Toronto Raptors: Surviving Without DeMarre Carroll

Much of the Toronto Raptors’ success this year has come without DeMarre Carroll, but how much longer can they keep on thriving without him?

DeMarre Carroll‘s first year in Toronto hasn’t gone the way Raptors fans expected.

After signing a four-year, $60 million contract with the team last offseason, the addition of Carroll was a sign that the team was looking to rehabilitate their defense as well as improve their spacing and efficiency on the offensive end.

Unfortunately, Carroll has spent much of his season on the sidelines since he’s been plagued by lingering injuries, which had affected his output before he underwent surgery on his right knee in early January.

However, Carroll’s absence has yet to affect the Raptors’ performance this season.

At 39-19, the Raptors are in second place in the East and now only two games behind the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers, thanks to a big win over them last Friday.

Additionally, the Raptors are 25-10 in the games they’ve been without Carroll and the team has improved in the specific areas that Carroll was to make an impact when he was brought in last summer.

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The Raptors’ defense is currently ranked 12th in defensive rating (102.4 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com/stats) and their three-point shooting (37 percent) is currently ranked third in the league, just behind the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs.

Of course, Carroll wasn’t the only addition the team made last summer that was designed to boost the team’s defense as well as the team’s refined shooting percentage from three-point range, but it’s still a surprise to see how well the team has performed without him.

However, how much longer can the Raptors keep up this level of play without Carroll?

While he’s reportedly been making progress over the last few weeks, Carroll still remains without a timeline to make his return to the court and it was thought that Carroll’s situation would have affected the team’s approach at the trade deadline.

It did, but just not in the way most expected as the team stood pat at the deadline. That decision was explained by the team’s general manager, Masai Ujiri, in an interview with Holly Mackenzie of Raptors.com that was held shortly after the deadline passed:

"“Maybe our acquisition this trade deadline, hopefully is DeMarre Carroll,” Ujiri said. “We’ve played this long without him and hopefully he continues to improve and improve and he gets back into the lineup and that’s the player we add and we play on and see how we go from there.”"

It’s certainly hard to disagree with Ujiri’s statement as the team has flourished this season and that’s been mostly with Carroll on the sidelines or an injured version of him.

Furthermore, Carroll’s decision to undergo surgery to repair his right knee was ultimately the right decision as he was dealing with lingering issues on it dating back to last year when he was with the Atlanta Hawks.

Yet the objective for the Raptors this year is very clear and that’s to make a deep playoff run. With that in mind, how much will the team rely on Carroll whenever he makes his return to the court?

It’s certainly the biggest question that faces the Raptors right now and it’ll be interesting to see how the team continues to deal with Carroll as we enter the final stretch of the season.

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We have waited to see the impact we expected when he signed with the team last summer and as the team gets closer to playing on a bigger stage, it’d be great to see Carroll make up for what’s been a lost season this year.

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