From RealGM:
“On Thursday, the Los Angeles Clippers extended a contract offer to point guard Carlos Arroyo, a source close to the situation tells RealGM’s Alex Kennedy.While terms of the deal were not revealed, it is the only offer Arroyo has received this summer.
Arroyo’s last stint in the NBA was with the Orlando Magic. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.5 assists per game in 2007.
Last season, Arroyo led Maccabi Tel Aviv to an Israeli Premier League Championship and was named Finals MVP.
He would be the fourth point guard on Los Angeles’ roster, which suggests that they’re no longer pursuing restricted free agent Ramon Sessions.”
Eric Pincus, senior writer at HoopsWorld.com, says otherwise via his twitter page:
“I’ve been told by rock solid source that the Clippers did NOT make an offer to Arroyo – and aren’t planning to.”
The conflicting reports around Arroyo are interesting to say the least. There is some speculation that Arroyo’s camp is floating this rumor to spark interest around the league, and while that may be the case, the prospect of the Clippers bringing in Arroyo is very believable. The need for a third point guard to back up the injury prone Baron Davis and the sometimes shaky Sebastian Telfair is ever present, and Arroyo has enough talent to warrant being given that roster spot. The issue with Arroyo has never been his talent level, but instead his attitude. In Arroyo’s previous NBA stints he clashed with coaches Jerry Sloan and Stan Van Gundy, and because of that he’s earned a less than favorable reputation around the league.
Brian Robb of CelticsHub recently profiled Arroyo, and is relatively high on Arroyo as a quality backup point guard. Robb makes some nice points in his article; Arroyo is a decent enough outside shooter (32% from 3 on his career), and has shown to be a good distributor when given the minutes (5 assists a game for Utah in ’03).Perhaps Arroyo, now 30 years old, has grown up a bit and was humbled by a year away from the NBA lifestyle.
If Arroyo does become a Clipper, the Ramon Sessions saga will uneventfully come to a close, at least for this offseason. The prospects of the Sessions camp breaking down and signing a Clippers offer sheet, if one was ever offered, became slimmer and slimmer as the summer progressed. With more free agents jumping overseas, more teams completing their rosters, and training camp inching closer everyday, the Clippers front office may have finally decided to move forward and complete the roster sans Sessions.
In related news, the man Arroyo may be replacing seems to have found a spot in Memphis with the Grizzlies, according to RealGM:
The Memphis Grizzlies have offered point guard Mike Taylor a contract following his workout with the team on Thursday, sources tell RealGM’s Alex Kennedy.Memphis also worked out Juan Dixon, Jason Hart, and Bo McCaleb. They planned to bring in Brevin Knight, Luther Head, and Tyronn Lue for workouts before extending the offer to Taylor.
As a rookie last season, Taylor averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 assists with the Los Angeles Clippers
Is it Mike Taylor out, Carlos Arroyo in?
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