Friday, July 06, 2007

   We had to do a lot of cutting to the Jazz notebook for Saturday's paper, but I wanted to make sure this note about Jason Hart appeared somewhere in full. Hart's agent said Friday the free-agent point guard is a fan of the Jazz and would like that backup point guard job vacated by Derek Fisher.


   As the agent for free-agent guard Jason Hart, Bill Neff had a quick answer when asked Friday about the possibility of Hart coming to the Jazz as a backup point guard to replace Derek Fisher.

   "I wish it'd happened two years ago," Neff said.

   Back in the summer of 2005, Neff tried to steer Hart to Utah in a trade that the Jazz also wanted to see happen. But Charlotte opted to send Hart instead to Sacramento for a future second-round draft pick.

   Now Hart is on the free agent market, having averaged 6.9 points and 2.9 assists this season for Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers, and Neff said the Jazz both expressed interest in Hart and are on his short list of preferred teams.

   "It's a great situation for Jason," Neff said. "The Jazz are defense-oriented, team-oriented, and those are Jason's strengths."

   Primarily a point guard, Hart had his best season playing both guard spots for expansion Charlotte in the 2004-05 season. He averaged 9.5 points and 5.0 assists, but asked to be traded after the Bobcats drafted Raymond Felton.

   Neff said he wasn't concerned about Hart, 29, playing behind Deron Williams, citing the success Howard Eisley had in the same role with John Stockton. "They seem to do very well by their players," Neff said.

   Hart, who has played five teams in his six-year NBA career, also has a connection to Jazz head scout Troy Weaver through Syracuse. Among the other teams interested in Hart: Denver, Miami and the Clippers.

   --Ross Siler

    Please also check out the next post on the Jazz's summer league team.