Terrence Ross has a history of teasing Raptor fans, and has, throughout his 4.5 seasons with the team, formed one of the greatest love-hate fan / player relationships the franchise has ever seen. Just one month ago – to the date – I wrote an article about Terrence Ross’ new contract, basically shredding both him and the deal and deeming the contract untradeable.
Up to that point, Terrence Ross hadn’t hit the 31-point mark since signing his new $31 million deal. That sample size was one month.
He has since flipped a switch, and in the past month, Terrence Ross has played much better, showing all kinds of glimpses of what everyone wants him to be – a slasher, 3-point weapon, and solid perimeter defender. If he hadn’t scored 31 points in the month leading up to his contract, he made up for it in the following month, scoring 170 points on 44.5% shooting. He also grabbed 49 rebounds and hit 35 threes (good for 41.2% from behind the arc).
His shotchart from December 2nd until now is… Something.
His numbers are up dramatically pretty well across the board in the past month.
No one would blame you if the above numbers have you dazed enough to hop back on board the T-Ross train. I’m not 100% back on yet – but I’m at least 75% back on, with one leg dangling ready to jump at the next sight of a Terrence Ross one-month hiatus consisting of lackadaisical defense, bone-headed plays and timid offensive outputs. But signs of progression have manifested themselves, and this is one of best stretches of Terrence Ross in recent memory.
The Raptors currently don’t have a clear-cut 3rd option after Lowry and DeRozan. On any given night, the third option will be different. It could be Valanciunas getting put-backs and touches down-low, or one of Patterson / Ross going off out of the 2nd unit. On paper, the Raptors look to Ross as a scoring weapon, and it would elevate the Raptors to new heights if Ross could have consistent offensive outputs and not just sporadically.
Whether Ross struggles or not, the Raptors will go through him as the de facto go-to-guy off the bench with hopes of Ross being a better version of Lou Williams. Currently, Ross has the highest USG% of any player off the bench, and there’s no reason to assume that number will drop moving forward. Ross’ production off the bench here is especially crucial, because the Raptors are currently the 7th worst bench-scoring team in the league, and the lack of offensive production from the second unit is generally a huge hindrance and reason why the Raptors can’t consistently play 48 minutes of basketball which can ultimately lead to overexertion of key players.
Ross just needs to continue working on his craft and become a consistent specialist at things he can truly excel at, namely: the catch-and-shoot where he shoots 57.9%, attacking off screens, spotting up for threes, creating off the dribble, and being a solid wing defender. The latter two attributes have been the most challenging for Ross. In a team where Lowry, DeRozan, and Joseph are the creators, Ross doesn’t have much opportunity to orchestrate his shot offensively, but there have been instances this season due to injuries where Ross is in a position to create off the dribble, and has been pretty good at slashing inside for a mid-range jumper or floater. This is an underrated aspect to Ross’ game that we don’t get to see enough. But this version of Terrence Ross requires confidence – something that comes and goes with the fourth-year swingman.
“The big word is confidence, he’s playing with a tremendous amount of confidence, he’s seeing the ball go through the basket,” coach Dwane Casey said.
“I think his defence has been solid, too. It’s not just his offence that’s been pretty solid, it’s his defence, both phases of the game.”
The defensive play is undoubtedly something that needs to be more consistent too. Ross has all the length and quickness in the world to keep pretty well any guard in front of him, but still often bites on fakes, gets blown-by, and gets lost in defensive schemes. But again, he has the tools to excel in this department and has shown in the past he can guard the likes of Paul George – so there’s hope.
This is again, a dramatic 180-turn from a month ago, and admittedly, you really can’t deem the Ross contract as undtradeable as I proclaimed it to be in early December when Ross failed to look like a basketball player for long stretches. It was worrying, but I’m sincerely refreshed to see what Terrence Ross has done in the past month, and at worst, Ross has showcased himself well and is off to a really promising start in 2016.
