DeMarre Carroll: The good, the bad and the ugly

The bad

DeMarre Carroll, prior to signing his four-year, $60 million deal back in the summer of 2015, suffered what was considered a minor knee sprain during the 2015 playoffs in Atlanta. Little did we know what would be the beginning of a string of injuries for the now eight-year veteran.

Carroll only played 26 games for the Toronto Raptors that following season, averaging 11.0 points and 4.7 rebounds in 30.2 minutes per game. While these numbers aren’t a huge drop from Carroll’s career-best production a year ago, the constant in-and-out of the lineup made Raptors fans up north unhappy.

Their new $60 million guy was now on the shelf, having right arthroscopic knee surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

"“It’s one of those things where, I could play, but me playing at 65 percent is not, I don’t think everybody looks at it as beneficial,” Carroll told reporters the week prior to his surgery."

Carroll did, fortunately, come back the following season, starting in all 72 of his games played. However, Carroll’s production continued to decline, averaging 8.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Carroll is a shell of himself, despite being on the court for 72 of 82 games this season. Carroll’s other injuries suffered this past season were due to a sprained left ankle and sore back.

Now reuniting with Kenny Atkinson, Carroll will be called upon to play somewhat of a significant role with the Nets. But, it may not be the on-court production the Nets coaching staff is looking at, solely. Rather, his leadership, ability to grind and worth ethic will hopefully rub off on some of the Nets’ young core.