We didn't ask members of the Sacramento Kings, but what do they really think? Vlade Divac nearly had his head sheared off by a pass last week. Is an attempted pass loaded with flash preferred over a standard assist serving mainly to get the ball where it's supposed to? And is this where the NBA of the new millennium is headed?

	Jason Williams is certainly exciting, but is he the wave of the future?

When you're tuning in to Saturday's landmark Rookie Challenge, in which the first-year guys get their shot at the second-year guys, who of course were denied the chance to play a rookie game when they were actually rookies, watch the point guards. The Kings' Jason Williams has less than 100 NBA games under his belt, but already he has a rep. Houston's Steve Francis is on his way. Together, the flashy twins who man the point-guard positions against each other in the rookie game will be putting on a show with the way they get the ball to teammates. Then there will also be a few young guys who are somewhat boring but still get the job done. Is that OK?

"If I get all flashy, I'll just mess up," said Cleveland rookie Andre Miller, a quiet, unassuming player who will likely back up Francis. "I'm not involved in all the hype with Jason and Steve. They bring lots of energy, that's what people want to see."

Of course, Miller was also asked about the triple-double he put up on Atlanta last weekend, albeit in a loss. See, you don't have to go out of your way to put up the same numbers.

"Flashy point guards could be a trend," said Vancouver second-year point guard Mike Bibby, who isn't flashy and will likely enter the game for Williams. "A lot of point guards do score and dish in a different way. I like to just get the job done."

However, you never see highlights of Bibby getting the ball down low to Bryant Reeves on SportsCenter. Or Miller softly handing off to Shawn Kemp. Even if Williams flies a pass 10 feet over Chris Webber and into the stands, you see it. Williams admits to being a showman, that a simple chest pass just doesn't do sometimes when he can throw it 40 mph behind his back and shave the whiskers off an opponent.

Rookie game facts

This will be the sixth rookie game, and only two NBA teams have failed to send someone to the game -- San Antonio and Seattle. Meanwhile, six Clippers, Sixers and Grizzlies, seven Nuggets and eight Celtics and Cavs have been selected. ... Adrian Griffin is only the fifth undrafted player to be selected, following Trevor Ruffin, Anthony Tucker, Matt Maloney and Michael Stewart. ... Todd MacCulloch, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Olowokandi bring the number of foreign players in this game to 10. ... Three of the five Rookie game MVPs have gone on to play in the All-Star game (Eddie Jones, Allen Iverson, Penny Hardaway) while two haven't (Damon Stoudamire, Zydrunas Ilgauskas).

The Williams-Francis matchup -- mainly because of the way they play -- is clearly the featured attraction in the rookie game. Each player has a tendency to overpass the ball and take bad shots, and both love to run. Together they are shooting less than 40 percent as a tandem and each are among the league leaders in turnovers. But except for fans in Cleveland and Utah, people are probably not tuning in to watch Miller play. Same with Bibby, except in Arizona and British Columbia.

"When you look at Jason you see his great moves, but he's nowhere near the leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio," noted Craig Sager, who will be working the rookie game as sideline reporter for TNT. "It might send a bad message, but it's nothing new. Bob Cousy was doing things like this years ago. And who was flashier than Magic?

"Jason will get better and Steve has already gotten a lot better just this season. But hey, why do you think we feature Sacramento in so many games this season?"

Yes, back to the supposed bottom line: Entertainment. Williams and Francis sell tickets, so they are NBA friendly. People buy their jerseys. But are they really any different than point guards of another era?

"The point guard position is constantly changing," said one of the best ever, Utah's John Stockton. "There are big ones, small ones, someone's always looking for an advantage. Everyone comes in with their own special way of playing. I don't know if it's a trend to a certain style of play."

While half of the point guards in the Rookie Challenge bring a certain style of play, most of the other rookies and second-year players aren't that way, for better or worse. In Williams and Bibby's class, guards Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobley, swingman Paul Pierce, and quiet big men Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Olowokandi and Raef LaFrentz will be playing. Mobley replaces hometown player Antawn Jamison.

Dealing with passes from Francis and Miller will be forwards Adrian Griffin, Wally Szczerbiak, James Posey, Elton Brand and Lamar Odom, along with enter Todd MacCulloch.

Of course, nobody would call guys like Brand flashy, but he might just earn Rookie of the Year honors anyway. You can watch him post up the bigger team from two years ago with the same interest you admire the run-and-gun game of Williams. There's always the other side.

"The NBA is like yin and yang, hot and cold, high and low," 76ers overly happy president Pat Croce said. "Anything that adds mesh to the game. For every Jason Williams there's Alonzo Mourning and his tough play. It's a mesh of both. And that's OK."

Pass the mustard. Make it the spicy kind.