After three stellar seasons at Duke University one thing Bulls rookie Jay Williams knows how to do is win.  But after a slow start to his NBA career with the Chicago Bulls is JWill ready to quit?

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Williams is frustrated, and when he is frustrated he talks to his parents.  Some of the recent topics discussed have ranged from Williams' desire to be traded to his difficult relationship with coach Bill Cartwright to his frustration with the triangle offense.

''It got to a point where he said, 'Dad, maybe I need to be traded,''' said Williams' father, David. ''I said, 'Wait. You've got to give it a chance.' I asked him if he had spoken to coach Cartwright. He said, 'Dad, he won't speak to me.' I said, 'Go knock on his door. He'll sit down and talk with you.'''

According to Banks Williams' father said he was shocked by his son's trade suggestion.

''Jason is not a quitter,'' he said. ''For him to mention trade suggested he was considering giving up.''

''My worst fear is him losing his passion for the game,'' David Williams said. ''He already has been through the phase of questioning himself and his ability to be successful at this level. But that lasted up until his [Nov. 9] game against the New Jersey Nets.''

Williams' mother, Elyria, is concerned also, saying ''I know it takes a vision and a motivator to achieve [team] goals. I haven't seen that with the Bulls.''

''But what they don't understand is that the game you see him play is the game he is told to play because he is an employee,'' Althea Williams said. ''He hasn't been taught to disrespect authority. He listens to people in power just like he listens to us. But if a supervisor tells him to do his job in a manner inconsistent with his talent and who he is, it affects his quality of production. That's what's happening to my kid.''

''We've sometimes found ourselves silently saying, 'What are we doing here?' He's trying to work within the triangle offense, which may be a good system, but it has yet to be a good system for him or the players the Bulls have had for the last [five] years.''

The Williams' recently met with Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and GM Jerry Krause and reportedly came away impressed.

''I've heard about the problems that Michael Jordan has had with the organization, but we're not concerned with that,'' David Williams said. ''All that is in the past. Now they have an opportunity to make things right for everybody. What matters most is what they are going to do now to get things back on the right track.''

''Jerry Reinsdorf is a great guy,'' Althea Williams said. ''He is well-versed, knowledgeable, has a good heart and likes to see the Bulls go in the right direction. [Operations chief Jerry] Krause--same thing--is a jolly good fellow who says all the right things and has a good heart. Cartwright, I don't know too well. I said hello once, but he doesn't seem to be too much of an outgoing guy.''

Williams' took his parents advice and recently had discussions with his coach, stating that he found Cartwright to be "very receptive" and the coach making it clear that he has an open door to talk with any of his players whenever they have a problem.

''I told him I had trouble understanding a lot of what was going on on the court,'' Williams said. ''It was just the challenge of having to adjust to the new offense and NBA style of play. It was all new to me. I'm still working to learn how to play within his system. Hopefully, when I finally get it down pat, I can be the player I know I can be. It's not as easy as people think, especially with a young team.''

''Jay is no different from most other rookies in his situation,'' Cartwright said. ''He's finding it a little tough adjusting to his new job and the new environment. It simply takes time to learn everything.''

But when will the losing stop, asks Williams' mother.

''I don't see any plan,'' she said. ''I've seen the same thing [all season]. You lose many things in life, but you can't let losing become your way of life. There comes a time when you have to say, 'What now?' instead of, 'Oh, well.' I've been seeing a lot of 'Oh, well,' instead of, 'What next?' And that's what hurts me the most.''

Early morning update:

K.C. Johnson reports that both Jay Williams and Bill Cartwright were caught off guard by the article written by Banks, but Cartwright still offered some perspective to the situation.

"Jay is a man," Cartwright said. "When you come into this league, you claim certain responsibilities that are yours. I know that he wants to do that. And I'm certain that if given time and people leave him alone to be his own person, he'll be able to do that.

"But he needs time to learn how to be a good player in this league."

In a league full of people who interfere in affairs with the best intentions for their connection, from the wives of Glen Rice through to Antonio Davis through to Doug Christie (Christie's actually held a press conference in Toronto demanding the Raptors traded her husband), Williams parents claimed they did not have negative intentions.

"Not at all," said David Williams, reached Sunday in New Jersey. "We also told Jay to work harder. Nothing you appreciate is ever easy."

While Williams' Bulls teammates have just blown off the whole situation with the exception of a few jokes at Jay's expense, Johnson writes that Williams is intelligent enough to know of the issue's potentially negative ramifications, which is why he met with Cartwright and why he constantly works to earn his teammates' respect.

"My parents are very protective of me," Williams said. "When everything isn't going great, of course they're going to be worried about me. Sometimes you come home and you vent, but it's nothing to the degree that I want to be somewhere else."

"It's a frustrating season. I've lost more games in my life than I have ever before. That doesn't mean I think [Cartwright's] not receptive to what we're trying to do.

"We're trying to win. I want to win here. I don't want to be anywhere else."