Hawks starting small forward and defensive stopper DeMarre Carroll answered five questions from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in advance of Wednesday’s season opener at the Raptors.
Q. Now that training camp is over, what are your expectations going into the regular season?
A. My expectations for the team is to go into the season and do what we did all preseason and summer and get off to a good start. Me personally, I want to go out and get my teammates going. Coach wants be to be more of a leader and that's the biggest thing I've got to do at the beginning of the season.
Q. Is this a playoff team? Why?
A. Yes because we have several key pieces. We are two and three deep at every position. We brought in two good wings in Thabo (Sefolosha) and Kent (Bazemore) to help on the defensive end. We can shoot. When we are on, we are on. Hopefully, we can keep shooting like we have been in practice and the preseason.
Q. What are the strengths of this team?
A. I think depth. We've got a lot of guys coming off the bench – Mike Scott, Shelvin (Mack), Thabo, Kent, all those guys will come off the bench and contribute. Last year, when one of the starters got hurt, our team looked a little shaky. We've got so much depth his year, I don't think that's going to be the case.
Q. What are the weaknesses of this team?
A. Me personally, I'm not concerned with anything. The second year in the system, I think we should be even better. The team is going to go as far as our defense. I think that is a lot on my shoulders and a lot on guys like Paul (Millsap) and Al (Horford) to really come out and make a defensive presence this season.
Q. Is there one thing that might surprise people about this team?
A. How good we shoot the ball. Everybody talks about Kyle (Korver) and how he is a lethal 3-point shooter. I think we have a lot of guys who have a lot of confidence and are shooting the ball really well, like Mike Scott, Shelvin, a lot of guys are shooting the ball with confidence. I think we are going to surprise a team and have like 30, 40 3s and they are going to be tripping. It doesn't surprise me because we do it every day in practice.
