This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Charlotte, N.C. — Leftover quotes from a Wednesday feature about the bond between Jazz veterans and young players.Raja Bell"These guys came into work. They came in relatively humble. You want to see that, because we were all young guys. Contrary to a lot of kids' belief, you're not owed anything when you get here. That's No. 1. No. 2, we have a good time with them. They've got good personalities. They're funny guys. They can take jokes, they can give jokes. It's all good.""You always want to test a rook to see what he's made of. And at the end of the day, it is your job. Look, it's either your family eats or my family eats sometimes. You go at a rook to see what he's made of. If he's going to give it to you, you take it from him. We've got pretty good rooks. All of them have got a scrap about 'em and a willingness to compete.""We're a young team, I tell people. They say, 'Well, you've got guys who played seven, eight years.' Yeah, but those guys all came out of high school. We're a pretty young team, save for a couple of us. There is a nice progression of ages there. So when it's time to play video games and stuff like that, they grab on to those guys. When it's time to talk about fashion or the collective bargaining agreement, they come to me. Hopefully we've got all the bases covered them.""I don't have a fashion line. The stores was in Phoenix, yeah. We closed them down. But I always try to help Gordon out. … You can tell he likes style and fashion. I feel like it's my job. I had guys helping me out a little bit along the way. My style's not for everybody, so he picks and chooses what he wants to take with him."Brian T. SmithTwitter: @tribjazz