Arroyo is back in Utah's fold

Whiling away a hot and humid summer on the island he calls home, Carlos Arroyo heard one question over and over.

"Everybody in Puerto Rico," Arroyo said, "was driving me crazy every day, asking me, 'Are you going to back to Utah?'

"I would say, 'Yeah, I'm going back. I'm going back.' "

The truth, though: Arroyo didn't know.

"I definitely wanted to come back," he said, "but it was not up to me."

But finally, two-plus weeks after the NBA's free-agency signing period opened, Arroyo got his wish.

With higher profile free agent point guards Andre Miller, Gilbert Arenas, Speedy Claxton and Tyronn Lue all signed elsewhere, the Jazz on Thursday re-signed Arroyo, their No. 3 point guard last season, to a one-year contract, financial terms of which were not disclosed.

By accepting a short deal now, Arroyo hopes he can cash in a higher-paying contract next summer.

"Like I said last year, 'Nobody's gonna give me nothing; I have to earn everything,' " said Arroyo, who turned 24 Wednesday. "That's how it's gonna be this year."

Arroyo returns uncertain if he will start or how much he may play.

"It's going to be up to him," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president of basketball operations.

"I think for the past 15 years we always knew who our starting point guard was going to be," O'Connor added. "I don't think we know this year."

But Arroyo does know that with the retirement of NBA all-time assists and steals leader John Stockton, the Jazz, even after Thursday, will continue searching for help at the point.

"I don't know how the team is going to end up," he said.

Neither, for certain, does O'Connor, who said Arroyo's signing "doesn't mean we can't make a trade, get a veteran, be involved in something else. . . . But we had enough confidence, after what we saw last year, to sign him."

Arroyo was the Jazz's first summer signing.

Another potential signee — swingman Stephen Jackson, a starter last season for NBA-champion San Antonio — is in town today to visit team officials.

But Utah is not Jackson's lone stop.

According to the Denver Post, Jackson also visited Denver on Thursday and will visit Atlanta early next week.