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Raptors shock NBA with signing of DeMarre Carroll

By Brian Boake

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The Toronto Raptors kicked off free agency with a bolt from the blue. DeMarre Carroll, an Unrestricted Free Agent who started last season at no-adjective forward for the Atlanta Hawks, has joined our team. He becomes the highest-paid Raptor with a four-year, $60M deal.

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Oct 29, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Atlanta Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll (5) gets by Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto defeated Atlanta 109-102. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

DeMarre is 6’8″ and 212 lbs., a six-year NBA veteran from University of Missouri. He had bounced around the league before settling with the Hawks, and enjoyed his best seasons under coach Mike Budenholzer. DeMarre typifies what Budenholzer is trying to achieve, which is to play positionless basketball. All of coach Mike’s players are expected to be in constant motion, as is the ball, so the chance of being able to release an uncontested 3-ball attempt are maximized. DeMarre fired away at a 39.5% clip from beyond the arc last year, and averaged 12.6 Points Per Game [PG]. Both numbers were personal highs.

Atlanta lost to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals after pushing out Brooklyn and Washington. DeMarre enjoyed his 16 playoff games, bumping his scoring and rebounding totals. Undoubtedly Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, who is thoroughly sick of his team’s post-season pratfalls, was greatly influenced by DeMarre’s spike in performance when it really mattered.

Carroll at his best is Paul Millsap Lite, an undersized hustle player who can do a little of everything. While I might be tempted to call him a glue guy, I can’t until we see whether his adhesive qualities survive the move to Toronto. One might also decide that Terrence Ross’ days as a Raptor are limited, but that conclusion too is premature.

When Rudy Gay became a Rap, the team’s offensive dysfunction was readily apparent. He was a fish out of water, and needed to be moved on. I don’t think DeMarre will be nearly so difficult to integrate into our team, at either end of the floor. He’s not a Star, like Rudy; in particular, he doesn’t need the ball to be effective.

I confess to being more than a little dismayed by this signing, which has blown up Masai’s salary cap space for this year. DeMarre Carroll isn’t going to lead our team to the promised land. While I’m OK with the notion that he’s a late bloomer, he doesn’t project to be a whole lot more than he’s already shown. With the departure of Amir Johnson (the subject of a future post), we’re simply replacing the points we’ve lost – we don’t have new ones. Nor are we getting fresh rebounds, blocked shots…hmmm.

Coach Dwane Casey is all-in on how he wants next year’s Raptors to play. Whether he’s the coach who can impart the virtues of a ball movement offense to his troops, which now include a convert named DeMarre, is a jump ball of epic proportions.

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