Jazz take first steps toward re-signing Araujo

The Jazz have made contact with the camp of unrestricted free agent Rafael Araujo, the ex-BYU big man from Brazil who was Utah's No. 3 center last season.

"We've had conversations," basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said Sunday.

The Jazz have indicated a willingness to re-sign Araujo, who appeared in just 28 games last season.

Beyond that, O'Connor said it's been "quiet on the free-agency front" for the capped-out Jazz since the NBA's summer shopping market opened late Saturday night.

Armed with nothing more than midlevel-exception money (a multiyear contract beginning at roughly $5.5 million for next season), Utah is not expected to be a major player in this year's market.

There is one name with potential intrigue that surfaced over the weekend, though.

Longtime Los Angeles Laker swingman Devean George is an unrestricted free agent after deciding late last week to opt out of a contract that would have paid him $2.16 million to remain in Dallas next season.

The Jazz are known to have long liked George.

O'Connor, however, declined to comment on what level of interest the Jazz might now have in him — or any other free agent, for that matter. O'Connor also had no comment when asked if Utah had already offered anyone some or all of its midlevel-exception money.

Meanwhile, ESPN.com reported Sunday that after Toronto reached agreement with Miami sharpshooter Jason Kapono on a four-year, midlevel-exception deal worth $24 million, agent Lon Babby said client Grant Hill's list of potential teams now includes, in no particular order, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando.

That would seem to eliminate the Jazz from having any shot at free-agent Hill, Orlando's injury-plagued swingman.

It's not known if Utah had interest in Hill anyway, though he — much like George, a veteran who can contribute off the bench — does fit the general profile of players that Jazz owner Larry H. Miller recently suggested the franchise would pursue this summer.

Babby, incidentally, also is the agent for Morris Almond, the Rice University shooting guard selected by the Jazz in the first round of last Thursday's NBA Draft. He was in town Friday for Almond's introductory news conference.

SALES JOB: For once, it's not Utah being portrayed as a place in which NBA players don't want to work.