Carlos Alberto Arroyo Bermúdez (born July 30, 1979) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association with the Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics.
In the 2008–09 season, he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, winning the league's championship, and being named the Final's Most Valuable Player. In 2009 he also was the Israeli Premier League Assists Leader. He has also played professionally in Puerto Rico, Spain, and Turkey.
Arroyo was a member of the senior Puerto Rican national basketball team that defeated the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. He also represented Puerto Rico at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. In May 2019, Arroyo was picked by Trilogy to play in the Big3, a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by rapper Ice Cube. He played in that league for one season, and then turned his focus to music, releasing the international hit song, "Baila Reggaeton".
Early years and education
Carlos Arroyo was born and raised in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He is an identical twin, born along his brother Alberto. Arroyo is a cousin of actor Benicio del Toro.
Arroyo graduated from Colegio Santiago Apostol in Fajardo. Arroyo attended Brookwood School in Thomasville, Georgia, for his junior year in high school, where he averaged nearly 30 points and 10 assists per game.
College career Arroyo studied in Florida International University (FIU) from 1998 to 2001, where he played for the campus' team, the Golden Panthers. He was a four-year letterman at the university having completed his B.A while playing with the team for four years and establishing several team records. Among these records are the all-time lead in assists, as well as the single-season assist record, having 459 in one season.
Arroyo is also the only player in Florida International University to have scored more than six hundred points in a single season. He is also the second all-time leading scorer for FIU, having scored 1,600 points during his university career, with an average of 16.0 points per game and 4.6 assists per game over his 100 games. On December 30, 2000 at North Texas, Arroyo set FIU's single-game scoring record, dropping 39 points in an overtime loss to the Mean Green. His 15 field goals made and 29 attempts were also both single-game records for the Panthers.
Arroyo was also selected as a member of the Sun Belt Conference's All-Conference team on two separate occasions. On January 5, 2007, Florida International University held a ceremony where Arroyo's university number (30) was retired to recognize his play over his time there.
Professional career
Early years Arroyo began his professional career in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional of Puerto Rico when he was 17 years old. He debuted with the Cariduros de Fajardo in 1996. During his first season, he averaged 10.9 points per game while shooting 52%. The next year, he improved his numbers to 17 points and 5.5 assists per game. That season, he also shot 42% from the 3-point line.
The next year, he played for the Cangrejeros de Santurce, where he was a teammate of then starting center of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, José Ortiz. In 2000, Arroyo averaged 17.1 points and 3.9 assists per game. During his tenure with the team, the Cangrejeros won four consecutive national titles in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003, winning five league championships in six years.
First stint in the NBA (2001–2008) After graduating from FIU, Arroyo was signed by the National Basketball Association's Toronto Raptors for the 2001–02 NBA season, but was released in January 2002. He then played briefly in the Spanish ACB League with TAU Cerámica before being signed by the Denver Nuggets in 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 in which he saw action.
Utah Jazz Arroyo joined the Utah Jazz for the 2002-03 NBA season. He did not play much during his first year in Utah; he was the team's third string point guard behind John Stockton and Mark Jackson. However, Arroyo watched and learned from Stockton and Jackson, and his time to play soon arrived.
Stockton retired shortly after the season ended, and Jackson joined the Houston Rockets during the offseason, leaving Arroyo as the starter for the 2003–04 season. With the retirement of Stockton and the subsequent departure of Karl Malone to the Los Angeles Lakers, it was expected that the Jazz would suffer through a miserable season and sink to the bottom of the league. However, to the surprise of many, the remaining Jazz players pulled together and kept the team competitive, even in the tough Midwest Division. With Arroyo leading the way, Utah finished with an impressive 42–40 record, narrowly missing a berth in the playoffs. Arroyo set career highs by averaging 12.6 points and 5.0 assists per game. He scored a career-high 30 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 14, the 2nd highest single-game total ever for a Puerto Rican player in the NBA.
Detroit Pistons During the 2004-05 NBA season with the Jazz, Arroyo had several disputes with head coach Jerry 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) and a future first-round pick.
With the Pistons, Arroyo came within one game of becoming the third Puerto Rican to win an NBA championship after Butch Lee and JJ Barea In what was dubbed by some Hispanic newspapers as The Hispanic NBA Finals (because Arroyo played for the Pistons and Argentine Manu Ginóbili starred for the San Antonio Spurs), the Spurs won the series 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 after he made contact with an official during the Pistons' 96–86 victory over the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets on January 10.
Orlando Magic On February 15, 2006, Arroyo was dealt (along with Darko Miličić) from Detroit to the Orlando Magic, in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a future first-round draft choice.
The addition of Arroyo and Miličić, plus the return of point guard Jameer Nelson from the injured list, sparked a resurgence of the Magic in the last quarter of the 2005–2006 season, as they finished with a 12–3 run, nearly reaching the playoffs. During this run, the team had an eight-game winning streak, beating top teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons. During the stretch run, Arroyo averaged 22.1 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 2.8 APG, and 2.2 RPG off the bench, which earned him the back-up point guard position behind Nelson. These averages were 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. On April 9, 2006, Arroyo injured his left hamstring and was sidelined for four games, returning on April 17 and scoring 17 points in the last game of the season.
Arroyo started the 2006–07 season as the team's backup point guard but was demoted by the team's coach Brian Hill following an offensive slump, but regained his back-up position later in the season.
The Orlando Magic started the 2007–08 season with new coach Stan Van Gundy, and Arroyo was again assigned backup point-guard responsibilities. On November 28, 2007, he had a career-high 14 assists in a game against the Seattle SuperSonics. On December 29, 2007, Arroyo was promoted to the starting position after Nelson experienced an extended offensive slump. With Nelson in the starting lineup prior to this change, the team had been committing an average of seventeen turnovers per game, and Nelson had been unable to score in double digits on 10 out of 17 games. This led to Van Gundy making several references to the team's performance and leading to Arroyo's inclusion in the starting lineup. During Arroyo's first three games in the starting position the number of turnovers produced by the team was lowered to eleven per game. Arroyo's averaged double digits in these games as well as seventeen assists over that period. Arroyo closed January starting, the team finishing the month winning five out of six games.
However, after playing 5 minutes on February 6, 2008, and being replaced by Nelson, Arroyo saw his playing time limited again. Arroyo did not play from February 11, when he played for less than 10 minutes and scored 7 points, until March 1. In an interview with Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día, coach Van Gundy said that he preferred Keyon Dooling at back-up point guard. Due to injuries to both Nelson and Dooling, Arroyo was re-inserted into the starting lineup that day and ended up with 13 points and 8 assists in 41 minutes. Following the conclusion of the 2007–2008 NBA season Arroyo became a free agent. When interviewed, Arroyo noted that he was interested in returning to Orlando, but that he was also open to hearing offers from the New York Knicks and Miami Heat.
Maccabi (2008–2009) In the summer of 2008, Arroyo signed a three-year contract with the Israeli League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv after having spent the previous 6 years in the NBA. The contract was worth $7.5 million net income, with his team paying all of his taxes and that included opt-out options after each of the first two seasons In the end of the 2008–09 season with Maccabi, he won the Israeli League, being named the Most Valuable Player of the league's finals. In Israel, he averaged 15.3 points (51.6% 2FGP) in 31 mins per game.
Return to the NBA (2009–2011)
Miami Heat
On October 11, 2009, Arroyo signed a non-guaranteed, one-year contract with the Miami Heat. He had an established residence in Pinecrest, Florida, and had participated in a workout with the team before signing. His contract was guaranteed for the full year later in the season.
Upon starting the season, Arroyo shared point guard responsibilities with Mario Chalmers. On January 7, 2010, the Heat signed veteran free agent Rafer Alston,Heat sign Alston off waivers, ESPN sending Arroyo to the bench. However, Alston was suspended after starting 25 games and in early March, Arroyo was moved back to the starting lineup. Over the last two months of the season, Arroyo averaged 9 points and 4.5 assists per game. He finished the season with a 4.27-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, second only to Chris Paul's for the season. Arroyo averaged 6.8 points and 2.2 assists per game during the playoffs first round against the Boston Celtics where the Heat were eliminated in 5 games.