As agent Diron Ohanian told the story, Araujo immediately realized that wasn't going to work. How would he be able to continue his routine of arriving at the gym hours before practice? How would he work out early on days his team didn't practice at all?

The contract was reworked, Araujo was given a driver from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Ohanian could only laugh. "You'd think some guys would say, '10 o'clock at night? I want to go out,' '' he said. "Hoffa's just the opposite. He wants to get out of the house and go to work."

Araujo officially signed a one-year deal with the Russian Superleague team - the same team with which a 15-year-old Andrei Kirilenko once played his first professional game - and will put his NBA career on hold three years after he was drafted out of Brigham Young.

The Jazz were willing to invite Araujo to training camp on a non-guaranteed contract but encouraged him to explore options in Europe. With the signing of second-round pick Kyrylo Fesenko, though, Araujo no longer was in the plans as the No. 3 center.

"It's going to be a year-by-year thing,'' Ohanian said. "If next summer comes along and there's a [NBA] team that's looking for a guy like him and to use him, I'm sure he'd be open to it."

The opportunity presented in St. Petersburg, where Araujo was guaranteed a starting job, a handsome paycheck and the chance to develop as a player, outweighed the possibility of making an NBA roster and spending another season on the bench.

Araujo's representatives first started talking to Spartak about a week and a half ago and finalized the deal Thursday. He is due to join the team in September and attend training camp in Lithuania.

Araujo played in 28 games last season with the Jazz and saw at least 10 minutes of action just 10 times. His role, as Ohanian jokingly described it, was to "sit for 10 games and then be expected to guard Tim Duncan man-to-man."

"He absolutely loves the game of basketball - he loves it - and he really wants to play,'' Ohanian added. "This was an opportunity for him to start, an opportunity to play big minutes, and he was excited about that."

Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor was away on vacation and unavailable to comment.

Ohanian said there was interest in Araujo all summer. The first team to call at the start of free agency July 1 was San Antonio, confirming to Ohanian that the defending champions saw something in a player so often labeled a draft bust.

One NBA general manager, Ohanian said, described Araujo as an "acquired taste,'' a player he grew to appreciate for setting screens, boxing out and bodying up on defense. That, in turn, eliminated the need to double-team in the post.

But that general manager's team already had the maximum 15 players with guaranteed contracts. And Araujo didn't want to risk going to training camp and getting released at the end of October with limited options available in America or Europe.

The Russian league, meanwhile, has the centers to bring out the physical best in Araujo, who struggled to live up to expectations after being drafted No. 8 overall in 2004 by Toronto.

"We were looking for a league with big guys in it,'' Ohanian said. "We didn't want him to play in a league with a bunch of 6-9 guys. The Russian league seemed to have a fair number of big guys in it, so it looked like a good place for him to develop."

The hope is Araujo finally will be able to translate his hours in the weight room and on the practice court into playing time. Agent Jim McDowell said Araujo's "ultimate goal" was to come back to the NBA but his foremost goal was getting comfortable on the court again.

"When a guy's willing to work that hard,'' Ohanian added, "you have to think good things are going to happen for him."

rsiler@sltrib.com