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The former face of the franchise is in New Jersey.

The only current player who ever represented the Jazz in an NBA All-Star Game scored a total of 64 points last season.

The legendary coach's replacement won barely one-fourth of his games after taking over in February.

So here are the Jazz, trying to market themselves and entertain fans who were turned off by months of labor negotiations. What can they do?

Well, they can challenge the Bear mascot and the Jazz Dancers to "step up their game even more," as team president Randy Rigby said Wednesday.

Ordinarily, that would have qualified as the funniest quote of the day, except that one-liners are not a big part of Rigby's game. He said that with a straight face, determined to deliver a product that satisfies customers and keeps them coming back to EnergySolutions Arena.

Maybe it stems partly from desperation, of not having any billboard-worthy stars, but the Jazz are about to launch what Rigby described as "a major rebranding campaign" that promotes the basketball played by themselves and the rest of the NBA as the best in the world. That's not quite a return to the franchise's original days in Utah, when opposing teams were the biggest attractions in the Salt Palace. It's just the recognition that the Jazz lack marquee players in a star-driven league, and they have to look beyond the traditional approach in promoting their product.

That involves more than basketball, which is where the costumed performers and interactive, in-arena innovations come into play. But don't misunderstand: The Jazz do believe the guys in uniform give them something to sell.

General manager Kevin O'Connor is promoting "the ability to continue to get better," which is another way of saying the starting point could be higher.

"It's fun to get out from under the cloud that was kind of over us in March and April," O'Connor said.

So that's it, then: The Jazz's theme is they're not going to be as lousy as when we last watched them.

Those were bleak days, certainly. Deron Williams was traded, Jerry Sloan walked away, Tyrone Corbin took over the team under tough circumstances that became even more unfair to him and former All-Star Mehmet Okur shut down his season because of injuries, after appearing in 13 games. The only hope came via the improvement of rookies Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors, followed by the draft that delivered Enes Kanter and Alec Burks, via the combination of the Williams trade and the Jazz's own badness.

The Jazz now have "some guys that athletically maybe are different than we've had here in a long time," O'Connor said.

So that's what the Jazz will sell — collectively, not individually. "All of our research shows that this market is very interested to see how this young team comes out and starts performing," Rigby said. "Our young players, I'm convinced, are going to be the future superstars of this game."

How soon? That's another issue. What happens when the Jazz Kids struggle — or don't merit much playing time? This could become tricky for Corbin, O'Connor and the organization. The excuse of being young will get old. O'Connor already is banning "rebuilding" from the Jazz's vocabulary, but what other way is there to describe this team?

They can market themselves as "improving" all they want, but that label will be subject to continual judgment from the outside. Rigby says Utahns always respond to a team that gives full effort, regardless of the results. We'll see. The Western Conference standings may influence everybody's feelings about the Jazz more than the fans' subjectivity.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt