If Carlos Gonzalez Jr. doesn't fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA, the 13-year-old just might have a successful career as a motivational speaker.

After all, his words of wisdom certainly humbled New Jersey Nets swingman Terrence Williams.

Terrence Williams scored six points Thursday in his return to the NBA. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Williams, 23, had just been sent down to the NBA D-League's Springfield (Mass.) Armor -- punishment for being late to Nets practices, shootarounds and meetings -- when he encountered Gonzalez, an Armor ballboy.

Gonzalez was eager to meet Williams, one of his favorite players. He also couldn't understand why Williams would put himself in a position to be demoted.

Gonzalez believed he had to say something.

"I was nervous," said Gonzalez, who approached Williams before his first game with the Armor. "But I just wanted to help him. I thought to myself, 'Wow I'm actually meeting an NBA player, and I wanted to give him a heads up.'

"I told him, 'You made a mistake and you shouldn't feel like you're down here because you're not a good ballplayer. You need to learn from it.' If I was him, I wouldn't want to be down here. I'd do anything to stay in the NBA.'"

Williams gave his recollection of the conversation to the Newark Star-Ledger.

"I was like, 'Do you watch the NBA?' " said Williams, who was called up Tuesday and played 26 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. "He said, 'Yeah, you're one of the players I [like to] watch. Why would you blow it?'

"I was like, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'Why would you want to have an attitude, and be late -- the simplest things you can control? And you get to be in the NBA? I would die to do that, so don't blow it.'

"That's a [13]-year-old telling me that," Williams told the Star-Ledger, adding that his mother had called him in tears after his demotion, asking if he had been kicked out of the NBA. "So I think that and my mom crying was what really got to me. So down there, I decided to take everything serious, like I was here, as far as practicing and playing in a game."