Carlos Arroyo Spices Up Artest-for-Turkoglu Rumors

On Thursday afternoon, Otis Smith told the Orlando Sentinel's Brian Schmitz that there was no truth to the rumor that the Magic were in talks with the Sacramento Kings about swapping Hedo Turkoglu for Ron Artest. Mark Stevens, Artest's agent, corroborated what Smith said: "I haven't heard anything like that. As far as I'm concerned, Ron is still with the Sacramento Kings."

Case closed, right?

Not so fast.

CGM of the MagicMadness forums posted a link to this interview with Arroyo conducted by Raúl Álzaga Sánchez-Bretón for the Spanish-language site Primera Ahora. I am not a Spanish expert -- it's been over a year since I took a Spanish class -- but I did my best to translate the juciest part of the article:

“Rashard Lewis es un fichaje de impacto, un anotador consistente que no teníamos en el equipo y nos va a ayudar mucho. Pero esa no es la única movida que hará Orlando. Hay otro 'caballo' que viene por ahí”, indicó Arroyo haciendo alusión a los rumores de que los Magic están cerca de adquirir al delantero Ron Artest proveniente de los Kings de Sacramento en cambio por el alero turco Hydayet 'Hedo” Turkoglu.“Artest es tremendo jugador y es un veterano probado. Ese nos cuadraría la línea frontal.”

In English (roughly):

"Rashard Lewis is an impact signing, a consistent shooter who we did not have last season. He will help a lot. But that is not the only move the Magic will make. There will be another 'horse*' coming this way", indicated Arroyo referencing the rumors that the Magic are close to acquiring forward Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings for Hedo Turkoglu. "Artest is a tremendous player and a proven veteran. He firms up the front line."

A rough translation, to be sure, but it sure appears as though Carlos knows something we don't. Earlier in the interview, Arroyo mentions that he's met with Stan Van Gundy recently, which gives this story a bit more weight. If not, Sánchez-Bretón may just be trying to make waves. That'd be somewhat appropriate, considering that "Arroyo" translates into "stream."

*UPDATE: MAGICmanSAM of MagicMadness writes "In Puerto Rico, the word 'caballo' or 'horse' is used to describe someone that is really good at something. So when Arroyo said that, he was pretty much using Puerto Rican slang." Thanks for clearing that up, Sam.