This is for Deron Williams: the best Illini in the NBA to come down the pike in quite a long while. This goes out to the man who represented the country this summer on Team USA and is coming off a season which garnered him a second team All-NBA spot.

Keep it up Deron.

Keep it up, because you are the immediate hope of all Illini/NBA fans who have been waiting years and years (decades and decades) to see a former Illini in the All-Star game. It's been far too long and far too overdue, and it seems as though former Illini have to overcome some type of curse to play in the NBAs All-Star game.

I've made a list of all former Illini who are playing professional basketball. Most fans know about Deron Williams, and the other Illini in the NBA, so I wanted to focus on all the other Pros who are out there.

Of course Deron plays for the Jazz, while Luther Head is a Rocket, and Brian Cook and James Augustine are on the Orlando Magic. There was one other former Illini who was in the NBA this past season, none other than Awvee Storey. Storey only played one season for the Illini, in the Lon Kruger era before transferring to Arizona State. He's bounced around the NBA and has also had stints in Venezuela, South Korea, the USBL and the NBA development league.

In total there are 22 players who either played this past season for a pro team or are currently playing in the NBA summer leagues. You could call these guys the Illini Globetrotters, as it seems almost all points on the globe are covered.

Here's the breakdown — after the jump.

It's great to see that Deron Williams was selected to Team USA this past week. Leading up to the Monday announcement of the final 12-man team, there was a nice logjam at the point guard spot, with Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Williams all vying for a spot on the squad. Luckily for Williams, the team includes three PGs, with Kidd and Paul in the mix as well.

Williams is coming off his best NBA season to date, averaging nearly 20 points and 10 assists per game. He was selected to the All-NBA second team, although ironically was not selected to the All-Star game. He will be the first ever ex-Illini basketball player to represent the USA in men's basketball at the Olympics.

After a rough 2007–2008 season that saw the Illini finish under .500 for the first time since 1999, it may appear to some disgruntled fans that coach Weber, only three years removed from the national championship runner-up, is taking the program down the wrong road. Some have argued that he is not up to the job of maintaining a Top 25 program and/or that he can't bring in the talent.

In the midst of the past season, while the losses mounted and hope for any post-season play dwindled, something significant happened off the court that points to a much better future for Illini basketball. Recruits started verbally committing en masse. Within a matter of just days, Weber got commitments from three of the top junior guards in the state, Joe Bertrand from Sterling, DJ Richardson from Peoria and Brandon Paul of Warren.