Miami Heat guard Carlos Arroyo returns to Utah a success story

Before Detroit and Orlando and Israel, before he had to scrap back into the country and league, Carlos Arroyo seemed to have everything set up perfectly.

He was John Stockton's successor.

He was Jerry Sloan's point guard.

He was just 25, coming off a strong season as a first-year starter for a Jazz team that exceeded expectations, cashing checks from a new four-year contract.

That was 2004. That was before Sloan benched him in favor of Keith McLeod and Raul Lopez. That was before he went public with his displeasure. That was before Sloan responded by citing Arroyo's defensive struggles, saying "I'm the boss here, it's not his team," and the Jazz traded him to Detroit, starting an NBA odyssey that would get Arroyo within a game of an NBA championship but never in position to start full-time for a contender.

Until now.

So the Arroyo that returned with the Heat to face the Jazz on Wednesday was a success in more ways than one. He's an NBA starter again, playing with three of the sport's biggest stars. He's managed to keep that starting spot by transforming his game, doing less distributing and more spot-up shooting - he entered Wednesday's game at 51.7 percent on three-pointers, far above his career mark of 33 percent.

"I think maybe earlier in the year, he was not worried, but wanted to know, 'Is this OK if I shoot these open shots and what if it is two, three, four times down the floor?' " his current coach, Erik Spoelstra said. "And the answer is yes. We want him to shoot those shots. It gives us a different element, and teams have to be a little bit more honest."

But mostly, Arroyo's a success story because of the way he's grown as a person since his sour end in Utah, as evidenced by the honest, adult manner in which he speaks of the situation now.

"I was immature at the time, and at times I could have handled it differently," Arroyo said. "I was kind of frustrated because I wasn't playing. It was just miscommunication with myself and with him. It could have been avoided. "