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Who doesn't love a gamer?
You know: That big lug in the black-and-white photo, spitting out his teeth on a football field. Bloody, hunched over, and ready to pummel any coach who tells him he's too hurt to play.
Of course, you seldom see that guy 20 years later - arthritic, punch-drunk and broke.
Raja Bell, the Charlotte Bobcats' shooting guard, won't end up like that. But I couldn't help think of that image Saturday while chatting with Bell about his left wrist.
He hasn't made a final decision whether to have surgery to repair that torn ligament, and he won't until he hears back from a hand specialist in Chicago. Surgery could cost him four months of inactivity.
But there was Bell, wrist heavily wrapped, working out with a weighted ball, shooting 3-pointers and going through layup drills.
Sure looked like a guy predisposed to toughing it out by skipping that surgery. Is this about obligation?
"There is an obligation," said Bell, as savvy a guy as you'll meet in the NBA. "But there are two obligations: one to my family and myself and my career and (another) obligation to the team that I'm a part of. Being a competitor and a businessman, I'm kind of split down the middle.
"Hopefully this (specialist) comes back, tells me I'm fine to play, and then I don't have to make a decision.''
It's complicated. Bell turned 33 last month. His body has nine seasons of NBA mileage and he's anything but a finesse guy. An undrafted guard from Florida International made a career out of banging bodies with the Kobe Bryants and Dwyane Wades.
His contract with the Bobcats ends after this season. What would be worse entering free agency? Aging player who missed most of last season following surgery? Or aging player with a bum wrist?
Those are variables. The thing Bell knows for sure is, there's no upside to going sedentary.
"I can't sit around and start eating Oreos,'' Bell said. "I'm treating this as if I'm injured for 11/2 to two weeks. So if I stay in my best shape and continue to shoot, I'll be able to hop right back into it.''
It's not quite that simple. The things Bell can do now - shoot, catch a pass, lunge with a medicine ball - are predicable movements that represent minimal risk of re-injury.
But how do you guard a Bryant or a Wade while trying to protect a joint that - currently at least - feels like it moves in two directions at once?
"The unpredictable stuff is going to be a problem for me because you can't protect it,'' Bell said. "Defense would pose a problem - having to touch cutters (to impede them) and maybe use your hands to steer a guy.''
But then, I'm sure Kobe wouldn't try to exploit some fellow's bad wrist. I mean, it's not like that dude's hyper-competitive or anything.
