Toronto Raptors: Realistic Expectations For DeMarre Carroll

The status of DeMarre Carroll has been ever-changing the last few weeks, but a return to the Toronto Raptors could be in store in time for the playoffs.

Admittedly, it’s been hard following what exactly is going on with Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll.

The health status of Carroll has loomed over the team in recent weeks and the Raptors haven’t done any favors by going radio silent regarding Carroll’s availability.

Furthermore, what little information we had on Carroll wasn’t exactly promising for the Raptors as it was only last week that it was reported that the team were likely to be without their big free agent acquisition for the rest of the season as well as the playoffs.

That has since changed, however, and we finally have some clarification on Carroll’s health status straight from the man from himself.

In an interview with Josh Lewenberg of TSN, Carroll let us in on his expectations for the rest of his season with the Raptors and what exactly set him back from making his return earlier:

"“Hopefully I’m going to try to play a couple games before the end of the season,” Carroll told reporters. “That’s the goal. We’re going to try to ramp it up a lot this week to try to get some conditioning back.”"

“When you have swelling, my initial thought was, that means something is wrong,” Carroll admitted. “I just wanted to get it checked out. I didn’t want to put my knee at any risk.”

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Of course, Carroll’s health comes first, but the precautions he recently went through do have some merit.

After all, Carroll has had significant knee injuries in the past as he injured and subsequently played through a sprained left knee in the Eastern Conference Finals last year when he was a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

While nothing is set in stone, the possibility of Carroll returning just before the end of the regular season is a huge boost for the Raptors on paper.

The Raptors have carried on exceptionally well without having Carroll for much of the season, but there have been areas of concern in recent weeks that Carroll’s return could instantly affect.

For instance, the improvement the Raptors have made on the defensive end this year have been a big story for the team. However, the Raptors have shown signs of slippage as they stand 15th in defensive rating (105.7 points per 100 possessions) since the All-Star break across the league (per NBA.com/stats).