Carlos Arroyo

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Carlos Arroyo
Position Point Guard
League NBA
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 202 lb (92 kg)
Team Orlando Magic
Nationality Flag of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
Born July 30, 1979
Fajardo, Puerto Rico
College Florida International
Pro career 2001 – present

Carlos Alberto Arroyo (born July 30, 1979 in Fajardo) is Puerto Rican professional basketball player. Arroyo is the fifth player from Puerto Rico to play in the NBA. Arroyo has become arguably the most successful Puerto Rican player in NBA history. Arroyo has played in the NBA, NCAA, and the National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico (BSN) with the Cangrejeros de Santurce and Fajardo. Arroyo has played internationally in Spain. Arroyo was a member of the Puerto Rican National Basketball Team that most notably defeated the United States in the 2004 Olympic Games. He also represented Puerto Rico in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

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[edit] Biography

Arroyo graduated from Colegio Santiago Apostol in Fajardo. Arroyo played in the Puerto Rican Basketball League for the Cangrejeros de Santurce, where he was a teammate of legendary Puerto Rican player Jose Ortiz. He and Ortiz helped the Cangrejeros to four consecutive titles in the late 1990s, and to five titles in six years.

[edit] College and first season in the NBA

A four-year letterman at Florida International University from 1998-2001, Arroyo was the school's second player ever to top 1,600 points, averaging 16.0 PPG and 4.6 APG over his 100 collegiate games. After graduating from FIU, Arroyo was signed by the NBA's Toronto Raptors for the 2001-02 NBA season, but was released on January 2002. He then played briefly in Spain before being signed by the Denver Nuggets on March of the same year. He saw limited action with those two teams, playing seventeen games with the Raptors and twenty with the Nuggets before his initial NBA season was over. He only played an average of 9.7 minutes per game during those thirty seven games where he saw action.

[edit] Arroyo with the Utah Jazz

With the impending retirement of John Stockton, the Jazz needed a reliable, replacement point guard. They envisioned Arroyo as being the player who could fill Stockton's shoes, acquiring him to start the 2002-03 NBA season. Arroyo was then relegated once again to watching from the bench, though head coach Jerry Sloan instructed Arroyo to observe Stockton and back-up guard Mark Jackson, who was also nearing retirement.

Arroyo was given the starting job after Stockton retired and Jackson joined the Houston Rockets before the start of the 2003-04 NBA season. He surprised many Jazz fans, and by November 2003 he was ranked 11th in the league in assists per game. On November 14, he broke the record for most points scored by a Puerto Rican in an NBA game, scoring 30 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

[edit] Arroyo with the Detroit Pistons

During the 2004-05 NBA season with the Jazz, Arroyo had several disputes with Sloan. He eventually found himself back on the bench. In January 2005, Arroyo was traded to the Detroit Pistons for veteran center Elden Campbell (who would quickly be waived and later be reclaimed by the Pistons).

With the Pistons, Arroyo came within one game of becoming the second Puerto Rican to win an NBA championship. What was dubbed by some Hispanic newspapers as The Hispanic NBA Finals (because Arroyo played for the Pistons and Argentine Manu Ginobili starred for the San Antonio Spurs) was won by the Spurs, in seven games, with a final game score of 81-74. Arroyo's playing time was reduced significantly due to Larry Brown's tight defensive style.

Initially, with Pistons coach Flip Saunders' style of coaching, Arroyo received more minutes of playing time, and demonstrated value off the bench. He led the team in assists several times despite playing fewer minutes than other players. However, again, his minutes declined as the season progressed.

On January 11, 2006, Arroyo was suspended for one game[1] after he allegedly ran into an official during the Pistons' 96-86 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on January 10.

[edit] Arroyo with the Orlando Magic

On February 15, 2006, Arroyo was dealt (along with Darko Milicic) from Detroit to the Orlando Magic, in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a future 1st-round draft choice.

The addition of Arroyo and Milicic, plus the return of point guard Jameer Nelson from the injured list, sparked a resurgence of the Magic in the last quarter of the season, as they finished with a 12-3 run, nearly reaching the playoffs. During this run, the team had an 8-game winning streak, beating top teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons.

With the Magic, Arroyo averaged 22.1 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 2.9 APG, and 2.2 RPG off the bench. These averages are significant improvements from the statistics he accumulated with the Pistons, when he averaged only 12 minutes per game. He scored a season-high 21 points against the Phoenix Suns on March 3, 2006, and currently comes off the bench to backup Nelson.

On April 9, 2006, Arroyo injured his left hamstring and was sidelined for 4 games, returning on April 17 and scoring 17 points in the last game of the season.

[edit] Arroyo with the Puerto Rican National Team

While Arroyo has only seen moderate success in the NBA, he has become one of the better international point guards. During the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Arroyo led the Puerto Rican National Basketball Team throughout the competition with 18 points per game overall, and led them to a 92-73 victory over the United States with 25 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Arroyo was selected as All-Olympic honors. [2]

During the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Arroyo averaged 21.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 5.2 APG in five games for the Puerto Rican team. Arroyo finished tied for fourth in PPG during the 2006 FIBA World Championship with fellow Puerto Rican teammate Larry Ayuso.

[edit] Career statistics

Arroyo's NBA stats in 299 games are 2039 points with a 6.8 PPG, 990 assists with a 3.3 APG, 485 rebounds with a 1.6 RPG, 168 steals with a 0.6 SPG, .431 field goal percentage, .793 free-throw percentage, and .318 3-point percentage.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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