TABIONA - As he stepped out of the Chevy Trail Blazer he would call home for the next four days, Jazz guard Morris Almond joked that the last time he'd seen a town this small (population 155) was in the movie "Napoleon Dynamite."

He was standing in the parking lot of Tabiona's only school, about to pay the Jazz's annual visit to this dot on the map. The two hours he'd driven from Salt Lake City to Duchesne County might as well have taken the 23-year-old rookie to another world.

"I'll bet he's wondering, 'What'd I do wrong?' " said Lee Giles, who lives in neighboring Hanna.

For the next hour, Almond would be the featured guest for 50 boys and girls at a Junior Jazz basketball clinic, starting with dribbling lines and free throws and ending with autographs and pictures, while carrying on one of the most unique traditions in the NBA.

Every summer for 24 years, the Jazz have reached out to these towns, traveling thousands of miles on two-lane roads, sleeping in Best Westerns in Vernal and La Quintas in Moab, just to put "the Utah in the Utah Jazz," in the words of team president Randy Rigby.

"As soon as school's out, [the kids] start calling, asking when the Jazz player's coming," said Kristy Jones, the Junior Jazz coordinator in Tabiona.

After splitting time between the Jazz and their NBA Development League affiliate last season, Almond agreed to return to Utah last month for the first week of the summer circuit, stopping in nine towns starting in Tabiona and ending in Salina.

"They have no idea what to expect," said Nate Martinez, who runs the clinics as the Jazz's youth programs coordinator. "When they get out here and they're with the kids, they're great and they do such a great job with them."

It didn't take long for Almond to become an ambassador. He walked into the tiny gym home to the Tabiona Tigers, with six rows of bleachers on one side, and 30 kids ran in his direction, getting close but not too close to the NBA star.

Almond spoke to the kids about life as a rookie and named Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap as his closest friends on the team. He shared a story about giving his younger brother a dollar from his $10 allowance to rebound for him at the park.

He said he had to fight the urge to ask Kobe Bryant for an autograph when the Jazz and Lakers played in the preseason. Toward the end of the hour, one boy even asked Almond if he was Mormon.

"I live by the temple," Almond answered, "but I was raised in Atlanta, Ga., so I'm a Baptist."

Nearly 90 percent of Tabiona's kids in kindergarten through sixth grade play Junior Jazz basketball, according to Jones.

"These kids out here, basketball is their life, so they really enjoy it," said Giles, who showed up with a cowboy hat autographed by former Jazz guard Dee Brown at last year's clinic.

Most of the kids knew little about Almond, who played in only nine games as a rookie, but were impressed nevertheless.

"He's nice, really nice," mother Holly Baum said. "Every player they've ever sent has been really nice. They treat our kids like they're not small-town kids."

Over the next two days, Almond would stop in Altamont (population 185), where one kid asked if he could have $100, and Roosevelt (4,681), where one kid told him his dad used to get upset watching Greg Ostertag play.

He spent the night in Vernal (8,163) and was interrupted while eating a chicken sandwich for dinner by two young men who spotted his Jazz shorts and asked if he played basketball.

"A little," said Almond, the Jazz's first-round draft pick a year ago.

He promised in Duchesne (1,506) to dedicate his first dunk next season to the town - "I'm going to scream it out on national television," Almond said - and dunked on 13-year-old Jordan Blanc during a one-on-one game in Price (8,010).

"I'll tell that to a lot of people," Blanc said.

At his stop in Castle Dale (1,617), Almond found himself in the town's recreation center, with a concrete floor and single portable basket. One boy approached him outside afterward and asked if he rode horses. "I ride them in the merry-go-round," Almond joked.

Having talked with 15 to 20 youth directors from other NBA teams, Martinez can say just how unique the Jazz's summer tour is. The Jazz did pay Almond for making the trip, but no teams visit as many small towns or spend as long on the road.

"When I mentioned this, they were amazed that we did it every year," Martinez said.

Almond's father, a retired Army major, encouraged his son to look at the tour as community service. "I didn't think it would hurt anything to take three or four days out of my three- or four-month summer," Almond said.

Rigby said it's a way of connecting with fans who watch the Jazz on television but might not make it to EnergySolutions Arena for more than a game or two a season.

Twenty years ago, Rigby remembers riding in the back of a pickup with Thurl Bailey in a parade through Vernal. Over the years, Shandon Anderson, Greg Foster, Scott Padgett, Mo Williams, C.J. Miles, Andre Owens, Kris Humphries, Jarron Collins and Brown (among many) all have hit the road.

Brown, in fact, didn't back out of a commitment to do all three weeks last summer even after the Jazz had signed Ronnie Price to replace him. Martinez took Brown fishing for the first time in his life after a stop in Evanston, Wyo.

"It puts more of a face on the Jazz," said Julie Seeley, the Junior Jazz coordinator in Altamont. "It's not just the team that's in Salt Lake. Now it's actually a person or people that [the kids] recognize."

Her 11-year-old daughter, Steffani, gave Almond a run in a game of one-on-one.

"I think it's kind of cool," Steffani said, "for him to be out here in a small, little town that doesn't seem like it exists until you hear the name and figure it out on a map or whatever."

Unlike Miami, Atlanta or another major city with multiple professional teams, Almond has come to realize Utah is different. "The Jazz is like part of the state creed," he said. "You're either a Jazz fan or leave the state."

Driving through the Ashley National Forest on U.S. 191 between Duchesne and Price, Almond hadn't seen a building for more than 20 miles. When the signal didn't fade to static, he and Martinez laughed along to Jim Rome's radio show.

By the time they returned to Salt Lake, Almond and Martinez would have driven more than 900 miles without having left the state.

"It just feels like you and Mother Nature and that's it," Almond said. "There's no cell phone service, no nothing. No connection with the outside world except for patches. You don't see this every day, all the trees and valleys and mountains. Just keep an eye on the gas."

The culture shock can be extreme at times, according to Rich Muirbrook, the Jazz's director of youth programs.

"I remember one player calling his friends, going, 'Cows in the road! Cows in the road!' " Muirbrook said.

That was Owens, who on the same trip in 2006 decided he wanted to spend an extra hour shooting in a stuffy old gym in Nephi.

"He said to me, 'These are my favorite places to play because it feels like I'm back home,' " said Muirbrook, who traces the summer tour to the start of the Junior Jazz program in the 1983-84 season.

Almond told the kids at each stop a little about his background - growing up in Atlanta, playing in college at Rice and choosing No. 22 because he was born on Feb. 2. The highlight of each clinic came with Almond launching half-court shots as the kids lined up to cheer for him to make or miss.

Five kids in each town were chosen to play one-on-one against Almond. He answered their questions and then took a seat for autographs and pictures. A woman in Price even had Almond sign her baby's onesie. Then it was off to the next town.

"All the kids are walking back home afterwards," Almond said, "and [riding] on their bikes, playing on makeshift basketball hoops and stuff like that, but they all knew who the Jazz were."

With 60,000 kids playing Junior Jazz basketball in six states, the Jazz are committed to visiting as many communities as possible. Martinez will be back on the road with another player for two weeks in July and August, with stops everywhere from St. George to Ely, Nev., to Riverton, Wyo., to Driggs, Idaho, to Fredonia, Ariz.

Meanwhile, the bond between the Jazz and their small-town fans might have been summed up in Castle Dale. Marilyn Collard, a mother of four, brought a 1992 playoff towel for Almond to add his autograph to those of Hot Rod Hundley and Ron Boone.

"They're our Jazz, too," Collard said. "Just because we're a few hours away, they're our Jazz, too, and we love them. I think we're some of the [most] die-hard fans, even more than Salt Lake, because when we do get up for a game, we appreciate it more."