Raja Bell kind of thought he might be taken in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who'd told him that would happen and were the only team that looked at the Florida International product that year.
But it didn't happen. Bell ended up playing in the CBA.
"I took the long road, and I wouldn't have had it any other way," said the Utah Jazz's newest addition. "It keeps me humble and working hard."
And doesn't that just sound like a Jerry Sloan kind of guy?
Bell, 27, and the Jazz came to terms Friday on a two-year agreement. He will arrive in Utah Sunday night, have a team physical and — as long as he passes — sign the contract early next week. Bell expects to pass, having had only the usual ankle sprains and one stress fracture four years ago in the way of career injuries.
Jazz training camp begins Tuesday with media day, and the first formal workouts are Wednesday at the Zion's Bank Basketball Center.
The 6-foot-5 Bell, who played two years for Philadelphia and with the Dallas Mavericks last season, may not make the Jazz an instant favorite to make the NBA playoffs for the 21st straight season — the first in 18 years without Karl Malone and John Stockton — but the unrestricted free agent's addition makes the roster look better than it had Friday morning.
And Bell says this will be the first time in his career he's had the luxury of being able to relax a bit and play his own game because it's his first multi-year contract. He was always sweating getting another deal in his first three years.
"It gives me a chance to — for the first time in my career — feel like there's a little bit of stability there," said Bell from his home in Miami, where he and his family have lived since moving from St. Croix, Virgin Islands, when he was in the eighth grade.
"I have to think that's going to help my performance on the court," Bell said of the two-year deal. "You're not looking over your shoulder worrying about if they're going to re-sign you or anything like that.
"That's pretty much what I was looking for, and I'm very excited. I was kind of nervous this summer not knowing what to expect. I saw a lot of people getting signed. But I couldn't have asked for a better situation, I don't think."
Bell said he did not agonize over the Jazz/Jason Terry saga as Utah waited 15 days to see if Atlanta matched its three-year offer to the restricted free agent. Atlanta matched that offer on Thursday.
There was speculation that Utah would sign Bell only if it couldn't get Terry, though Jazz player personnel director Walt Perrin said Friday the team might have taken both if it could get them.
Bell said he just assumed that whichever direction Terry went, he'd go the opposite, so he figured things would work out. "I didn't sweat it," he said.
He had been talking with Atlanta but said some issues there worried him, and San Antonio had shown interest, but the Spurs weren't offering two years, making Utah the most comfortable place for him.
Perrin and Bell both say he's a two-guard, but both note that he can play small forward and backup point, if necessary. He played the point full-time in the CBA.
Perrin likes Bell's grit. "He's a hard-nosed kid who plays physical, good defense. I think his toughness and defense excites the whole coaching staff," he said, adding that training camp will determine where Bell fits — as a starter or backup.
He started 32 of the 75 games he played for the Mavericks last season, averaging 3.1 points and 15.6 minutes.
DeShawn Stevenson, rookie Sasha Pavlovic and Bell are likely Utah's choices at shooting guard, unless Andrei Kirilenko or Matt Harpring, Bell's teammate in Philadelphia, moves over from the three.
Bell also knows point guard Carlos Arroyo from Florida International and forward Michael Ruffin from Philadelphia and likes it that he'll be with some familiar faces next week.
He has a three-year career scoring average of 3.2 points a game, and Perrin calls him a streaky shooter, but Bell expects to change the attitude of those who think he's not a scorer.
"I'd like to get that part of my NBA game rolling. I love to score. I've been on teams where it wasn't necessary," he said, adding, "there seems to be a need for that" with the Jazz.
Late last season, Dallas "let me start putting it up," he said, sounding enthusiastic. "Last year, I was pretty consistent (shooting)."
Bell made a name for himself during the 2001 NBA playoffs with Philadelphia when he frustrated first Milwaukee's Ray Allen and then Los Angeles' Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals.
"That was really my first introduction into the game, and I was just out there trying to be blue collar. Sometimes guys don't like that. It gets under their skin. That's why I was effective," said Bell, who calls himself a quiet type of player.
"On the other side of that, I'm kind of emotional. I don't like to get pushed around," he said. "I've been known to get in a thing or two. That's not my personality, but on the court, if you let somebody take an inch, they 're going to try to take a mile, so I don't give them that inch."
Perhaps some of Bell's toughness comes from his offseason workout partner — his father, a former college football player with whom Raja still likes to hang out. "I'm a big family guy," he said of why his home remains in Miami.
The name Raja may have several origins. His mother has several meanings for it, he said, among them a Hindu translation of "prince" or "exalted one." Bell also thinks it may have just come from the way Virgin Islanders pronounce his father's name, Roger, as "Raja."
While Bell said Friday's agreement amounts to his first NBA multiyear contract, he admits to expecting to enter into another next summer when he plans to marry his girlfriend of seven years, Cindy, whom he met at FIU.
"It's moving along," Bell said of the wedding plans.Raja Bell
6-foot-5, 210 pounds
shooting guard
born: Sept 19, 1976, in St. Croix, Virgin Islands
College: Florida International
NBA Statistics:
Games Starts PPG Reb. Asst.
2002-03 75 32 3.1 1.9 0.8
Career 154 — 3.2 1.7 0.8
E-mail: lham@desnews.com