Utah Jazz: No Rocky Mountain Revue this summer

The Jazz are done with the Rocky Mountain Revue.

At least for now.

The team announced Friday that this year it will not host its annual July NBA summer league for rookies, youngsters and free agents and instead will field an entry in the Orlando Pro Summer League.

The decision was made because the competing Vegas Summer League in Las Vegas has drawn teams away from the Revue, and Jazz officials could not get enough commitments to justify holding their own long-running event.

"We couldn't get six teams — five, plus us — to come and participate in it," general manager Kevin O'Connor said. "We got caught up in a numbers game, and the economy."

"Since the NBA began its own summer league in Las Vegas, we have slowly been losing participation in our event," Jazz president Randy Rigby added in a statement released by the team. "The few teams that played in both Utah and Vegas have now decided to forgo the Rocky Mountain Revue and only attend Vegas for budgetary reasons."

O'Connor did not rule out the possibility the Revue could return in 2010 or later.

"We really are gonna miss it," he said.

"We're annoyed," the Jazz GM added. "We put on a terrific show for basketball and are disappointed we're not going to be able to put it on again this year. Disappointed for our fans, too."

The Revue — started at Westminster College as a pro-am league in 1984, and started in its most recent format in 1990 — grew into a summertime sports institution of sorts in Salt Lake City, and has an alumni participation list that includes the likes of current NBA stars Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.

Last year's Revue MVP, undrafted Georgia Tech guard Anthony Morrow, parlayed a solid summer-league performance into a season-long gig with the Golden State Warriors.

Current Utah point guard and Team USA Olympian Deron Williams made his first appearance in a Jazz uniform at the 2005 Revue.

Bryon Russell played in it three different years, and fellow former Jazz guard DeShawn Stevenson played in it four years in a row.