Golden State Warriors 1980–1981 Carroll was selected by the
Golden State Warriors with the first overall pick of the
1980 NBA draft. The Warriors traded
Robert Parish and the draft choice used to select
Kevin McHale to the
Boston Celtics for the first overall pick used to select Carroll. Golden State's decision to part with two future hall-of-famers, who would both go on to win multiple
NBA Finals with Boston, would affect public perception of Carroll throughout his career. He averaged 18.9 points and 9.3
rebounds as a rookie, and also scored a season high of 46 points and led the Warriors with 121 blocks during the season while being named an
NBA All-Rookie First Team selection.
1981–1984 Two seasons later, he averaged a career high 24.1 points to go along with 8.7 rebounds. On March 5, 1983, he scored a career-best 52 points against the
Utah Jazz. Carroll's tenure with the Warriors was tumultuous, and he was criticized for a lack of effort, even being nicknamed "Joe Barely Cares" and "Just Barely Carroll." To the surprise of many, Carroll left the Warriors in 1984 to play in Italy for
Simac Milano. With
Simac Milano, he won the
Italian League Championship, was selected to the All-League team, and won the FIBA Korać Cup.
1985–1987 He returned to the NBA for the 1985–86 season and averaged 21.2 points for two consecutive seasons under head coach
George Karl. On February 1, 1987, Carroll scored 43 points and grabbed 24 rebounds in a 150-147 four-overtime victory against the
New Jersey Nets. He was later named to the 1987
NBA All-Star Game, where he scored 4 points and had 6 rebounds in 18 minutes. Carroll played in his first playoff game against the
Utah Jazz in the
1987 NBA Playoffs. Carroll helped lead the team past the Jazz and to the Western Conference Semifinals, where despite him averaging 20 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, Golden State lost to the eventual champion
Los Angeles Lakers. Carroll is a top ten career franchise leader in defensive rebounds (3rd), offensive rebounds (4th), points per game (8th), total points (9th) and steals (9th). He scored at least 1,000 points in each of his seasons as a Warrior. He left Golden State as the franchise leader in blocks with 837, which is currently the second most behind
Adonal Foyle's 1,090 from 1997 to 2007.
Houston Rockets 1987–1988 After his last full season with the Warriors in 1986–87, his production began to decline. In December 1987, he was traded with
Sleepy Floyd to the
Houston Rockets for
Ralph Sampson and
Steve Harris to play under head coach
Bill Fitch. Carroll averaged just 12.7 points during that season, after averaging 20 or more in the previous four. He helped lead the Rockets to an
NBA Playoff appearance, where the team lost to the
Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
Later career 1988–1991 Carroll was traded to the
New Jersey Nets for the 1988–89 season alongside
Lester Conner for
Tony Brown,
Lorenzo Romar,
Tim McCormick and
Frank Johnson. In New Jersey, Carroll averaged 14.1 points a game and shot 80 percent from the
free throw line. He was traded in the middle of the 1989–90 season to the
Denver Nuggets for
Michael Cutright on February 21, 1990, where he averaged 10 points a game and appeared in the first round of the
1990 NBA Playoffs, losing to the
San Antonio Spurs. Joe Barry Carroll played his last NBA season for the
Phoenix Suns. Only playing in 11 games and averaging 3.4 points, he shot a career high .917 from the line.
Career notes Carroll retired from the NBA in 1991. He ended his career with totals of 12,455 points and 5,404 rebounds, topping 20+ points a game in scoring for 4 seasons. He appeared in 19 playoff games, where he averaged 27 minutes, 5 rebounds and 13.7 points per game. Over his career, he averaged 17.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1 steal, 1.6 blocks per game, with a .474 field goal and .747 free throw percentage in 705 games. He averaged 32 minutes of playing time per game. == NBA career statistics ==