Raptors: DeMarre Carroll Takes Right Approach to Jae Crowder Dig

DeMarre Carroll could have taken any number of approaches towards Jae Crowder’s dismissive remarks about the Toronto Raptors, but he got the perfect balance with his response.

Jae Crowder made some headlines this past week, with his comments about the Toronto Raptors. Speaking to MassLive’s Tom Westerholm on Thursday, Crowder said: “Toronto is not a team we’re worried about.”

In fairness to the Boston Celtics’ small forward, it was just one sentence of a conversation about the Eastern Conference as a whole. From his perspective, the Cleveland Cavaliers are – quite rightly – the main team to be concerned about.

Regardless, no matter how much the Celtics have improved, to look past the Raptors is foolish. If nothing else, we’re talking about a team which has won three consecutive Atlantic Division titles and is coming off their most successful season in franchise history.

More from Toronto Raptors

As such, you knew Crowder’s comments were going to be brought up, when DeMarre Carroll spoke to Ben Ennis on Friday. The soon-to-be 30-year old’s response was the perfect balance between keeping it just classy enough, while also having a subtle jab at Crowder.

Carroll said: “I just think it’s a comment from a person who really hasn’t been in the playoffs. When you haven’t been on that level, you don’t understand what it takes to get (there).”

Certainly, the Birmingham, Alabama native speaks from experience, when making this point: “Myself, going to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals, I understand what it takes.”

After winning 56 regular season games and sending two players to the All-Star Game for a second consecutive year, the Raptors are arguably now one of the prominent teams in the NBA. However, don’t tell Carroll that, as he still believes they are going somewhat under the radar.

Carroll said: “I feel like that’s the type of team we are…We don’t want to be that team getting all the glamour and being on TNT and NBA TV and all that.

May 21, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) battles for a ball with Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll (5) during the third quarter in game three of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports /

“We want to just be one of those physicality teams that goes under the radar. And at the end of the season, you look up, we’re in the NBA Finals.”

On a personal level, the 2015-16 campaign must have been a frustrating one for the 2009 first round draft pick. He was limited to 26 regular season games, as a result of dealing with an ongoing right knee issue.

However, Carroll is optimistic about the future, for both himself and the team: “I feel like if we can get a whole year under our belt, the sky’s the limit for us.

More from Tip of the Tower

“We just gotta try to stay healthy, especially entering the postseason. … If we can stay healthy, man, the basketball will take care of itself.”

Overall, the Raptors will not be so quick to dismiss the Celtics. After all, this is a team coming off a 48-win campaign themselves, and definitely headed in the right direction.

However, Carroll says they’ll leave the speaking to their divisional rivals: “We’ll let our game do the talking.

“We’ll let Jae Crowder get in the media and do all his talking. We’ll just fly under the radar and do what we’re supposed to do, and that’s to hopefully one day bring a championship to Toronto.”

Next: DeMar DeRozan can learn a lot from Team USA

What did you take away from Crowder’s comments and Carroll’s response? Regardless, what kind of threat do you see the Celtics being to the Raptors in the upcoming season? Let us know in the comments section below.

Home/Toronto Raptors