DENVER -- Even amid the glitz of his first NBA road trip with the Memphis Grizzlies, former Mizzou forward DeMarre Carroll is grounded in what got him here.

Sure, the posh hotels and first-class flights are swell. So is having unlimited access to accessories.

"You can ask the managers to get you whatever," he said Sunday before the Grizzlies' 133-123 loss to the Denver Nuggets. "You could wear a different pair of shoes every game if you wanted to. But I'm not that type of guy."

Which is to say no-frills — except for his hair.

That helps explain why he's living in a condo in downtown Memphis. He can walk to work.

"You know, being a rookie, I don't want to be late for anything," he said, smiling. "I just want to do everything perfect my first year."

Not surprisingly, he's also the same guy on the court, only more so.

He already has established such a gritty reputation that Memphis coach Lionel Hollins has bestowed upon him what he considers an upgrade from Carroll's well-worn "Junkyard Dog" nickname.

"I call him 'The Predator,'" Hollins said. "He's just out there roaming around, getting his hands on balls. He's a tough kid."

Accordingly, Carroll, the 27th pick overall in the NBA draft after leading Missouri to the Elite Eight last season, has been an influence in practice for a team that hasn't won more than 24 games the past three seasons.

That influence was reflected in an unofficial "Pride Of Training Camp" award voted by the team — and reflected in how Hollins sees him.

"The more guys who do their jobs and work hard in practice … makes the guys who don't stand out," he said. "And (practice) is what makes a quality team."

That intensity also had an impact in Memphis' lone victory in a 1-4 start entering Friday's game against the host Los Angeles Lakers.

According to assistant coach Henry Bibby, the Grizzlies wouldn't have beaten the Toronto Raptors without Carroll — and he wasn't referring to Carroll's 12 points and seven rebounds.

His dive into the stands for a loose ball, Bibby said, "turned the game around for us. Not necessarily his play, but his actions."

One day, though, Bibby expects the 6-foot-7 Carroll to be known as much for his play as his actions.

It looks promising that Carroll's game has been translating to the NBA, but Bibby is forecasting entirely new dimensions ahead for Carroll — as a shooter. And a ball-handler.

Bibby, whom Carroll calls "my man," insists those new dimensions are coming even if Carroll is making just 16.7 percent of his shots in 20 minutes a game.

Bibby should know after weeks of working through 2,000 jumpers a day with Carroll, whom he calls the type of guy "you want your daughter to marry" because of his humility, hard work and personality.

It's those traits, he says, that give Carroll an unlimited ceiling.

"We've become friends with his process of growing. And he's growing into a guy that we depend on. We depend on him," he said. "You want to put your arms around a kid like that who wants to embrace some of the knowledge I have in my 40 years of experience."

Carroll's time at Mizzou was about family, particularly in the form of uncle Mike Anderson as coach and cousin Mike Anderson Jr. as a teammate. His Memphis metamorphosis is similarly rooted, though not to the same degree.

When Bibby began to work with Carroll, he invited Carroll's father, Ed, to visit — a gesture learned in nine seasons coaching at Southern California, where Bibby thought it was important to engage families in his players' development.

"Tell me about your son," he recalled asking Ed Carroll.

Among the answers: "Well, he doesn't shoot the ball that good."

Then they watched DeMarre shoot and talked over what might help.

"Now you get the input of the parent, you get the support of the parent working with the kid," Bibby said. "And if the kid's a good kid (like Carroll), he's listening to his dad, he's listening to me, so he's putting all this together."

Bibby said the tinkering was substantial, the changes subtle.

"He was shooting the ball more across his body than having his shoulders squared up, so we just worked with his footwork, we worked with his elbow being a little closer to his body and worked with his follow-through," he said. "And repetition with that. … His shot has made him a threat that's going to make him real valuable to this basketball team."

Bibby is looking to the next phase.

"Now we're going to start working on dribbling the basketball, so now you look at a guy 6-7 who will be able to play point guard and the 2, 3 and 4 positions on the floor," he said. "It will make him so valuable … and keep him on the floor."

Carroll's place on the floor with any NBA team seemed in doubt just before the draft when word leaked out about a mysterious liver condition.

Carroll still hasn't publicly talked about it, but Memphis was satisfied that the condition wouldn't result trouble for decades, if at all.

"It wasn't a big issue," Carroll said. "I think it was just an obstacle in the road; you're going to have plenty of those."

Carroll also faced problems with perception regarding the limits of his game, but he dispelled many of those concerns by being named MVP of the pre-draft Portsmouth Invitational, where he averaged 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in three games.

"It kind of got me on the radar," he said, "and people really realized I'm not a sloucher and I've got more to my game than just hustling around the court."

Not that there's anything wrong with that component, especially as he tries to develop his offense and enhance his defense against the likes of Carmelo Anthony of Denver, who had 42 points on Sunday, some at the expense of Carroll.

"There's a reason why these guys are considered the best," Carroll said. "You've got to respect them, but you can't fear anybody."

Carroll appeared to struggle a little with both the respect and the fear last week in his first NBA game, when he was more statue than predator.

Carroll smiled at what he called his "deer in the headlight kind of look" that night. Hollins chuckled as he recalled his own first NBA game, saying, "You don't want to touch the guys that you've been reading and hearing about."

By his second game, Carroll said, "All the nerves were gone once I started sweating and just got back to doing what I do, being the Junkyard Dog."

Even as he seeks to add to his game, Carroll wants to stay true to his roots and himself. The name "Predator," he thinks, might be too fancy for him.

"I guess I'll take it," he said, "but I like the Junkyard Dog because it stuck with me at Missouri, and I think it will stick with me in Memphis, too."