Raptors' Carroll is trusting his process

Josh Lewenberg

TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - The irony was lost on DeMarre Carroll when he told TSN's Jack Armstrong that he's been "trusting the process" on the team broadcast following Wednesday night's game in Houston, one of his best as a Raptor.

Unbeknownst to Carroll, 76ers rookie centre Joel Embiid has wittily adopted the phrase as a nickname: an homage to former Philadelphia general manager Sam Hinkie and the aggressive rebuild - or, as some might call it, unabashed tanking - that led to his drafting.

"He trademarked 'trust the process?'," asked Carroll, still a little confused about the whole thing after getting the lowdown on the Sixers, who were coming into town to face the Raptors the next day, coincidently. "Oh, wow. I'll say, 'trust the game' then."

Although Embiid, like Carroll, is also under a team-imposed minute restriction - one that kept him from traveling for the second night of a back-to-back on Monday - "the process", as it pertains to the Raptors' forward, is something that's far more personal.

It was around this time last year - less than a month into his first season with Toronto - that Carroll initially hurt his knee, an injury that has tested and continues to challenge his mental resolve. However, after undergoing surgery in January, suffering a series of setbacks, getting second opinions, putting in countless hours of rehab and, yes, trusting in the people charged with monitoring his recovery, Carroll is finally seeing the results of his hard work and patience.

"It feels great just to be healthy," said the eight-year NBA vet, who has scored 10 or more points in five straight games for the first time since joining the Raptors. "When I'm healthy I can be who I am, I can play the way I want to play. But when I'm not healthy I can't do those things because I'm more of an energy guy, defensive guy. I need my legs to knock down my threes. It just feels good to be healthy and be able to go out there and help my team win."

For Carroll, a self-made NBA player, it's been a long and frustrating road back to this point. As he notes, his game is predicated on lateral quickness and physical play - cutting, diving for loose balls, defending the opposition's best perimeter player - and, up until recently, his body hasn't allowed him to do the things he's accustomed to doing.

The results may vary from night to night, which is only natural after spending so much time away from the game - he didn't pick up a basketball until the week before training camp opened in September. It won't be from a lack of effort. Carroll is routinely one of the last players in the gym after practices, working on his conditioning and getting shots up. He'll come in on scheduled days off and show up early before games. The work has paid off. Over this recent five-game stretch, he's averaging 14.4 points on 55 per cent shooting, including 46 per cent from beyond the arc. He's totalled five steals and five blocks over the last three contests - a glimpse at what the Raptors envisioned when they signed him to a four-year, $60 million deal in the summer of 2015.

It's more than just his improved health that's responsible for this recent stretch. When he was in the lineup last year he looked like an awkward fit with the first unit, as you might expect without much time to get acclimated to a new team. Although sharing the court with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan can be fruitful for someone like Carroll - a shooter that moves well off the ball - there's a learning curve, especially after spending two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and playing in an up-tempo offence that relies on ball movement.

Even at his best, Carroll's contributions aren't necessarily going to jump out at you on the stat sheet but, with more of an increased comfort level on both ends of the floor, he's starting to find his role on this team.

"It was tough last year," DeRozan admitted. "He got hurt, he was struggling trying to play through it then he went down and missed a ton of games. To come back late in the season when we were 60-plus games in, trying to catch a rhythm going into the playoffs, it was tough. Now, going through training camp, going through the first part of the season together, we all feel comfortable with one another."

Early in the first quarter of Monday's 122-95 win over Philadelphia, Lowry found him for an open three-pointer as the trailer in transition. On the next possession, Carroll snuck into the lane to snag an offensive rebound and score on the put-back. Reading the passing lanes in the second half, he stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up before DeRozan set up his second trey of the game moments later.

The Raptors are a very good team with or without Carroll, evident in their success last season, but having their starting small forward healthy and fully functioning could certainly help take them to the next level, especially in April and May. That's why they brought him in, to address their long-standing hole at the position, solidify their defence and fill in the gaps around Lowry and DeRozan offensively. To everyone's disappointment - the team, its players, fan base and Carroll himself - it hasn't worked out that way but, if nothing else, these past two weeks have served as reminder of what he can bring.

The goal, knowing how tenuous his recovery process has been, is to take it slow and keep him fresh for the playoffs. Understandably, the Raptors are being cautious with Carroll's usage early in the season. He's yet to play on consecutive nights and has only exceeded 30 minutes in two of his 14 games, although Dwane Casey anticipates he could start appearing in back-to-backs sometime around January.

True to character, the very notion of holding back has been an adjustment for Carroll. It's simply not in his nature. He'd love to log big minutes, to go full bore in practice and insists he could play in back-to-backs now, but that's where he's had to learn to - for a lack of better phrasing - trust the process.

"We're still trying to progress and go up the hill, we're not trying to go back down the hill," said the 30-year-old. "So I've got to listen to these guys. I've got to listen to Coach Casey, I've got to listen to Masai [Ujiri] and I've got to come out and prepare myself every day, every night to do whatever I can to help this team win."

"It's taught me a lot [about] patience. You know, a lot of things in life you want right then and there but I think this is teaching me about the bigger picture. It's not only focusing on basketball, it's about life decisions, everything, being patient, being understanding and people looking out for you and I feel like that's what they're doing for me."