The Toronto Raptors are 22-15 which is good for fourth in the Eastern Conference and they look like they could be one of the biggest threats to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East this season. Toronto's record is made even more impressive by the fact that they have been without their biggest offseason acquisition for much of the year in DeMarre Carroll. Carroll has been dealing with knee and foot issues all season and decided to have arthroscopic surgery on the knee on Wednesday, according to Raptors Media Relations.
Carroll had successful surgery but the team has not announced an official timetable for when he might return. While the team did not release an official timetable for a return it is expected that Carroll misses anywhere from 6-8 weeks with the injury, according to Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star, which would keep him out until around the All-Star break.
Carroll was an unrestricted free agent this offseason after spending his past two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, where he thrived. The Raptors gave him a four year $60 million deal this offseason to improve the small forward spot which has been an issue the past couple of seasons. Carroll was expected to bring his usual stellar defense and give them another option on offense but it hasn't worked out that way in his first season up in Canada.
So far this season Carroll has already missed 14 games and that count will go way up as he recovers from this knee surgery. Even when Carroll has been on the court he hasn't been anywhere close to 100 percent as he has dealt with knee pain and plantar fasciitis and his numbers are down as a result. In the 23 games Carroll has played in he is averaging 11.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting just 39 percent from the field.
In the first game since the announcement of Carroll's extended absence on Wednesday night, the Raptors started James Johnson at small forward in his place. Although Johnson started on Wednesday, Dwane Casey plans to get Terrence Ross some starts too and those two players should be the ones who are asked to pick up most of the slack while Carroll is out.
