For DeMarre Carroll, it was an iconic piece of '90s pop culture that set his love for shoes into motion.

"Reebok Pumps - That was the first pair I fell in love with," said Carroll. "Those were the best shoes because I felt like only an exclusive amount of kids had those…and I just really liked the Pump button."

Today, the Toronto Raptors forward is a committed sneakerhead and spoke to TSN.ca about his recent signing on with Adidas.

The 29-year-old native of Birmingham, Alabama is a legitimate shoe collector and came to realize his passion for them as a teen.

I think it happened in my junior year of high school," he said. "I really kinda got into wanting exclusive shoes. I wanted to wait in line for shoes and that's when it really hit me. Then, when I got to college, that's when I started collecting. And then the funny thing is, all of my collection in college – I probably had about 275 pairs in college – all of them are gone. Somebody stole them. They ran into my apartment and stole them. That's when I really started taking it seriously. When I got the to NBA, I wanted to get insurance for my shoes and really take care of them."

Today, his collection totals into the thousands. To get a better idea of what that would look like, this is a picture of the shoe closet in his home in Atlanta. (Photo credit: Realtor.com)

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His collection even includes some rare footwear.

"I got these one designer shoes," said Carroll. "I want to say they're Louis Leemans. They've got rhinestones. I ordered them in from Paris. It took me like four weeks to get those shoes."

For Carroll, a deal with Adidas is a move closer of achieving the goal of having his own signature shoe. Following seeing their likeness in a video game or on a trading card, a personalized shoe is the next goal in line for many athletes.

"I feel like the next step for me is probably – if I can't get my own shoe – getting my logo on my shoes," said Carroll. "So I feel like getting the logo on my shoes is the next thing in line."

Since shoes are a part of a player's equipment on the court, it's imperative that he finds the right ones. Before coming over to Adidas, Carroll wore Nikes and famously switched from his regular Nike LeBron 12s in the playoffs last season to a different model because he didn't want to face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James in his signature shoe.

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This season, his first in Toronto following a four-year, $60 million deal signed in the summer, Carroll has worked out with a couple of different models from Adidas in the Crazy 8 and D Rose VII.

"I feel it's the pair that fits you the most comfortably, but at the same time, if you're a guy like me who cares about your swag and style, you gotta get the ones that look good," Carroll said about how he selects a shoe. "You gotta find a common ground. You can't get the ones that feel the best and look the worst or look the best and feel the worst. You gotta get in the middle. I feel like I finally did that with Adidas."

On the court, Carroll and his Atlantic Division-leadng Raptors have finally returned home after a five-game Western Conference swing, where the team went 2-3. The road is a place that the Raps have found themselves greatly accustomed to early on in the season. Only four of the Raptors' first 15 games were at the Air Canada Centre.

Caroll believes that time away from home to start the year isn't necessarily a bad thing, though.

"It's a great opportunity to see where you stand that early in the season," he explained. "Then, towards the end, you wind up [the year] on home court with your fans to bring you home and pick up a lot of big wins towards the end of the season."

The Raps' first home game in 12 days on Wednesday night is against James and the Cavs. With a crowd excited to have its team back home and the defending Eastern Conference champions in the building, Carroll warns against getting too amped.

"You just gotta go out and do what you gotta do," Carroll said. "You can't get too worried about it. You can't get too high on certain teams and you can't get too low on other teams. For us, as individuals, you gotta go out there and play. Of course, emotions are going to be high and once the adrenaline wears off, you've just got to play the game of basketball and I feel like that's all we've got to do."

They're going to have to do it, though, without Jonas Valanciunas. The Lithuanian big man incurred a fracture in his left hand during Friday's victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. He's expected to be out for six weeks.

Carroll, who missed four games of his own with plantar fasciitis, thinks that Valanciunas's absence could be a blessing in disguise for some of his teammates.

"It's next man up," said Carroll. "This is the opportunity that guys on the end of the bench look for. When I was that player, this was the opportunity I looked for and look at me now. So I feel this is a great opportunity for guys to show why they belong in this league and why they should have a bigger part. JV, we're definitely going to miss him, but we're going to try to hold the court down until he gets back."

While the absence of Valanciunas likely means Dwane Casey and the Raptors will experiment with a smaller lineup at points, one thing the team will need to do regardless of whom is on the court is try to start games better. The team ranks fourth-last in the NBA with 22.9 first-quarter points.

Carroll knows that this needs to be addressed.

"We've just got to come out aggressive and be a more aggressive team, rather than sitting back and letting the other team grab the first points," Carroll said. "In the last game against the Clippers, I feel like we were the more aggressive team and now we have to build on that."

One area that the team has no control over, but would like to see improvement in just the same, is the refereeing department. There were some questionable fourth-quarter calls in a 115-110 loss against the Golden State Warriors on November 17 and the league admitted fault in missing Carmelo Anthony step out of bounds in late in the Raptors' 111-109 loss to the New York Knicks on November 10.

For his part, Carroll is taking the high road.

"For me, personally, it's the NBA," Carroll explained. "I look at refs and refs are humans. Like we might miss a game-winner, they might miss a call. You can't hold grudges against them and we gotta do what we gotta do and not put ourselves in that situation."

With eight of their next 10 games at the Air Canada Centre, Caroll and the Raptors will have the chance to put that into practice.