After a humbling and humiliating end to last season, the Toronto Raptors had two specific items on their agenda for the summer.
The first was to improve their defense, which ranked 25th in defensive rating. The second was to make a significant upgrade at a forward position, which saw too many listless performances from Terrence Ross at three and too few healthy games from Amir Johnson at four.
Enter: DeMarre Carroll
Flush with cap room, general manager Masai Ujiri spared no expense. He grabbed the best small forward on the market (LeBron James was never going anywhere) and he paid him handsomely. Carroll will receive $60 million over the next four seasons, an exponential raise his over his last contract worth $5 million over two years. After being the lone Atlanta Hawks starter to not make the All-Star game, Carroll now comes to Toronto as its highest-paid player.
There’s a reason why Ujiri bet big on Carroll. It’s rather obvious, actually. Carroll’s two-way game is exactly the type of player that the Raptors have been hoping to acquire for years. Carroll gives the Raptors an elite 3-and-D player, something the Raptors have lacked over the last 10 seasons. Seriously, look at the list of wings who played more than 1,000 minutes in a season over the last decade:
Alan Anderson, Landry Fields, Jorge Garbajosa, Rudy Gay, Joey Graham (x3), James Johnson (x2), Jason Kapono (x2), Linas Kleiza (x2), Jamario Moon (x2), Morris Peterson (x2), Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright, Terrence Ross (x2)
Carroll brings an end to settling. Last season was all about having too many imperfect players leading to too many tradeoffs. Ross brough shooting but his defense was terrible and was too weak to guard bigger threes. James Johnson had the size to check bigger wings and was much more effective on defense, but he couldn’t shoot and clogged the floor. Carroll marries the best of both worlds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmHmp1Rp8SY
Defensive prowess
Everyone credits the Hawks’ textbook offense for their 60-win performance, but their defense was just as strong (they ranked sixth in both offensive and defensive efficiency). And just as the Hawks didn’t have a go-to scorer to carry the offense, they also lacked an all-consuming rim-protector to anchor the defense. They relied on smarts and schemes to make it all work. Head coach Mike Budenholzer drilled discipline into his players and to their credit, his players executed to perfection.
There were two main shifts that proved to be integral in the creation of the Hawks we see today: first, a dedication to helping each other on both sides of the floor and second, good offense starts with better defense. The entire team has bought into these ideas, which has resulted in the transcendent play we’ve enjoyed on the court.
– Tony Papa, Peachtree Hoops:
Carroll was as close as the Hawks came to a defensive anchor. He drew the toughest wing assignments on a nightly basis. In the playoffs, Carroll checked Joe Johnson, John Wall, Paul Pierce and LeBron James. As Budenholzer described him, Carroll “set the tone” for the Hawks on defense.
We talk a lot about the only way we are going to be good is if we are good on both ends of the court. DeMarre really sets the tone for us defensively, gives us our spirit and our identity. I just think that end of the court isn’t appreciated enough, isn’t given enough accolades and attention. We’ve got a long way to go defensively, but where we are, he plays a huge role in that.
– Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, from Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Carroll represents the ideal combination size, quickness, strength, intelligence and tenacity as a defender. Standing at 6-foot-8, Carroll has quick feet to stay in front of guards, while having enough bulk to stand up smallball fours. He switches seamlessly and he has great instincts with when to provide help.
Since their bigs were undersized, the Hawks loved to send help from their wings. In the play below, Carroll rotates over to hand Paul Millsap a lifeline against a charging Marc Gasol, before rotating over to challenge Tony Allen’s shot off Gasol’s pass. Carroll then tips the ball to Kent Bazemore to spark the break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7H7EWjvBfI
(Courtesy: Peachtree Hoops)
Carroll has excellent awareness. He keeps his head on a swivel while surveying the defense. He doesn’t gamble for steals but when there’s an opportunity to pounce, Carroll is a terror in passing lanes. Here, Carroll carefully watches as the play develops. He’s in position to send help on Tim Duncan when Tiago Splitter first has the ball, but he resets to Danny Green, who drives into the teeth of the defense. Green is met by Millsap, who comes up to take away the lane. That coaxes a pass by Green, but Carroll makes an interception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPmvbbV2PwM
The second half of the clip depicts Carroll’s tenacity. The loose ball squirts to Green who somehow spots Kawhi Leonard in the corner. But before Leonard could get off a clean look, Carroll flies in from the paint, before Korver backs him up. Tenacity is a big part of Carroll’s effectiveness. He refuses to quit on plays. That’s why he carries around the moniker of “Junkyard Dog,” because he’s not shy of contact and he’ll straight-up maul opponents.
But it’s not just effort with Carroll. Technique, positioning and discipline play a huge part in Carroll’s success. Despite guarding the toughest wing assignments on a nightly basis, Carroll committed just 2.5 fouls per 36 minutes last season. Opponents also shot 4.3 percentage points worse on average on 3-pointers against Carroll. His mark ranked sixth-best in the NBA and easily beat out the Raptors’ wing corp.
Carroll will be asked to reprise the role of go-to stopper for the Raptors. Perimeter defense was a sore spot for Toronto last season, and while Carroll can’t fix that on his own, he gives the Raptors a player to check the best wing scorers in the league. No more Ross on Joe Johnson or Amir Johnson on Paul Pierce. That will be Carroll’s responsibility.
Carroll: "I told Demar he didn’t have to fight with LBJ or KD anymore – 'You can just go out there and take this team to the promised land'”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 9, 2015
Offensive ability
Carroll knows his role. His number one priority is the defensive end. Play hard, fight for loose balls, create deflections, rotate on defense and everything else will take care of itself. After being humbled through his first few seasons in the league, Carroll came to understand his role, which was something like Bruce Bowen.
[Bruce Bowen] knew that was the way he was going to stick in the NBA, that was how he was going to play, that was how he was going to get paid. That was his ticket. No matter how you were raised, no matter how many 30-point games you had, at some point you have to figure out a way you are going to survive and get on the court. Some people, they figure it out and [learn] that is their best way to stick in the league and to play in the league and, hopefully, play on good teams in the league.
– Carroll, from Chris Vivlamore of the Albany Herald
No disrespect to Bowen, but the Raptors need a little more than that from Carroll. Bowen’s only move on offense was to make an open layup, or to shoot corner threes. He was certainly useful and helped the Spurs win three championships, but the Raptors need more production than that out of Carroll.
The Raptors pitched Carroll on a bigger role in the free agency process.
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.
The Raptors’ pitch jives with something Budenholzer told Carroll earlier in the year. Coach Bud tweaked his offense to squeeze out a few more opportunities for Carroll. He received 43 frontcourt touches per 36 minutes rather than 39, while his usage rate increased (15.2 to 16.9 [nice]) despite the return of Al Horford. For Bud, it was about making Carroll more versatile.
I think I’ve gotten a lot better. I could see a lot of times in practice my game got a lot better. When coach [Budenholzer] brought me in he wanted to label me the Bruce Bowen guy. And now he’s switched it and wants me to be more like Kawhi [Leonard].
– Carroll, from Sekou Smith of NBA.com:
But Carroll’s role effectively stayed the same. He was the fifth option and he hardly ever had the ball. Over 70 percent of Carroll’s possessions came within the flow of the offense, either with spot-ups (34.9 percent), cuts (10.9) or in transition (25). Compare that to isolations, which comprised of just 2.5 percent of his possessions last season.
It’s unclear as to how Carroll will adapt to playing in Toronto. The Hawks and Raptors were polar opposites in terms of sharing the ball. Atlanta ranked third in assist opportunities per game at 49.5, while the Raptors were dead last with 39. Certainly, Carroll will see some decline from the his sparkling numbers from last season, where he posted a true-shooting percentage of 60.3 while turning the ball over on just 9.3 percent of his possessions.
There won’t be many looks like this in the Raptors’ offense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmc6XmumIrk
But that’s not to say Carroll can’t shoulder a bigger role on the offense. For one, Carroll will now become the Raptors’ go-to spot-up option. With the Hawks, the first choice was always to find Kyle Korver, but that made sense given Korver’s superhuman accuracy. But Carroll was pretty good at spotting up last season, scoring 1.18 points per possessions, which ranked him in the 91st percentile.
Here’s an example of Carroll being looked off. Millsap grabs a steal and starts a fast break before hitting Jeff Teague. The obvious pass is to Carroll wide-open on the wing, but Teague never even looked his way. Instead, he finds a trailing Korver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75kEBDtPv6Y
In Toronto, Carroll will play the role of “Black Kyle Korver,” while operating in many of Terrence Ross’s go-to sets. That’s how Carroll will increase his role. He won’t be a plus-20 usage rate wing scorer, but by moving up a rung on the offense, Carroll should see an uptick in touches from last season.
However, there’s a difference between Korver’s threes and Carroll’s. Most of Carroll’s threes were launched with his feet set off a pass, whereas Korver (and Ross for that matter) caught on the run after running through screens before launching a shot. It’s a slightly different skillset, but Carroll should be up to the task. He has steadily improved his jumper in each of the last two seasons and for a hard worker like Carroll, picking up Casey’s sets shouldn’t be too difficult.
Carroll can also put it on the deck against flying closeouts. He can step in for the pull-up or he can get all the way to the basket and finish. That’s a huge step up from Ross, who loves uncorking a soft push-shot because he avoids contact like the plague. Carroll relishes physical play and isn’t afraid to withstand a hard knock in exchange for two free throws.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeAIs1IvFI0
Finally, the addition of Carroll should help the Raptors’ transition offense. Again, unlike Ross who never attacked the basket, Carroll is a capable ball-handler who can drive against a defense in transition. He won’t pull out any flashy Eurosteps or crossovers; he prefers to bully his way to the basket with line drives. Still, Carroll is effective on the break, scoring 1.15 points per fast break and he shot 63.1 percent in the restricted area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmREjr9u84
Carroll’s role with the Raptors
The Raptors don’t have any grand illusions for Carroll. They’re not asking him to become an all-world scorer or a point-forward playmaker because they don’t need him to be one. The first and second option will still be DeRozan and Lowry, with Valanciunas ranking a distant third. Although they paid a hefty price, the Raptors will ask Carroll to play a familiar but important role: to guard the opponent’s best wing scorer on any given night, to hit open threes and to sprinkle in the occasional drive to the basket against rotating or transitioning defenses.
It’s not a lot, but Carroll will give the Raptors something that the franchise has lacked for the past decade. He’s gives the Raptors a hardworking two-way wing and he should slot in as the perfect role player for this team.
