[Jiujianglu] There is no credit, but there is still hard work for the Bobcat veterans

There are 30 teams in the NBA today, but there were not so many teams in the early stages of the league.

For the formation of a new team, in addition to the draft, other teams in the league also provide players outside of the lineup protection list for the new team to select. This is the NBA's so-called expansion draft.

Beyond the team's protection list, the remaining candidates will naturally not be too strong. This was the case with the Charlotte Bobcats' player list in the first season.

Looking at the team lineup at that time, only Brevin Knight and Steve Smith had proven their senior strength in the NBA. The others were newcomers to the league for two or three years. Among these newcomers, only Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor truly became the core rotation of the team.

For this group of players with insufficient talent, it is not easy to play for the team for one or two seasons. As for their performance after leaving the team?

The better thing is that players like Keith Bogans moved around various teams, while most of them, like Boronna Robinson, faded out of the NBA after just one or two seasons. But there is another person among them who has played for the Bobcats for eight seasons in their short 10-year history, even longer than the above-mentioned Okafor and Wallace.

Comes from Matt Carroll, a white shooter that probably not many people know except Bobcat fans.

Of course, for NBA players, they are after all the best players in the world. Even characters like Carroll were still dominant in their student days.

In high school, Carroll averaged 26.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In four years, he ranked second among high school players in his hometown in total points, second only to former Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

But Carroll has one thing better than Kobe. He has become the interstate basketball player twice. Relying on his strong performance in high school, Carroll won one gold and one silver medal on behalf of the U18 and U19 national teams in 1998 and 1999. With his outstanding performance in domestic and international competitions, Carroll received invitations from many universities and finally chose to join the University of Notre Dame to start the next stage of his basketball career.

After entering the college basketball world, although Carroll did not kill everyone like he did in high school, he still averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in four years. His total personal score reached 1850 points, ranking sixth in school history. During this period, he was selected to the All-Big East Conference first team.

After completing the NCAA, Carroll decided to join the draft. However, due to poor physical condition, it is difficult for older white guards who cannot run fast or jump high to be favored. In addition, when he entered the draft, he was part of the 03 Platinum Generation with abundant talents. Under fierce competition, Carroll was not favored by any team in the end.

After losing the draft, the Knicks immediately contacted the white guard and invited him to play in the summer league. Unfortunately, he failed to make the opening roster. Then the Trail Blazers came calling again. After a short period of 13 games and a total of 53 minutes, Carroll, who averaged only 1 point per game, was given up again.

Due to being given up by two teams in a row, Carroll chose to join the Development League first to seek future NBA opportunities. After a brief appearance in 11 games, Carroll once again gained the favor of the Spurs by averaging 15.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in the Development League. He briefly played for the Spurs for three games before leaving the NBA again.

After the same story, Carroll was once again invited to play in the Summer League for the Warriors. However, just like the Knicks before, Carroll ultimately failed to squeeze into the opening season roster and was forced to return to the Development League to wait for opportunities. In the 2004-05 G League season, Carroll averaged 20 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game and won the G League MVP, leading the team to the leading position in the G League.

After winning the MVP, the newly established Bobcats began to pay attention to Carroll. His performance in the first season after joining the team was not stable, with a shooting percentage of only 38.9%, but he still scored in double figures in many games. It is still worthy of the team's long-term patience with him.

In the 2006-07 season, Carroll finally broke out. That year was also the year in which he made the most starts in a single season in his career. 47 starts in a single season were exactly equal to the total number of starts in the other nine years.

After being reused, Carroll averaged a career-high 12.1 points per game with a shooting percentage of 43.3% + 41.6% + 90.4%. Among them, his free throw shooting rate of 90.4% in a single season was the highest in team history.

As the Bobcats slowly got on the right track, Carroll's role gradually began to be marginalized. The 2006-07 season was short-lived. Although he reached his peak age, his potential was basically undeveloped, and he could only be reduced to a simple shooter.

As for the Bobcats, they aimed to continue to recruit immediate combat capabilities after the playoffs, and finally chose to send Carroll and Ryan Hollins to Dallas in exchange for Desagena Diop.

Although Diop is not a high-quality immediate combat power, he at least has the advantage of size to sit in the penalty area. In the era of interiors, the potential value of big men was higher than that of defenders. It was expected that Carroll, a white boy, was sacrificed.

After arriving in Dallas, Carroll did not leave many memories. He averaged 5 minutes per game in 46 games and was at best a marginal member of the rotation to digest garbage time. For Carroll, the best memories of Dallas are the two playoff trips.

It wasn't until after the 2009-10 season that the Mavericks and Bobcats reached an agreement to pack Carroll, Eric Dampier, and Eduardo Najera, and trade for Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinza. And somehow, this deal also paved the way for Dallas to win its first championship in team history..

Returning to his old hometown of Charlotte, Carroll is no longer the core rotation of the Bobcats. However, compared to being completely abandoned in Dallas, Carroll still has at least 10 minutes of playing time in the Bobcats.

Perhaps in order to rebuild a broken team, or to give some respect to an old friend, Carroll briefly returned and played 107 games. Then he was sent to the New Orleans Hornets by the Charlotte Hornets in November 2012, and was immediately waived by the team, ending his ten-year NBA career.

Looking at Carroll's NBA career, it is really unremarkable. There is no particularly outstanding representative moment on the court, and there are no other gossips and scandals off the court. However, from the perspective of career length, he has been able to stay in the basketball hall of NBA for ten years, which is already more than most players.

Especially compared to those undrafted players who disappeared after playing for one or two years, Carroll is an absolute winner in life.

There is no denying that Carroll was lucky. He was spotted by a start-up team in his early years and was able to guarantee playing time, and he also seized the opportunity. Although he did not contribute much on the field, at least his attitude in the game deserves recognition. After ending his career as a player, Carroll became a local community ambassador in Charlotte and later worked as an analyst for the Hornets team.

Although this team does not have many stars worthy of special mention, and Carroll is only an unknown character in the history of the team, but from another perspective, ordinary marginal people like Carroll can best represent the Bobcats team.

Even if there is no credit, at least there is hard work.