Jaycee Carroll (20) dribbles the ball downcourt during college basketball action last March against Boise State in Logan, Utah. Jaycee and his wife, Baillie, are pictured at Utah State Senior Night festivities last March. Jaycee finished his college basketball career as USU’s all-time career leading scorer. HERALD PHOTOS/Steve Kodad

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Evanston’s newest high-roller – Jaycee Carroll.

The former EHS basketball standout spent Monday through Friday, July 7-11, playing for the New Jersey Nets in the six-team NBA Summer League competition in Orlando, Fla. A quick detour in Carroll’s travel plans Friday, July 11, has placed Jaycee in the gambling capital of the U.S. as he rolls the dice in an attempt to improve his odds of making a professional basketball roster this fall.

Jaycee is spending the week in Las Vegas. He will compete for the Toronto Raptors’ entry in the 2008 NBA Las Vegas Summer League.

How can Carroll play for New Jersey one week, then switch uniforms and play for Toronto this week? Most importantly, Jaycee has not signed an NBA contract. He is still a free agent, and trying to show off his basketball skills to entice the Nets, Raptors, or any other NBA franchise to offer a guaranteed contract.

Carroll talked to the Herald in a Sunday, July 13, evening telephone interview from Vegas. He is staying at the plush Palms Resort and Casino, courtesy of the Raptors. Toronto will pay Jaycee a weekly per diem and other expenses, as the Nets did last week.



Options still wide open

Toronto, New Jersey and the Phoenix Suns all had shown strong interest in Carroll after the former Red Devil star was not selected in the 2008 NBA Draft. Carroll decided to accept New Jersey’s offer to play with the Nets’ entries in NBA Summer League action at Orlando and in the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City July 21-24.

He flew to Jersey two weeks ago, then practiced seven times with his new Nets’ teammates before heading to Florida for the Orlando Summer League competition.

After a strong performance in Orlando, the Raptors called to see if he wanted to play Vegas this week.

“Through the whole process, Toronto has shown considerable interest,” Jaycee said Sunday. “I went down to Orlando and played with New Jersey, and I played pretty well. Some of (Toronto’s) scouts saw me, and invited me to come up and be a part of their summer league team here in Vegas. I’ll play five games with them here.”

Carroll started at point guard for New Jersey Friday, July 11, in a 107-99 victory over the Indiana Pacers. He logged over 26 minutes of playing time, scoring 11 points with 3 assists and 2 steals, and, perhaps more importantly, just 3 turnovers.

The plan was for Jaycee to hop on a plane and fly back to Salt Lake City and be back with his family in Evanston Friday night. But Toronto’s call threw a happy monkey wrench into Carroll’s plans.



Friday night trip, Saturday game

Carroll arrived in Vegas late Friday night, then awoke Saturday morning, July 12, and went on the court for the Raptors in their Vegas Summer League debut against the Sacramento Kings.

Jaycee scored 14 points in just over 14 minutes of action Saturday. He shot 67 percent from the floor, connecting on 6 of 9 field goal attempts (1 for 2 from 3-point range), and hitting his only free throw try. Toronto dropped a 93-86 decision to the Kings.

Carroll and his new Toronto Summer League teammates faced the Denver Nuggets Monday, July 14, in Vegas. Jaycee scored just 3 points in limited minutes as the Raptors lost to Denver.

Jaycee said the Raptors have a scrimmage scheduled Tuesday, July 15, with a day off Wednesday, then three more games on consecutive days (Philadelphia Thursday, July 17, 6 p.m. MDT; Los Angeles Lakers Friday, July 18, 6:30 p.m., and Golden State Saturday, July 19, 4 p.m.).

As of last Sunday night, Carroll’s plans are to play for New Jersey in the Rocky Mountain Revue at Salt Lake City. One way for those plans to change would be an NBA team sliding a guaranteed contract under Carroll’s pen.

“Yeah, then we’ll probably take that,” Jaycee said.

The Nets have three games scheduled in Salt Lake, including: Golden State Monday, July 21, 2:15 p.m.; Utah Tuesday, July 22, 7 p.m.; and Dallas Thursday, July 24, 4:30 p.m. Rocky Mountain Revue games will be played at Salt Lake Community College, 4600 South Redwood Road.

Most of the rosters for NBA Summer League teams are comprised of rookies, second-year players and select free agents.



Strong effort in Florida

Carroll hopefully opened a few eyes with his performance in Orlando last week – he evidently made an impression with the Raptors.

Carroll averaged 13.6 points per contest (third on the team) in five games with the Nets at Orlando. Only New Jersey draftees Brook Lopez of Stanford (19.6) and Chris Douglas-Roberts of Memphis (14.0) outscored him for the week.

Carroll tallied double-figure scoring in four of five games. Ironically, the only game New Jersey lost (against Miami last Tuesday) was the lone game Carroll didn’t hit double digits.

Carroll was named to the Orlando Summer League second team, ranking among the top 10 players, according to a vote of over two million fans nationwide who viewed internet webcasts of the week’s action.

“It was a lot of fun,” Jaycee said about his week in Orlando. “I got to play against the best college players from last season, past great college players and current NBA players, and great overseas players. It was just really good experience to get in front of those people, play against that level of competition, and kind of see where I stacked up.”



Switch to point guard

The 6-2 guard starred the past four winters at Utah State University, where he became the Aggies’ all-time career leading scorer. Primarily a shooting guard in college, Carroll will likely switch to point guard in the pros.

Carroll said he played point guard probably about 95 percent of his time on the court during last week’s five games. Jaycee said he is rapidly adapting to that new role of running the offense instead of looking to shoot first.

“It took some learning and it’s still a continuing process,” he said. “I got to where I felt really comfortable as a point guard.”

Carroll averaged just over 21 minutes on the floor per game in Orlando. For the week, he shot 47.9 percent from the floor, hitting 23 of 48 total field goal attempts, including 2 of 4 from shots beyond the NBA 3-point arc. Jaycee also shot 80 percent at the charity stripe, hitting 20 of 25 free throws.

Carroll was third on the Nets with 16 assists, tied for second with 5 steals, and, perhaps the most vital stat for a young point guard hopeful, just 13 turnovers total in five games.



Nets win four of five in Florida

Jaycee thought he played well in Orlando, and he was pleased with the second-team honor.

“The other good thing was, our team went 4-1,” he said. “So we won a bunch of games, which means a lot, especially when you’re playing point guard for the team.”

Jaycee said he didn’t get too much feedback from New Jersey brass about his performance last week.

“They said I did a really good job for everything they threw at me,” he said. “They said they threw a lot of stuff at me as kind of a first-time point guard. More than that, I don’t have any more insights on what they thought.”



Work mixed with Vegas fun

This week’s focus turns to helping Toronto win games in Las Vegas, and hopefully improving his odds to ink that guaranteed NBA deal. His wife, Baillie, has joined Jaycee in Vegas. They will spend the week together, with basketball mixed in with some fun.

“Baillie came in Sunday,” Jaycee said. “We’re going to kind of hang out this week and enjoy the experience.”

Ironically, the couple will celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary Saturday, July 19.

If plans don’t change, Jaycee said he is scheduled to fly out of Vegas late Saturday night, arriving in Salt Lake City Sunday about 2 a.m. to begin preparations for next week’s action in the Rocky Mountain Revue.

There’s likely to be at least a few Evanston fans in Utah cheering for Jaycee next week.

“That would be great,” he said.