Even after leaving in 2000 as Syracuse's No. 2 all-time assists leader behind former NBA guard Sherman Douglas, Jason Hart has faced more than his fair of naysayers.

"When he came out of school," Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said Thursday, "people questioned whether he could play a point guard position."

The Jazz are banking he can — something not all NBA teams have been willing to do.

Hart wasn't drafted until the second round. He appeared in just one game during his rookie season with Milwaukee. He spent time in 2001 in the minor league then known as the NBDL, now the D-League, before getting called up by San Antonio. He toiled in Greece for the 2002-03 season, then returned to the Spurs. He finally had a breakout year with Charlotte (9.5 points, 5.0 assists per game over 24 games in 2004-05), only to later get buried on the bench behind John Salmons in Sacramento.

"In the NBA, that happens," Hart said of his trying times with the Kings. "A lot of times it's not gonna go your way. But that doesn't mean your career is over. I could have easily hung it up and just (given) up on the season, but I continued to work."

No wonder Hart, who finished last season averaging 9.0 points and 4.0 assists in 23 games with the Los Angeles Clippers, seems so accustomed to the skeptics — and so thrilled to have signed a two-year contract with the Jazz believed to be worth about $5 million.

"I'm happy I'm still in the NBA," said Hart, who was in town for a physical exam Wednesday and met with reporters before catching a flight home to Los Angeles on Thursday.

"When I got drafted," the 29-year-old guard added, "they said I wasn't gonna play one game. And here we are ... heading to another part of my life."

The Jazz plan to use Hart as the replacement for veteran Derek Fisher backing starting point guard Deron Williams — Fisher cleared waivers Thursday and will sign a three-year, $14 million deal this morning with the Los Angeles Lakers — and envision him perhaps playing alongside Williams in a combo-guard capacity as well.

Utah agreed to terms with the unrestricted free agent last Friday, hours before it became public Toronto free agent Morris Peterson had decided to sign with New Orleans instead of Utah.

"I'm happy Morris did go to New Orleans," Hart said. "That opened the door for me."

O'Connor, however, went to great lengths Thursday to make it known Hart was not a mere alternative option to the higher-profile Peterson.

The Jazz made contact with him, O'Connor said, about five minutes after the NBA's summer free-agency shopping market opened late on June 30.

Peterson's decision, the Jazz's basketball boss added, merely allowed Utah to offer more money to Hart than their bi-annual exception that would have started at $1.83 million in the coming season.