Carroll Gallery | End Of Season Blog

Four years ago, Matt Carroll was an undrafted rookie trying to pay rent playing the sport he adored growing up in Philadelphia.

After graduating from Notre Dame, he clawed to make an NBA roster, and after being cut repeatedly, soon realized that his childhood passion had left its innocence millions of miles elsewhere.

But basketball had an ultimately rewarding fate for the humble Irish kid, with the Irish name, from the Irish school.

Carroll’s first two seasons, mostly as a nomadic professional, are a sobering biographical reminder of the underbelly of the NBA, where 10-day contracts and training tryouts are the norm. New York. Portland. San Antonio. In his first two seasons, all thought he wasn’t good enough, further derailing Carroll from his eventual success story.

But when Bobcats General Manager & then-Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff noticed Carroll while scouting another guard in the newly formed D-League, he decided to take a gamble. Bickerstaff signed the 6-6, 212-pound guard on February 23, 2005 – halfway through Charlotte’s inaugural season.

At that point, Carroll likely would have played for free.

A few years later, and after a standout 2006-07 season, Carroll is a highly coveted unrestricted free agent, one with an emerging skill set to complement his genuine attitude.

But Carroll’s journey wasn’t without some frustration, constant motivation and maybe the hardest lesson of all, sheer patience.

In Carroll’s first full year with the Bobcats in 2005-06, he played a career-high 78 games – a 53-game improvement from the season before – and averaged 7.6 points. Still, Carroll wanted more, and improving his defense and offensive consistency were emphases in the offseason. He didn’t want to be nestled on the corner or wing, regulated to being a mere kickout option.

As the season started, Carroll just needed an opportunity to unveil his improved value. While rookie Adam Morrison had early success (in his position) at the onset, Carroll waited. He recorded two DNP – coach’s decisions – in the first eight games, and missed three additional games in the first 19 with various arm injuries.

Ever the consummate team guy, he never whined or complained.

Then, on a chilly November 22, 2006 night against Boston, his Airness himself paid the gritty guard a visit, and ultimately a needed wake-up call.

“(Bobcats Managing Member of Basketball Operations) Michael Jordan was talking some trash to me at shootaround,” Carroll laughed after scoring a then-season-high 11 points on 4-6 shooting to help give Charlotte a 92-83 victory at Charlotte Bobcats Arena – just its third win in its first 11 tries. “He said ‘I haven’t seen you hit a shot in the last couple minutes,’ so I said alright then. I remembered what he said, and something that little really kind of got to me and triggered me to start playing well.”

“Ever since then, he’s made a believer out of me,” Jordan said in an in-season television interview. “Whenever he gets his feet set, he’s one of the best shooters in the game… I think that catapulted him into believing that he belonged.”

Carroll responded with double-figures in the next two games as a reserve. After a right elbow sprain sidelined him for two games, Carroll was relatively calm, until a fourth quarter eruption on December 22, 2006.

He poured in all 16 points – including eight consecutive – in the fourth quarter and knocked out Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko’s tooth on the way to a 101-89 upset win.

“From that point on, I started playing more and things started taking off,” Carroll said. “I think with time, your confidence grows.”

Just a week later, Carroll notched a career-high 27 points, which he later tied during the season, on 8-16 shooting. He shot 4-7 from beyond the arc, made all seven free throws and for good measure added eight rebounds in a gripping 133-124 triple-overtime home victory over the Lakers.

He averaged 20.0 points and made 13-22 (.590) from beyond the arc in the next three games, and on January 10 was rewarded for his newfound consistency with a starting nod.

It was his third start, but Carroll’s improved output made him a mainstay in the starting lineup. He started for the next 44 games – the most consecutively on the team during that same span – before lower back spasms prematurely ended his season by five games.

He scored double-figures in 34 of the 47 games he started, which included 13 of 15 games during February, and finished averaging career-highs in points (12.1), minutes (26.1), three-point percentage (.421), rebounds (2.9) and assists (1.3).

He ranked second in the league behind Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver in free-throw percentage, finishing with a .904 clip.

“The only way to make shots is to take them, so the more you make, the more you have to take,” Carroll said. “For me, that was just a big deal. The minutes I started getting and the confidence I started gaining helped out my whole game.”

The league noticed, giving him three third-place votes in the final tally for the 2006-07 Most Improved Player Award. More surprising may be the ongoing poll on bobcatsbasketball.com that has Carroll as the second-leading vote getter (with over 10,000 votes submitted) to determine Charlotte’s Most Valuable Player for the season – trailing only Gerald Wallace.

Maybe its Carroll’s outgoing personality or past professional struggle that has him continually armed with a smile whenever he greets prospective fans. He allowed NBA All-Access into his home and still takes time to make sure he greets everyone – upper management and janitors alike – upon entering or exiting Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

He may have had a zillion things to do but still had time to author an insider blog on bobcatsbasketball.com the past two seasons and always gives an insightful comment to the media whenever his opinion is requested. That, coupled with happily signing autographs and interacting at virtually ever community function, has made Carroll one the Bobcats fan favorites.

“What my role was going to be, I didn’t know” Carroll said. “But I wanted to be more consistent every single night so I when I was on the floor, coach knew what he was going to get from me. Once that started happening, then the minutes started picking up and that’s where it went from there.”

Even though his status is now uncertain, Carroll knows that Charlotte is who gave him his start – and especially this season, where he’s found success.

“I’m established here,” Carroll said just before the season ended. “I’ve got a situation where things are good here. I really like the city, my teammates and the coaches are going to change, but for the most part I’m happy here. This is where I want to be. This is where I got my chance. This is where I want to stay, and hopefully it all works out.”

What the future holds is not yet for certain, but Carroll gushes at the prospective lineup for next season, especially knowing he could be an important pillar in amassing a consistent playoff franchise.

“When you sit down and look at it, we weren’t really far off, and there were some games could have won but didn’t,” Carroll said. “We could even be in the hunt right now. If you add a few more pieces to that and bring everyone back, we’ll be in good shape.”