Thanks to Scott for pointing out this Martin Renzhofer article about Deron Williams and Robert Whaley from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Robert Whaley and Deron Williams allegedly lied to police officers and the Jazz after an early morning altercation with six to eight men from Boulder, Colo., in a Park City bar this past weekend.

Both Jazz players were charged Wednesday with providing false information to a police officer, a Class C misdemeanor. In addition, Jazz officials said Wednesday that Whaley had lied to them about how he got the cut on his hand that required six stitches to close.

But why lie, when the consequences are potentially more damaging than admitting the truth? A lie oftentimes escalates the punishment.

The article goes into a lot of theories and is pretty interesting.

I'll save someone going to the trouble of saying this in the comments: yes, this makes the Blazers look a little better for not taking Deron Williams, as they had the option to. Of course, this is hardly evidence that he's a bad guy--he hasn't been convicted of anything, and even the lying is only an allegation--but can you imagine how bad it would have been if a "Jail Blazer" rookie had been in a scuffle a few weeks into his first season?

(As it happens, Martell Webster and Deron Williams are two NBA players with blogs. They're both a little stale at the moment, but let's see if this incident comes up on either of them.)