There are only eight games left during the Toronto Raptors 2015-16 regular season, and DeMarre Carroll, who hasn’t played since Jan. 3 as he recovers from knee surgery, hopes to play in one of them.
Here’s what he told Raptors.com’s Holly MacKenzie :
“I understand there’s been a lot of speculation, a lot of assumptions with what’s going on with my knee,” Carroll said. “The matter of fact is, basically Masai [Ujiri], Dr. Paul Marks, Alex [McKechnie], my agent, Mark Bartelstein, and myself have been working closely trying to figure out what the best time is for me to come back. The Raptors have been a good job of allowing me that time. I see reports where it says I’m out. That’s all speculating.”
Carroll said he isn’t frustrated with what has been written, but wanted to clear the air. After having surgery on Jan. 6, and then following his rehab plan, Carroll noticed intermittent swelling in his knee when he began participating in four-on-four sessions. He and McKechnie, the Raptors director of sports science, sought opinions from several high-profile doctors to ensure all was okay and that he could proceed with working toward his return.
“We’ve done a world tour basically,” Carroll joked. “We’ve seen the top doctors in the United States. They said it’s a go. I think I’m going to start really ramping it up in the next couple of days. Hopefully I’ll be back.”
Even if Carroll does return, missing that much time will put him behind the eight ball. He will need to regain his game legs, and it’s unlikely his three-point stroke will return to its Atlanta Hawks form.
Still, the Raptors need Carroll. They are among the worst teams in the league at defending spot-up shooters, according to NBA.com, and their points-prevention structure has been wildly inconsistent since the All-Star break. Carroll, even as he’s still getting used to the speed of the game, can be assigned to the opposition’s best perimeter weapon, making life easier on DeMar DeRozan, who has been torched defensively this year, bending to the weight of regularly difficult defensive assignments.
If Carroll doesn’t return during the regular season, it’s unclear if he’ll be given any playoff spin should he end up being ready. The Raptors have built the Eastern Conference’s second-best record largely without him, and their main mission during this year’s playoff push is to make it out of the first round. Incorporating a piece as important as Carroll, even one that doesn’t need shots to be effective, can throw a team off.
So, really, it’s better for everyone involved if Carroll can get right ahead of the postseason, this way the Raptors have some idea of what he, in his current capacity, can do for them.
