/Bower)

The big news in the NBA this week should have a direct effect on Frank Williams as Isiah Thomas was named to replace the fired Scott Layden as president of the New York Knicks on Monday. It is expected Isiah will not waste any time in putting his mark on a franchise that is wallowing in despair due to past bad management decisions including excessive contracts handed out to or accepted by the Knicks through trades to Charlie Ward, Howard Eisley, Allan Houston, Keith Van Horn, and Shandon Anderson.

It will be interesting to watch how Isiah Thomas puts his stamp on the Knick organization, as he has a complete rebuilding effort in front of him. He inherits a coach in Don Chaney that needs to be replaced and numerous large contracts that need to get off the books through salary dump trades.

How the recent changes in New York will affect Frank Williams and his playing time is yet to be known, but some of the early talk is that the Knicks are looking to trade at least one of their other point guards, Charlie Ward or Howard Eisley, in one of the salary dump maneuvers which would mean more playing time for Frank.

FRANK'S STATISTICS FOR THE WEEK OF DEC. 14
Date	Opp	Result	Min	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	ST	TO	PTS
Dec. 20	vs. Hawks	103-92 W	23	4-9	0-1	2-2	2	9	2	1	10
Dec. 19	@ Raptors	99-105 L	12	2-4	1-2	1-2	1	1	0	1	6
Dec. 16	vs. Warriors	86-104 L	16	2-8	1-2	0-0	2	2	0	6	5
Dec. 14	vs. Wizards	89-87 W	6	0-3	0-1	0-0	1	1	0	0	0

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BRIAN COOK - LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Brian has not played a game this season for the Lakers as he has been on the IR after breaking his finger in the pre-season. If Karl Malone is placed on the IR due to the injury he sufferred on Sunday night, Brian may be the player the Lakers activate to replace Karl on the active roster. The talk right now is that Karl is only expected to miss the Lakers next three games, so it is not known if the Lakers will deactivate him and bring someone off the Injured Reserve to take his reoster spot.

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KENDALL GILL - CHICAGO BULLS

The Bulls went 1-2 this past week with a win over the Orlando Magic and losses to the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers. Kendall was a starter in both the Cleveland and Detroit game after leading the Bulls with 29 points in the victory over the Orlando Magic.

This past week Kendall recorded season highs in two different games as in the game against Orlando, he had season highs in points (29), shots made (13), and shots attempted (17). In the game against Detroit, Kendall recorded season highs in both offensive rebounds (4) and total rebounds (8).

Kendall did leave Saturday's game against the Cavs with a sprained left ankle and was listed as day-to-day, but he did start in Monday night's game against the Jazz so it appears his injury will not keep him off the court for the Bulls.

Kendall Gill Attemps a Shot Earlier This Season Over Orlando's Drew Gooden (AP/Carrera)

KENDALL'S STATISTICS FOR THE WEEK OF DEC. 14
Date	Opp	Result	Min	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	ST	TO	PTS
Dec. 20	vs. Cavs	87-95 L	29	5-11	0-1	4-5	5	2	1	1	14
Dec. 17	@ Pistons	73-77 L	33	4-14	0-1	4-4	8	1	1	1	12
Dec. 16	vs. Magic	102-88 W	31	13-17	2-2	1-2	6	4	1	2	29

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ROBERT ARCHIBALD - PHOENIX SUNS
Reports coming out of Phoenix are that Robert Archibald is about to be traded for the second time in under two years of playing in the NBA. The early rumors are that Robert would be traded to the Orlando Magic for Donnell Harvey. The Arizona Republic is reporting that the trade cannot be announced until Tuesday, so there may already be some confirmation on Robert's new team by the time you read this article.