Beyond the young stars who will receive their first max contracts this offseason, few players have improved their stock and value in the NBA this postseason more than Atlanta Hawks small forward DeMarre Carroll.
The only Hawk starter who wasn’t an Eastern Conference All-Star this season, Carroll brings energy, intensity, strong perimeter defense and a smooth 3-point stroke. At a time when the NBA emphasizes “3 and D” players more than ever before, Carroll (22nd in our Free Agent Rankings) is set to exponentially increase his annual salary from the bargain basement $2.5 million he’s making this season.
In a one-on-one interview last week in Brooklyn, Carroll discussed his overall improvement and his thoughts on his impending free agency after Atlanta’s playoff run has concluded.
“I worked tirelessly on my 3-point ball over the summer. That was my main goal, to become a better 3-point shooter,” Carroll told SheridanHoops. “I know shooting the ball is a big aspect in the NBA right now. It’s just one of those things that you either get it or you don’t. If you don’t, you’ll be out of the league. If you do, you’ll have a bright future. I wanted to be the one that got it.”
It’s that get-it-or-don’t, hard-working mindset that’s endeared Carroll to his teammates, Hawks fans and opposing teams. Carroll wanted to improve his 3-point shooting, and he hit a career-best 39.5 percent of his 3-point shots during the regular season. Carroll wanted to become a better defender and had a career-best 104 defensive rating.
| Carroll Regular Season | Minutes | FG % | 3 FG % | Points | Rebounds | O Rtg | D Rtg | PER | Win Shares/48 | Win Shares |
| 2013-2014 | 32.1 | 47 | 36.2 | 11.1 | 5.5 | 113 | 106 | 13.9 | 0.119 | 5.8 |
| 2014-2015 | 31.3 | 48.7 | 39.5 | 12.6 | 5.3 | 117 | 104 | 15.9 | 0.154 | 7 |
Carroll also notched career highs in scoring, field goal percentage, offensive rating, win shares, win shares per 48 minutes and PER. He became a better defender and a strong two-way player because of, in part, his devotion to film and the game of basketball.
“I watch basketball all day. Sometimes somebody’s gotta tell me to turn it off because that’s all I do,” Carroll said. “In order to be a good defender, you’ve got to educate yourself on the position and the way you need to be and the IQ of being a defensive stopper.”
Watching film, putting in the work, studying the game and anticipating the tendencies of the opposition are Carroll’s keys to defensive success.
On offense, Carroll simply said he just tries to knock down the open shot, but there’s clearly a lot more to Atlanta’s offense than that.
The Hawks’ “Spurs-ian” offense is predicated on strong ball movement, adept screens, pinpoint passing and proper, precise floor spacing. To really execute like the Hawks have done, that takes a lot of preparation, anticipation and a whole lot of film study.
Beyond both sides of the ball, teammates credit Carroll for maintaining a high energy level on the floor. And Carroll says that his energy level is a talent and attribute just like being a shot blocker or a strong rebounder.
“My energy is a talent. Hard work is a talent,” Carroll told SheridanHoops. “So I look at me doing that just like Kyle [Korver] has talent shooting the ball very well, Jeff [Teague] has got talent handling the ball very well. I think my hard work and energy is a talent and something I have to bring and my teammates need me to bring.”
What Carroll brought during regular season has translated to the playoffs. Carroll became the first Hawks player since Dominique Wilkins to score at least 20 points in five consecutive postseason games, and he’s averaging 18.7 points and 6.6 rebounds on 55.4 percent shooting. That’s a huge improvement from last postseason.
| Carroll Postseason | Games | FG % | 3 FG % | Points | Rebounds | O Rtg | D Rtg | PER | Win Shares/48 | Win Shares |
| 2013-2014 | 7 | 46.9 | 40.9 | 8.9 | 4.9 | 112 | 106 | 10 | 0.107 | 0.5 |
| 2014-2015 | 7 | 55.4 | 48.7 | 18.4 | 6.6 | 133 | 106 | 20.8 | 0.228 | 1.2 |
Carroll’s playoff success is clearly a small sample size, but his progress is quite dramatic and will make him even more attractive this summer on the open market. His free agent status is something that Carroll said he isn’t thinking about right now. You can believe that if you want to, but players say what players believe they are supposed to say.
“No, not right now,” Carroll said. “Right now I’m strictly focused on the playoffs. Trying to play team ball, trying to go far and hopefully win an NBA championship.”
Whether he’s thinking about it or not, Carroll has likely earned himself a contract that could easily approach $8-9 million per season, according to colleague Michael Scotto’s April 22 column on free agent sleepers.
Carroll maintained that his rising value doesn’t even cross his mind.
“I know that if I keep doing what I’ve been doing that everything will take care of itself,” he said. “I think the thing for me is keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
Carroll knows that what he’s been doing is working, and it’s working really well. Every indication is that Carroll is going to take the unique brand of high-energy, “3 and D” ball he’s honed over the last two seasons and cash in on a pretty sweet mid-summer payday.
Shlomo Sprung is a national columnist for SheridanHoops who focuses on analytics, profiles and features. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. Follow him on Twitter.