Bulls and Celtics Fight for Arroyo
By Albie Cunningham
Not too long ago, we watched the birth of a rivalry going on concerning the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls. The 2 franchises competed during the first round of the postseason for a memorable playoff round, forcing seven overtimes in seven meetings, and the excitement was there.
It was a matchup based around guards. The Boston Celtics had Rajon Rondo, 23 years old , averaging very nearly a triple-double each night and leading a Boston franchise run down by injuries and forced to go small. Chicago had Derrick Rose, twenty, undergoing a central series in the seminal years of his existence. A young player surrounded by veterans, Rose played with poise beyond his years.
Now, four months have gone by, and the two teams still maintain a rivalry with respect to their point guards.
The guy in question is Carlos Arroyo. The 30-year-old career backup guard played eight years in the NBA between 2001 and 2008; he then left and shipped off to Israel, reaching a one-season deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Now, after a year elsewhere, Arroyo wants to once again play in the NBA.
The Celtics are the rational team for Arroyo. The Celts are now without a decent bench for Rondo at point guard — and following 2 years of picking one up in midseason (1st Sam Cassell in , then Stephon Marbury this past year), they could basically use a season-round guard. The team has allegedly come to conditions with Marquis Daniels, although Daniels is more of a swingman-type than a standard point guard. He’s by no means the solution.
Arroyo is a worthy match. He’s relatively low-priced, he plays hard on both ends of the floor, and he’d be beyond pleased as a bench on a good franchise. He’s done it before — he backed up Mark Jackson with the Jazz, Chauncey Billups in Detroit, not to mention Jameer Nelson with the Magic. He does not demand a starting role to be content in the NBA — he’ll just get minutes every way he can get them.
It sounds as if Arroyo is in talks with the Celtics regarding becoming the latest bench for Rondo.
But for, of course, the Bulls snag him away beforehand.
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