Utah Jazz keep low profile with law

Ever notice that night after night Utah Jazz players almost never show up?

On police blotters.

Unlike so many of their rivals, year in and year out, the Jazz never see a court, except for the one in the gymnasium.

Compared to the rest of the NBA, they're the Walton family.

Maybe it's because they live in Salt Lake City, with its tame night life and liquor laws. Or maybe it's because the Jazz demand old-school discipline and choose their players believing that character counts as much as quickness.

Whatever the reason, the Jazz are not being arrested for DUIs (see Carmelo Anthony, Rashard Lewis), or domestic assault (Ron Artest, Jason Kidd, Kurt Thomas, etc.), or shoplifting (Juwan Howard). They're not being charged with firing a shotgun in the air outside a strip club (Stephen Jackson), or collecting tickets for driving 101 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone and 103 in a 55 mph zone in the same month (Kenyon Martin).

This should be the norm, of course. Pro athletes shouldn't be lauded for not breaking the law. That much should be expected.

Unfortunately, it's not the norm in the NBA.

According to Jeff Benedict, author of "Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA's Culture of Rape, Violence & Crime," 40 percent of NBA players have criminal records. Benedict's statistics are based on background checks he conducted of 177 players from the 2001-02 season. (Does anyone believe the situation has improved since then?)

Benedict wrote that while Kobe Bryant was on trial for rape, "25 law enforcement agencies in 13 cities in the United States and Canada were simultaneously proceeding with arrest warrants, indictments, plea-agreement proceedings or trials involving more than a dozen other players." He found 33 criminal charges of domestic violence against NBA players.

Most of it ends with the equivalent of a hand slap. NBA players have probably performed more community service than United Way and Mother Teresa combined.

Meanwhile, the Jazz have been Boy Scouts by comparison. Since the Larry Miller Era began more than two decades ago, only a handful of Jazz players have been involved with the police — Luther Wright, Olden Polynice, DeShawn Stevenson, Robert Whaley and Deron Williams. As you'll see, other than the Stevenson case, it was all fairly innocuous stuff, and all but Williams were soon shown the door by the Jazz.