Darrell Arthur Blames Claritin for Draft Slide

Watching Darrell Arthur slip out of the lottery and deep into the end of the first round (he went #27) wasn't a whole lot of fun during Thursday's draft. ESPN's panel repeatedly reported that rumors of a mysterious kidney ailment circulated among the teams last week, leaving franchises uncertain of Arthur's health and unlikely to risk a decent pick on him. Via TrueHoop, Scott Cacciola of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal gets Arthur to explain the apparent real cause of concern.

Arthur won't be endorsing Claritin anytime soon. He blamed the anti-allergy medication for bloodwork that indicated kidney problems. Arthur said he took the drug at the Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando earlier this month, then the rumors spread.

Arthur says the misinformation had been cleared the day prior in tests with Washington, but that information didn't get out. But ... Arthur was on T.V. for like an hour! Couldn't his agent or handler have just hijacked Doris Burke's microphone or Stephen A. Smith's interview set and demanded Ernie Grunfeld tell the truth?

And shouldn't ESPN's reporters on the scene -- Burke, Ric Bucher -- have gotten to the bottom of it? Arthur seemed too shell-shocked in his interview with Burke to explain anything, but he had seven other people at his table. If allergy pills were really to blame, it seems like could have been cleaned up without the guy slipping 15 spots.