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[...] Carroll meanwhile is coming off a very strong bounce-back season for the Nets, posting career-highs in points, rebounds and assists one year after being acquired by the team in a salary dump. With this in mind, and considering the fact that his $15.4 million salary is expiring after this season as well, Carroll might have value in trade to a playoff-competitive team looking to shift a bad contract while also getting a player upgrade, even if only as a rental. (Think along the lines of Solomon Hill from New Orleans, or Brandon Knight from Houston.) Nevertheless, if the deal is not there, or if the Nets decided they would rather have the savings themselves for their own machinations next summer, Carroll becomes a buyout candidate on account of the fact that he will have suitors, which means money can be saved on a player likely leaving anyway.
DeMarre Carroll SF/PF - 6’8, 215lbs - 31 years old - 9 years of experience
Having been a disappointment in Toronto, Carroll was salary dumped onto the Nets, whereupon he has put up a career year. The reclamation process can claim another success with Carroll, who posted career highs in points, rebounds and assists, and it was not just a product of an increase in minutes, an increase that was only marginal.
A rejuvenated Carroll started hitting his open threes again this season. Having failed in Toronto largely by not doing that, Carroll rebounded to a 37.1% outside shooting percentage this season, a number that might be higher if he shot more confidently (tending to hesitate and reset whenever faced with a hard closeout, even if he was pretty open to begin with). Never explosive around the rim, the jump shot is now the bulk of his game, plus the occasional slow drive on even slower defenders, but it is now working for him again. Also back to something resembling his best in man to man defence, Carroll was better all over the court this season than last, and was healthier, too.
Going forward, Carroll could play out his final season with the Nets as a useful veteran both on and off the court, with the slightly inflated nature of his salary not really a problem on a team not otherwise spending that money up anyway. Alternatively, he could be used for the next great salary dump – if for example the Rockets’ slightly more ambitious plans do not come off, a deal along the lines of Ryan Anderson plus assets for Carroll may have legs. There are bad contracts longer than this, and the teams encumbered with those contracts could benefit from both the shorter nature of Carroll’s deal and the quality of his play.
Player Plan: One year and $15.4 million remaining. Look to move for assets with very much the expectation that big dead salary will come back in the process. But if he stays and plays it out, that has its merits too.
DeMarre Carroll SF, 6’8, 215lbs, 30 years old, 8 years of experience
Injuries robbed him of his first season with the team, and yet in the second one, he looked no better. The defender, cutter and spotter that was Hawks-era Carroll is not here. Carroll still makes good reads defensively and racks up the steals, but he also gets caught slipping and is very beatable on the perimeter by any opponent with speed, while despite an increase in his three-point rate (career high .583), his three-point percentage is down (34.1%). Both of these will have something to do with his shot selection, which also tumbled. Put it this way – if Carroll had provided what it was thought that he would, Tucker wouldn’t have been needed.
Player Plan: Two years and a combined $30.2 million remaining, all guaranteed with no options. It has become a bad contract, but hopefully, with a bounce-back year next year, it can be moved or allowed to play out. Considering the needs to re-sign both Ibaka and Lowry, one of he or Valanciunas will surely be on the move if they manage it, and perhaps both.
[...] DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas are not drawing much defensive respect outside of the paint, while Patrick Patterson is not making enough shots this season to capitalise. Although somewhat effective, backup point guard Cory Joseph is not the scoring counterpart of DeRozan in the same way Lowry is, while Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet are not NBA calibre primary playmakers at this time. And while Serge Ibaka has become one of the better stretch bigs in the game, he is not creating looks with or without the ball so much as just taking what crops up. DeRozan is at his best as the first or second scoring option in a two-option line-up, but without Lowry, Toronto has thus far only had one.[...]
[...] It would have been very possible for [Xavier] Henry and [Greivis] Vasquez to meet those incentives. A 15 minute-per-game average in at least 70 games played in a season sounds like a lot, but it's not; 176 players in the NBA achieved this last year, including six Grizzlies. Two other Grizzlies damn nearly did it; Hasheem Thabeet (13mpg in 68 games) and DeMarre Carroll (11.2mpg in 71 games), and they did it while playing fairly badly (with PER's of 12.9 and 8.5 respectively).
2) Memphis signed Hasheem Thabeet and DeMarre Carroll to the standard contract of 100% + 20% in likely performance incentives, as recently as last year. They know the protocol, too, and historically have always played by it.
