Raptors' Carroll pens goodbye to Hawks: Atlanta 'will always feel like a home'
DeMarre Carroll will begin a new, more lucrative chapter when he moves north next season, but the new Toronto Raptor and former Atlanta Hawks forward won't soon forget what his stint in Atlanta did for his career.
"I'm really excited about my future in Toronto, but it only feels right to say a proper goodbye to the city of Atlanta, which will always feel like a home to me," Carroll wrote in a piece for The Players' Tribune.
"The Hawks organization - from the coaches, to the front office, to the fans, to my brothers in the locker room - gave me so much confidence in my abilities as a player, and it changed my life."
Carroll, a 2009 late-first-round pick, bounced around four teams in his first four seasons, and logged more playing time in his first season in Atlanta than he did in his first four NBA seasons in Memphis, Denver, Houston, and Utah.
The Hawks turned Carroll into the starting small forward on a playoff team, and helped develop him into one of the league's premier 3-and-D players.
"The biggest reason why I was able to play my best basketball in Atlanta is because of the organization's player development," Carroll wrote. "All of the coaches worked hard to make every guy on this roster better, and they deserve a lot of credit for our team's improvement this year."
With Carroll rounding out a starting-five that also included All-Stars Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, and Jeff Teague, the Hawks won a franchise-record 60 games in 2014-15, before advancing to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1970.
After a career-year that saw Carroll average nearly 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, and a steal on a 60-plus True Shooting Percentage, the 28-year-old inked a four-year, $60 million free-agent deal with the Raptors, and left a message for the team's rabid Canadian fanbase in his Players' Tribune piece.
"Toronto, I know you guys loved Jerome Williams back in the day," Carroll wrote, alluding to Raptors fan favorite, Junk Yard Dog. "Well, get ready for JYD 2.0 to come to your city! I'm ready!"