"It depends on how much you like it," Stevenson said of value. "If I like a jersey a lot, I'll get it, but if not, I'll wait until the next time I come across it.

"You can get them at the NBA Store, urban stores, hip-hop stores, Fanzz, just a lot of sport places where you can get hats."

Internet retro gear sites abound — starting perhaps with NBA.com and the NBA Store and MitchellandNess.com, which sells to the public or lists authorized sellers and Web sites. Nike, adidas and Reebok are among other throwback manufacturers.

None of the three Jazzmen look at it as an investment.

"I never did, but you can," says Stevenson. "A lot of them, I just wear. I spend that much money, I'll at least wear them a couple times to get the use out of them. Then hopefully I can get them signed."

Says Bell: "I really don't. That's why I don't have a whole lot of them. I buy only the ones I think are really cool-looking."

Says Williams: "It could be, but I don't. I'll probably grow out of jerseys one day. When I do that, I'm going to just hang them up, put them somewhere, in a trophy room.

"Everything changes. I guess it will be another thing — sweaters, it will be sweaters in 10 years," says a bemused Williams, perhaps foreseeing NBA players coming to games dressed in Argyle cardigans with snazzy matching socks in 2013.

---

E-mail: lham@desnews.com