HOUSTON — On the Jazz's greatest-needs list, shooting has to rank rather high. Utah, after all, is second-to-last in NBA field-goal percentage and dead-last in 3-point shooting percentage.
Ex-Jazz shooting guard Raja Bell was chosen to compete — go figure — in the NBA's annual All-Star Weekend 3-point shooting contest.
Bell hasn't spent much time contemplating the relationship of those realities, but when presented with them Friday the current Phoenix Suns guard insisted he never really wanted to leave Utah in the first place.
"I still say that I was ready to come back (to Utah). I wanted to come back," said Bell, who agreed to sign a lucrative multi-year contract with the Suns mere hours after last summer's free-agency market opened — and well before the Jazz even got a chance to make a formal proposal. "I wasn't blowing smoke when I was telling people that.
"But Phoenix got to me and presented me with a great offer," he added, "and I'm excited about being here, and I don't have any regrets about moving on."
Bell was a late withdrawal from tonight's long-distance shootout, excused due to an unspecified family illness.
He will be replaced by Washington All-Star Gilbert Arenas, who faces a field featuring Seattle's Ray Allen, Detroit's Chauncey Billups, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, and defending champ Quentin Richardson of New York.
Still, Bell has established himself as a bona fide this season.
He ranks among the NBA's league leaders in 3-point field goal percentage (tied for seventh at a career-high 43.3 percent) and 3-pointers made (123, second only to Allen).
A part-time starter in Utah last season, Bell also is averaging a career-high 14.6 points per game, career-high 3.4 rebounds per game and career-high 2.5 assists per game while starting all 51 games he's played for the Pacific Division-leading Suns.
The improvement, he suggested Friday, is largely tied to opportunity.
"Combine that with the fact (All-Star point guard) Steve Nash is doing a lot of the playmaking for you," Bell said, "and it's a recipe for some pretty cool things."
Beyond being a beneficiary of Nash's play, and coach Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced and free-flowing system in Phoenix, Bell firmly believes the simple fact he has been given a chance to play has been critical to his success this season.
He did not know it when he agreed to sign with the Suns, but Joe Johnson's departure for Atlanta via free agency created a void at the 2 spot in Phoenix. The undrafted Bell stepped right in and is averaging a career-high 38 minutes per game.
"I'm excited about the opportunity that was given to me (in Phoenix), not only to play for a championship but just to kind of continue to grow as a player," he said. "Not that I wasn't given that in Utah, but I'm excited about being (with the Suns).
"What I've found in this league is a lot of guys can play, and a lot of guys are on teams where there is not necessarily the opportunity, or the amount of shots for them to demonstrate that they can.
"So it's cool," Bell added, "when you can find that good fit for you as a player, and for the team, and it works out."
Today
What: All-Star Saturday (Shooting Stars competition, skills challenge, 3-point shootout, dunk contest)
Where: Toyota Center in Houston
When: 6 p.m.
TV: TNT
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com