“[The fifth Puerto Rican to play in the NBA, Arroyo, 24, had an excused absence on the third day of training camp so he could attend a reception in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month held at the White House. The highlight came when President Bush thanked Arroyo for attending.] Honestly, ... I was sort of surprised he knew my name.”
“[About the only thing all players seem to agree on is that it's better than it was in the preseason, when refs were calling everything and some games turned into free-throw contests.] I really haven't noticed much difference, ... Sometimes they call it, and sometimes they don't. I'm just glad they're not calling [as many fouls as] they did in the preseason. Those games were taking forever.”
“I really haven't noticed much difference. Sometimes they call it, and sometimes they don't. I'm just glad they're not calling [as many fouls as] they did in the preseason. Those games were taking forever.”
“It's very hard to make an impact in less minutes. I try to do my best, and I've had games when I come in and I do my distributing job as a point guard, get my assists going. It's just very hard.”
“We're not going to win all 82 games straight. Guys get tired, sometimes we lose our focus. We lose games. But right now we're on top of our game, I believe. We need to continue to do that to succeed. We want to win and be able to go into the break right. You feel better.”
“I wish it never happened. Not so much for myself - I can handle it on my own - but it involves my family. They're trying to adapt to a new city. Now that I have a daughter, it's way different. That's the sad thing about the whole thing. You leave friends and people you're really close to behind.”
“My situation couldn't get any worse in Detroit. I was playing what, six minutes? I was just there. I was a little annoyed, you know? But I got through it. Our job is to maintain ourselves ready to play, take advantage whenever called. Hopefully I will get that opportunity here.”
