By Stefan Acevski/ info@eurohoops.net
Considered one of the best shooters in the history of European basketball and a legend of Real Madrid Basketball after winning 19 titles in 11 seasons, Jaycee Carroll does not rule out the idea of returning to the courts.
Currently retired, working in the financial sector and coaching his daughter’s basketball team in Utah, the former player gave an interview to the Marcador program in which he left striking statements.
Carroll, 42, acknowledged that he still misses basketball a lot and left open the possibility of returning at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games in the 3×3 modality:
“As of today, I’m still thinking about playing basketball. Seeing what Marcelinho Huertas has done up to 42 or 43 years old, maybe I could have played two or three more seasons. Perhaps, with fewer minutes on the court, it might have been possible to perform at that level. The other day I was talking with Jimmer Fredette about the Olympics and the 3×3 tournament; I told him that maybe I could get back in shape to play. Basketball is still on my mind, and I feel like I could compete at that level. Being in the Olympics would be an incredible experience; by then, I would be 45 years old, it could even be a record age. For now, it’s more of a fantasy, but it’s true that I’ve thought about it.”
After two seasons at CB Gran Canaria, the American shooting guard signed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2011 as one of Pablo Laso’s first reinforcements, and summed up the club’s winning culture with an anecdote:
“At Real Madrid nobody thinks about being second, you always want to be the best. That’s the mindset. Once I was looking at the flags hanging in the Olympiacos BC pavilion and there were runners-up flags. I asked why we didn’t do that in Madrid and the answer was clear: ‘We don’t care about being second, for us only being first counts.‘”
Part of that legendary team that dominated European basketball for a decade along with Rudy Fernández, Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull and Felipe Reyes, Carroll also explained the philosophy of play that Laso implemented:
“Before us, for me the best team in Europe was FC Barcelona, who based their success on a very tough defense… That’s how titles were won. Pablo Laso came and told us: ‘Okay, we’ll also defend, but first we’re going to get to 100 points and we’ll see who is capable of scoring 101 to beat us.’ That was our style: young, energetic and very ambitious. Thanks to that we won all those titles.”