Rick Adelman played with Pete Maravich on the 1975 New Orleans Jazz. Now, a quarter-century later, he feels like he's coaching him.

"He reminds me of Pete with some of the things he does with the ball," the Sacramento Kings coach says of his back-to-the-future rookie point guard, Jason Williams. "Sometimes he does things I'm not sure the officials know, 'Is that legal or not? I'm not really sure.' He's got that flair."

He has Maravich's fearless, flamboyant game -- and much more.

He has Maravich's work habits. He's a basketball junkie, a gym rat. "His whole life," general manager Geoff Petrie says, "revolves around basketball."

He's got Maravich's looks. Check out the moptop hair, boyish face and lean, bony build. All that's missing are the droopy socks and Maravich's size. At 6-1, Williams is 4 inches shorter.

He's got Maravich's swagger and self-assuredness. "I'm ready for this," Williams says. "I was born ready."

Like the man known as "Pistol Pete," he's even got a catchy nickname. Make that nicknames. At Florida, he was called "Showtime." His Kings teammates, however, have dubbed him, in no particular order, "White Shadow," "White Chocolate," "White Hope" and "White Lightning."

Which one does he shine to? "I kind of like all of them," Williams says.

He has wasted no time introducing himself to opponents. Against Phoenix Suns All-Star Jason Kidd last week, Williams drilled four consecutive pull-up jumpers, all from outside 25 feet. He outplayed Utah Jazz perennial All-Star John Stockton for three quarters Monday. "He understands the game," Kidd says.

Williams even brought an around-the-back pass to himself into the NBA. Just like Maravich.

Williams never saw Maravich play. Pistol Pete retired from the NBA in 1980 and died of a heart attack in 1988, at age 40. But he has watched film of him. "He had a lot of tricks and stuff, and I love that kind of stuff," Williams says. "The way he handled the ball and passed it, that was amazing."

So far, so is Williams. He went into Tuesday's game against Boston averaging a rookie-best 18.2 points. His 4.6 assists a game is second among rookies to Vancouver's Mike Bibby's (8.6). Williams also was second in the league in steals (3.2).

Even more impressive for a rookie point guard, Williams is averaging only 1.4 turnovers despite playing 37.8 minutes a game.

"He doesn't even know how good he is yet," says Kings forward Chris Webber, another newcomer on possibly the most improved team in the NBA.

Just how good is he? "I've only seen three guys in the league with the vision he has," Adelman says. "Kidd, Magic (Johnson) and Stockton."

Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jerry West, who grew up in the same West Virginia area as Williams, liked him so much he tried to trade up for him in the draft.

Other teams, however, shied away from him because of his history at the University of Florida, where he was kicked off the team his senior year after testing positive for marijuana for a second time.

"I guess you could say we took somewhat of a risk on that, but not a risk on the talent," says Petrie, who made Williams the No. 7 overall pick of the draft. He was the second point guard taken, behind Bibby, who went No. 2 overall to the Grizzlies.

Says Williams, 23: "All that's in the past. I admit I made some mistakes and all. There's nothing I can do to change that. I feel I'm on my third strike. If I get in trouble again, I'm going to hurt myself and a lot of people."

So far, he's only entertained them.