Utah still feels no NBA love

Hello, free agents. Remember us? We're Utah. You know, crowded schools, confusing liquor laws, mild inferiority complex.

We're back.

Can we talk about this over a caffeine-free Diet Coke?

It's that time of year when teams are allowed to talk with free agents. Raja Bell notwithstanding, the Jazz generally do a good job of keeping players already here. Tuesday they agreed to sign their own free agent, Matt Harpring, to a reported multi-year, $25-million deal.

It's attracting players from outside Utah that's a problem.

Under current salary-cap rules, many teams have limited means for acquiring players, so it becomes more recruiting than bidding. If several teams have only cap exception money available, that can make it tough on the Jazz.

As one NBA player — or was it Jim Bridger? — once said, "YOU go live in Utah."

In a recent Sports Illustrated player poll, Utah was listed as the least-favored destination for NBA players by a whopping margin. The poll showed that 27 percent of those surveyed consider Utah the place they would least like to play, far outdistancing No. 2 Toronto (16 percent), Atlanta (10 percent) and Milwaukee (6 percent).

All that work on the Olympics, all those smiley volunteer shifts, and we're still at the bottom of the food chain.

That's what we get for inventing a slogan that said, "A Pretty, Great State."

Getting players to come to Utah has always been work. It's true they follow the dollars like a cat follows tuna, but with salary-cap constraints it sometimes comes down to preference. Do you want the beach or the desert? Rugged mountains or sprawling flatlands? Colonial New England or Southern hospitality?

Do you prefer Gloria Estefan or Pearl Jam?

One thing seems certain: Players don't like Utah. Just ask Derek Harper. He's the former Dallas Maverick who said on ESPN, "YOU go live in Utah."

And he was one of the nice guys.

Ronnie Seikaly, LaPhonso Ellis, Mario Elie, Sam Perkins and others rejected Utah, citing varying reasons. Truth is they didn't want to be here, or they would have been. Meanwhile, the Jazz are hoping for the chance to one day do a Sally Fields acceptance speech: " . . . I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"