Chalmers, Arthur in Trouble with League

With March Madness a thing of the past, the madness apparently continues for Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur. They were both thrown out of the rookie transition program on September 3^rd after being caught with marijuana and women in their hotel room. They will be required to make up this program next year.

Both of these players starred in the Kansas' 2008 NCAA championship. They were fined $20,000 apiece and could be suspended for the start of the upcoming season.

Chalmers sank a game tying, buzzer-beating three pointer which forced overtime in Kansas' victory over Memphis to clinch the championship. He was drafted 34^th by Minnesota but was quickly to traded to Miami. He is expected to challenge for the starting point guard position.

Arthur fell in the draft, being drafted 27^th after being believed to be lottery material. He dropped due to health reasons that circulated the league. He was drafted by New Orleans, only to be traded to Portland, then Houston and finally staying in Memphis.

The players were caught by security at the Doral Arrowwood resort in New York. The program being held featured coaches, referees and former players talk about ways to adapt to like as an NBA player. There were a total of 69 participants. One of the rules of the rookie transition program is that having visitors is not permitted, which was violated by the two former Jayhawks. ESPN reports say that NBA commissioner David Stern was so angered by these actions, he personally made the call to have them removed from their room.

There were also reports from ESPN that a fire alarm went off around 2 a.m. Players were refused to be let in the room while hotel management checked out the scene. The hotel management left the matter up for hotel security. When security arrived, they noted there was a "substantial smell of marijuana use". There were also women in the room. Security said that there was someone in the bathroom repeated flushing the toilet. The two players stayed the night before receiving the abrupt news that they were not to return to the program.