Hokanson to represent Utah

LOS ANGELES -- For the first time since 1987, the Jazz will not have any of their current players taking part in NBA All-Star Weekend.

They have no one in Sunday's marquee All-Star at the Pepsi Center in Denver, no one in the annual rookie-sophomore, not even anyone in the various Saturday skill competitions.

No Andrei Kirilenko, no Karl Malone, certainly no John Stockton.

The Salt Lake City area and Utah, however, will have one rep in Denver this week.

Jason Hokanson of Utah Wheelin is among 24 of the best wheelchair basketball players from 17 cities across the United States who will participate in the 2005 NBA/National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) All-Star Wheelchair Classic.

The competition will be held Thursday at the 2005 NBA All-Star Jam Session, which will feature more than 300,000 square feet of interactive basketball games, activities and entertainment at the Colorado Convention Center.

Hokanson will play against the East for a West All-Star Team, as selected by the NWBA, along with reps from Denver, Golden State, Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers, Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio.

A couple other All-Star weekend participants with Utah ties: former Jazz star and current Denver Nuggets assistant coach Adrian Dantley will represent the Detroit Pistons and former University of Utah star Andre Miller will represent the Nuggets in Saturday's Shooting Stars event, which features three-member teams comprised of one current NBA player, one retired NBA player and one WNBA player.

SILENT SASHA: According to the colorful writing of Brian Windhorst in an Akron Beacon Journal feature on former Jazz first-round draft Sasha Pavlovic, "The Montenegran guard resembles comedian Steven Wright on quaaludes. If you don't get that reference, picture the personality of your nearest lamp post.

"About the most fired-up Pavlovic has gotten all season was two weeks ago, when a gossip column falsely linked him with Playboy Playmate Carmella DeCesare, which didn't make his girlfriend, or perhaps ex-Browns quarterback Jeff Garcia, happy.

"The 21-year-old speaks English well, but he doesn't share it with the media. He delivers colorful quotes about as often as he smiles, his standard line being, 'I'm just trying to work hard.' "

Windhorst wrote that Cavaliers coach Paul Silas was stonewalled when, in an effort to build camaraderie among some new Cavs back in training camp, he tossed a little sarcasm Pavlovic's way.

"He looked at me quizzically," Silas said. "So now I just leave him alone."

The Jazz left Pavlovic exposed in last year's NBA Expansion Draft. Charlotte picked him, then traded Pavlovic to Cleveland.

OLDEN OK: According to the Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle, former Jazz center Olden Polynice played a game Monday but "had to be extricated from his vehicle after an early morning car accident on Sunday.

"One of his Michigan Mayhem teammates, (Idaho State product) Kevin Sweetwyne, didn't fare as well. He was in the front passenger's seat, broke his hand in the accident and is likely out for the . . . season."

Polynice starts at center for the minor-league Mayhem.

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com

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