He's won a championship with Michael Jordan, run with Andrei Kirilenko in Russia and dished to a bunch of guys you never heard of in Asheville, N.C.
     
The newest Jazzman, Rusty LaRue, is one of those hoops vagabonds who has spent the past five years on the NBA fringe.

The 28-year-old point guard spent parts of three seasons with the Chicago Bulls, winning a title in 1998, though he wasn't on the active roster. He played a total of 1,001 minutes in those seasons, mostly as an undersize shooting guard.
     
When the Bulls cut him for the last time four days after Christmas 2000, he finished that season with the Idaho Stampede. Then he spent part of last season with Kirilenko's CSKA team in the Russian SuproLeague, averaging 6.7 points a game as a sub.
     
Last fall he almost stuck with the Jazz after training camp, but a contract squeeze put him on the road again, this time to the NBDL's Asheville Altitude, where he played for two months, hoping for a call-up.
     
Of his NBDL experience he says, " It was about like every other minor league, except that you get some TV games and you know your check is going to cash."
     
A better reason to play there, though, was the hope an NBA team would call. That hope was realized this week when LaRue joined the Jazz. It was just a 10-day contract, but with the trade deadline looming, there's always a chance a more permanent roster spot will open up before he has to head back to North Carolina.
     
Or wherever.
     
For now, LaRue is just happy to be back in the bigs.
     
"I'm thankful for the opportunity Mr. (Larry H.) Miller's given me, and the team's given me, and I'm just going to try to work hard while I'm here," he said.