The Turkish club he signed to play with has two top officials in jail. Its accounts have been frozen. Although his salary will reportedly be paid by an oil company owned by the club president, plans to recruit other NBA stars are on hold. Not to mention that other Americans who played for his club in the past didn't get paid at all!

Meanwhile, one of his lesser teammates has signed with a bigger, more respected rival that plays in an arena with almost five times the capacity of his club...as does the Nets' second round pick! And David Stern is meeting with FIBA officials today and presumably the validity of his contract is on the agenda.

Deron Williams' decision to sign with Besiktas of Istanbul may have gotten initial praise and a lot of headlines, but the news out of Turkey is not exactly a confidence builder.  Now comes a columnist out of Salt Lake City who writes about what D-Will should expect, quoting a Utah college player who once toiled in Turkey. It's not pretty. Just to keep up, we've added a link, under "Sources", to the English language edition of Zaman, Turkey's big newspaper

• Deron Williams, other NBA stars head for rude awakening overseas - Gordon Monson - Salt Lake Tribune
• FIBA, NBA leaders meeting in New York - Chris Sheridan - ESPN
• NBA Players Urged To Play Abroad During Lockout (Audio) - Steve Inskeep - NPR
• NBA PM: Is Europe Losing Its Leverage? - Alex Raskin - HoopsWorld
• Deron’s Turkey move pends FIBA approval - Hurriyet Daily News