Shawne Williams stood in a Memphis courtroom last summer after his latest drug-related transgression and begged for mercy.

"If you really want to play basketball," Judge James Beasley Jr. told the 6-9 Williams, "you're going to have to disassociate yourself with persons of ill-repute."

All that can be said today is Williams obviously got the message.

He appears to have exchanged drugs and criminal activity for a shot at having an NBA career that seemed so promising when he was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 2006.

The Knicks have four players ranked among the NBA's top 34 three-point shooters, and Williams leads them with a .451 percentage from long range.

"I definitely let a lot of people down," Williams said. "I let myself down. I was so young. I wasn't taking it as a profession or a job. If I knew what I know now, then I'd probably still be in Indiana. ...(But) a light switch clicked on and I realized what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be playing ball."