Milwaukee Bucks add DeMarre Carroll to coaching staff

The Milwaukee Bucks announced Tuesday afternoon that they have added former NBA player DeMarre Carroll to their coaching staff as an assistant under Head Coach Mike Budenholzer.

Carroll steps into an assistant role after the recent promotion of Charles Lee to Associate Head Coach, taking on the role for the recently departed Darvin Ham who took the open head coach position with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Milwaukee Bucks new Assistant Coach DeMarre Carroll: The player

As a player DeMarre Carroll played 11 years in the NBA. Carroll was a solid role player that bounced around the league, starting in 2009 drafted 27th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies. After a season and a half in Memphis Carroll was traded to the Houston Rockets, the Rockets waived Carroll who signed with the Denver Nuggets in December 2011. The following February Carroll was waived again and landed in Utah with the Jazz.

In the summer of 2013 Carroll signed with the Atlanta Hawks, starting with the Hawks the same year that Mike Budenholzer became the head coach. The 2013-14 Hawks finished 38-44, however the 2014-15 Hawks finished 60-22 and were the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, Carroll was part of a team that included Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Dennis Schroeder, plus former Milwaukee Bucks Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague who all averaged double digits per game. DeMarre Carroll was the fourth leading scorer on the team at 12.6 points per game, that team gave the Hawks and eventual Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer his first taste of the Eastern Conference Finals where unfortunately the Hawks ran into LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and were swept.

DeMarre Carroll spent the next two seasons with the Toronto Raptors and then was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, Carroll was at his best with the Nets, averaging 12.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and shooting 35.8 percent from the 3-point line. After being with the Nets Carroll played 15 games for the San Antonio Spurs and nine more games for the Houston Rockets before bowing out of the league.

Milwaukee Bucks new Assistant Coach DeMarre Carroll: What does the recently retired NBA vet bring to the table as a coach?

DeMarre Carroll just turned 36 and is fresh off his NBA career, so what does Carroll bring to the table as an assistant coach while not having any coaching experience?

Well, firstly Carroll being so recently retired from the NBA brings experience in today’s NBA and experience with and against many of the teams and players the Milwaukee Bucks will face during their quest to win another championship. Carroll as a player was primarily a defensive role player and can bring crucial expertise when it comes to facing players like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Jimmy Butler and more.

DeMarre Carroll, having recently ended his NBA career, was a 6’6 small forward who played power forward at times while logging some very limited minutes as a shooting guard and center, being a player who could flex versatility on both ends of the floor sounds a lot like what is expected of 2022 1st round draft pick MarJon Beauchamp, who displayed some offensive and defensive ability during the NBA summer league. Bringing in DeMarre Carroll as a younger coach that can possibly relate to Beauchamp as a younger coaching figure and share very recent NBA experience and also some of the keys to positional versatility in today’s league could potentially be a sneaky behind the scenes play here for the Milwaukee Bucks.

There has been no official word on the reason for hiring DeMarre Carroll from the front office or Mike Budenholzer yet so this may just be outside the box thinking and its very possible Carroll was brought in due to his familiarity with Mike Budenholzer.

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