The Toronto Raptors came correct on term and salary to sign unrestricted free agent DeMarre Carroll to a four-year, $60-million deal on Wednesday. But it wasn’t just cash money that the Raps put in front of the second Junkyard Dog in franchise history.
In an interview with HuffPost Live on Wednesday, Carroll revealed that the Raptors offered him a larger role in the offense:
I’m’a take my family up north. Hopefully it’s not too cold for us.
I think the biggest factor for me was the role on the team. Basically, Masai came in, coach Dwane Casey came in, told me I’m (gonna) have a bigger role. They wanna involve me more in the offense. You know, defense, that’s my calling card, but they want me to play a lot of offense, too. I’ve never had a team really come at me and make offense be a focal point, too
And you know, the family, the city. Watching them on TV and seeing their fan support, they really influenced me, too. And obviously the money, too.
He also noted that the Hawks weren’t very aggressive, making it clear that if the team was going to sign both Carroll and Paul Millsap, the former would have to take a paycut. The Raptors, meanwhile, were at Carroll’s home early and clearly impressed him with their presentation.
In terms of expanding his role, it will be…interesting. The Raptors need to vary their offense more and put a higher premium on moving the ball around the floor, and adding additional weapons can help to that end.
But Carroll had 82.7 percent of his baskets assisted on last season, playing for the league’s most assist-happy team. The Raptors were near the bottom of the league in potential assisted field goal percentage, and utilizing Carroll will require somewhat of a change in philosophy. Perhaps the signing of Carroll, the jettisoning of Greivis Vasquez, and a quiet rumor mill for unrestricted free agent Lou Williams suggest the Raptors will be a more democratic and aesthetically pleasing offense in 2015-16.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t mean funneling isolations to Carroll, who averaged 12.6 points and 1.7 assists and hit 39.5 percent from outside but has shown little as a shot creator. More than two-thirds of Carroll’s field goal attempts came without a dribble and he was largely ineffective in the rare instances he dribbled three or more times. Carroll pointed out that his handle and his pick-and-roll management are sharper than he’s given credit for – he’s yet another Raptor with a criminally low turnover percentage – and said he’s working on improving his post game, an important consideration if the Raptors play him at the four some.
Caroll’s usage was a career-high 16.9 percent last season and he responded with career-best efficiency marks, and the Raptors have to hope his efficiency can continue improving – or at least maintain – if his usage climbs even higher.
It’s important to remember here that there’s no language in the contract the Carroll has to get X number of isolations and post ups and so on. The Raptors are surely genuine in telling him they’d like to use him more, which is a worthwhile experiment given how much he’s improved year by year. But even if he never becomes a secondary ball-handler or wing facilitator, Carroll’s outside stroke is legitimate and his defense among the very best perimeter players in the league. Anything he provides beyond 3-and-D is going to be a pleasant surprise.
