2015 Free Agency: DeMarre Carroll would round out Magic perimeter defense

The Atlanta Hawks made a huge turnaround this season and landed four players in the All-Star game. It is one of the other supporting cast who could be a nice fit on the Orlando Magic: defensive ace DeMarre Carroll.

DeMarre Carroll has had a wind-up over the past five seasons since being drafted No. 27 overall in the 2009 draft (by the Memphis Grizzlies). He has developed his talents significantly since entering the league and is blossoming into a very good role player.

The role Carroll serves is the “three and ‘D’” variety, in the sense that he knocks down the triple effectively and plays suffocating perimeter defense. The 6-foot-8 swingman is capable of playing both forward slots effectively — he is long and athletic — and the perfect complement to Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton.

Carroll could serve to bolster the lineup by also likely “demoting” Tobias Harris to the role of either sixth man (preferable) or slide Harris to the 4-spot when the Magic go small. Carroll is not an exceptional rebounder, but he grabs 5.3 per game to go with his 12.6 points per game.

DeMarre’s primary value lies on the defensive end, where he comes up with 1.3 steals per game and seemingly innumerable deflections. Carroll is good at disrupting the flow of an opposing offense, and his ability to play both the 3 and the 4 effectively increases his value.

The Magic need shooting badly, and Carroll is coming off a career year behind the arc where he hit 39.5 percent. He shot 48.7 percent from the floor and was very effective at the rim, hitting 52.8 percent from within three feet.

Carroll does not really waste time with the mid-range shot, taking about 10 percent of his shots from 3-16 feet, while nearly half of his field goal attempts were where they should have been, with 46 percent of his field goal attempts having been triples.

Carroll simply fit his role well with the Hawks this past season and did so at the right time to gain a lot of attention.

Carroll does what he does well the most, and teams have to pay attention to him on rotations. With Carroll and Channing Frye in at the same time and both feeling it, the Magic could really go on quick runs. Threes do that.  He is not limited to just the three ball but also attacks the basket.

The Magic need another guy capable of getting to the basket, and teams respect Carroll’s shot so much he finds ways to get to the rim when he wants to. Also, he would see an increase in both usage and minutes with the Magic. He was just 16.9 percent usage in 31 minutes per game as part of a well-rounded Atlanta Hawks’ attack in the 2014-15 regular season.

Simply, the Magic just did not make enough use of the three this season, nor was it overly effective. The Magic ranked No. 22 in the league in threes made per game (6.8) while hitting the 16th best percentage in the league.

Nikola Vucevic would find a lot more space to operate in the mid-range and on the blocks if Carroll joined the Magic’s guards to add the spacing. Elfrid Payton would find more of his dives to the basket rewarded with guys knocking down the kick-outs. The offense just needs some legitimate threats from behind the arc, and Channing Frye was not the answer, and Ben Gordon barely played.

The shooting problem is easily fixed, fortunately. These minor tweaks, however, could cause big improvements in the win total, even without adding a major superstar.

The pursuit of a superstar still will continue beyond this summer, but Carroll will still take some change to sign. He made $2.55 million last season, but should see somewhere in the neighborhood of $5-8 million a season in his new contract, most likely.

The market will dictate what it does, but typically defensive players do not earn as much money. For comparison’s sake:  Tony Allen is making $4.83 million next season while a much-younger Avery Bradley is due for $7.19 million. Factoring in that he is not much better of a scorer than Bradley, he should see about the same kind of dough (even given that they play different positions).

Maybe that logic seems over simplified, but it is typically the case defensive players do not get the same money or respect from general managers.

Rob Hennigan may be a markedly different type of general manager though, given some of his drafting decisions already made. That is what seems to lend some steam to the idea that Carroll could end up in Orlando.

Carroll scored 17 points and grabbed eight boards in the Hawks Game One victory over the Brooklyn Nets, and he also hit two 3-pointers. Last season in the playoffs, he hit 40 percent from three while playing 35 minutes a game.

He is definitely a starting-level small forward, and he can moonlight at power forward, providing the team with some versatility to pair with Harris or Aaron Gordon.

Carroll has shown all the makings of a great niche talent, and he is getting into his prime seasons.

With the salary cap due for a massive increase, the Magic can afford to overpay for Carroll and still sign Harris. The defense-to-offense juxtaposition would suit the rotation well, and the two could play together at times, too.

It is the kind of signing that might not sound an alarm around the league, but it would make the Magic better, and that is the purpose of any free agent acquisition obviously.

Carroll has come into his own in his five pro seasons, and he had no three-point shot to speak of as a rookie. He discerned what would make him successful and he did it.

That sounds like Rob Hennigan’s kind of guy.

Next: Magic Wishlist: Three moves our Zach Palmer thinks the Magic should make