Guard Raja Bell told ESPN.com's Marc Stein on Friday that he's planning to join the Suns later this month, as soon as NBA free agents are allowed to formally sign new contracts.
"We're still negotiating the terms and everything, but that's where I intend to sign," Bell said Friday afternoon.
Even though no contracts can be officially signed until July 22, teams were allowed to commence negotiations with free agents as of 12:01 a.m. Friday morning. Knowing that Bell is bound to attract considerable interest from teams looking for a quality defender who's also underrated as a shot-maker, Phoenix was apparently quick to offer Bell a multi-year deal.
Bell, 28, averaged 11.6 points in two seasons with the Jazz to augment his reputation for sticky perimeter defense.
The Suns began the free-agent period with two top priorities -- re-signing restricted free agent Joe Johnson and signing All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire to a contract extension.
Bell would be the second major addition to a team that won 62 games last season, following this week's trade of Quentin Richardson to New York for veteran forward Kurt Thomas.
The Suns also struck quickly in free agency last July, reaching a verbal agreement to lure eventual league MVP Steve Nash from Dallas to the desert on the first day of negotiations. Nash and Bell are pals from their season together as Mavericks teammates.
"Raja Bell intends to sign a contract with the Suns when the moratorium ends," his agent, Herb Rudoy, told ESPN Insider Chad Ford. "Raja really wanted to play with Steve Nash and saw a great opportunity to do just that."
Suns GM Bryan Colangelo declined comment on the story, citing league policy that prohibits NBA teams from commenting on free-agent negotiations during the moratorium.
Looks like the Suns got a pretty good player. Bell can shoot the ball pretty well and he is also a good defender. Sort of like a "less offence but more defence" version of Q.
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