Jaycee Carroll

Jaycee Carroll - Lest anyone didn't already know this, Jaycee Carroll proved in summer league that he can flat out score the ball. He will forever be disadvantaged by the fact that he shares a body with Travis Diener, yet Carroll epitomises all the parts of scoring that someone like Gerald Green (more on him later) doesn't know how to do. He moves without the ball, gets by on craft rather than size and athleticism, takes good shots, and has a fine floater. Now aged 27, Carroll may well never play in the NBA, but if you can get him on a team where he's allowed to defend the point guard while other players n the wings handle the playmaking, he has a chance. Failing that, he'll continue to star in Europe.

Carroll was covered in the Celtics summer league roster round-up of last week. He starred for Boston, averaging 14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, showing the all-around offensive game for which he is known.

Jaycee Carroll

If Jaycee Carroll was 6'6, he'd be in the NBA and Matt Carroll wouldn't. But he's not. He's 6'2, not a great athlete, and nearer to 30 than 20. So now it doesn't matter how much Carroll scores and in what league; it just won't be good enough.

Carroll is a seriously big time scorer, mainly on jumpshots and floaters. He is extremely good at both of those things, and it is not by chance that he led the Spanish ACB (the world's second best league behind only the NBA) in scoring this year at 18.8ppg. Carroll knows how to get open off the ball and can create his own shot with it, an incredibly efficient scorer even when up against world class defenses.

However, 27 year old undrafted 6'2 unathletic scoring guards do not get into the NBA. If anyone can, Carroll can. But Carroll can't.

- Jaycee Carroll

Carroll is in Spain, moving from Italy, where he spent last year with Bancas Teramo. He is playing for Gran Canaria and averaging 17.9 points per game, good enough for third in the ACB. Considering that the ACB is the second strongest basketball league in the world, and that those points per game rank even higher than luminaries such as Juan Carlos Navarro, that is no mean feat.