Utah Jazz notebook: Players aren't in the running for All-Star spots

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Jazz players aren't exactly winning the NBA's popularity contest.

The league has released its second update on the fan voting for All-Star starters, and the four Jazz guys on the ballot are nowhere near the leaders.

Voting has been so low for Utah's hopefuls, in fact, that only Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur registered among the top 34 vote-getters of the 60 Western Conference candidates.

Two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap are not among the top 11 vote-receiving forwards.

Williams said he isn't paying attention to the balloting process and didn't know he is only in eighth place among West guards.

"I know I'm not going to get voted in," Williams said, "so it doesn't matter."

With less than a month of voting left, Williams has 208,991 votes, so it would take a whole lot of ballot-box stuffing to boost him into a starting spot.

The Lakers' Kobe Bryant is leading everybody with 1,380,383 votes, while Phoenix's Steve Nash has moved ahead of Houston's Tracy McGrady for the second starting guard spot out West with 546,064 votes.

Okur, a one-time All-Star reserve, is 10th in voting among the West's centers with 69,612 votes. Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire leads the big men with 950,737 votes.

Fans can vote by paper ballots until Jan. 10. The deadline for NBA.com voting and wireless ballots is Jan. 18.

All-Star starters will be announced on Jan. 21. Coaches will then vote for reserves for the Feb. 14 contest at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

A controversy involving McGrady surfaced after he received the second-most votes in the first results revealed among West guards despite being injured for the past year.

Nash currently holds about a 5,000-vote lead on McGrady, who recently told NBA.com that he likely wouldn't play in the All-Star Game even if voted in out of respect for other players.

"I would attend, just to show my appreciation and my thanks to my fans," McGrady said. "But you have guys like Steve Nash, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, guys who have been playing since Day 1 and are very deserving of being out there."

Williams, who's hoping for his first All-Star nod in his fifth season, was glad to hear McGrady gave him props like that.