Years ago, DeMarre Carroll was a productive forward in the NBA for multiple teams. But ever since his playing career ended in 2020, he has become an assistant coach.

He is now an assistant for the Cleveland Cavaliers under Kenny Atkinson, their new head coach, and he posted a photo where he reflected on how he has grown as a leader ever since his playing days.

Carroll played for eight different teams over 11 seasons after he was the No. 27 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Some fans may best remember him as a member of the Atlanta Hawks when they won 60 games and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2014-15 season.

That year, Carroll averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds a game while making 39.5 percent of his 3-point attempts. He even got a tiny bit of consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year award that year.

Later on, he moved to the Brooklyn Nets, where he morphed into a veteran leader for a squad that reached the playoffs in 2019 with a young and feisty cast that included current Cavs players in Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert.

Now that Carroll is an assistant with the Cavs, he will be charged with helping them go from a legitimate playoff team to a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference. They won their first playoff series since 2018 last season, but there is a feeling that perhaps they have maxed out the potential of their current roster.

Big man Evan Mobley, a highly regarded player when he was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft, hasn't shown much improvement over the last couple of years, and starting point guard Darius Garland's production and efficiency dipped last year, especially during the postseason.

Carroll started his coaching career during the 2022-23 season as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks under Mike Budenholzer, who had been his head coach when he played in Atlanta.

Budenholzer was fired following the Bucks' first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Miami Heat.