Jamal Crawford has always been labelled the Bulls point guard of the future, but if Chicago gets the first overall pick in the NBA draft this June and select Jason  Williams out of Duke where does that leave him?

''I'm a basketball player first, and I think my natural position is point guard,'' Crawford said. ''I just want to be on the floor."

''They've been saying I'm the point guard of the future, so it would kind of be like, 'Why have you been saying that if you're going to draft him?''' Crawford said after practice Monday. ''But things happen. I think they should draft the best available player, and if that's him, I think they should draft him.''

Crawford didn't play many minutes last season under Tim Floyd, then blew out his ACL during the offseason after wowing everyone at Hoops the Gym with Michael Jordan, so Chicago management and fans have not really had an opportunity to view the package which Crawford could bring to the table.  But Jamal has been heating up lately, going 14-of-19 from the field in his last two games with seven assists and one turnover and is starting to show that the buzz is for real.

''Last couple of games, I played better,'' Crawford said. ''But I'm still not even close to how I played in the summer or how I'm going to be.

And how would he feel if Chicago did in fact take Williams with the first pick?  Under this scenario there has been talk about moving Crawford to shooting guard, giving the Bulls a backcourt which consists of Williams, Crawford and Jalen Rose.

''There are times now when I'm playing shooting guard because sometimes Jalen [Rose] brings it up. The two backcourt positions in the triangle are interchangeable anyway.''

''I do think Jason's a pretty good basketball player; I played against him twice when I was at Michigan,'' Crawford said. ''I can play against anybody. I don't care who they bring in."

''But do you need that [position filled]? I'm not sure you really need that. But you have to draft the best available player, so I guess that's something you have to ask Jerry [Krause].''