As he begins his new start with the Orlando Magic, we ponder whether Terrence Ross is ready to take on a bigger role with his new team
The Orlando Magic traded Serge Ibaka to the Toronto Raptors last week for Terrence Ross and a 2017 first-round pick. As the team continued to fall in a sputter, GM Rob Hennigan decided to pull the plug on his experiment, and send Ibaka to the Raptors before he bolted in the offseason.
The good news with that is at least the team got something back in return for him.
But Terrence Ross of all people? Was that really a deal worth taking? I know that Ross is still somewhat young (26) so there is still sometime for him to grow as a basketball player. But five seasons into his career thus far, and he really hasn’t gotten better much.
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I mean, you can argue that he’s essentially the same guy the Raptors drafted back in 2012.
He’s an athletic freak that spends way too much time out on the perimeter, when instead he should be doing most of his work inside. Only 32.3 percent of his offense comes from inside the paint.
That’s going to need to change now that he’s with Orlando. On the Raptors, it was acceptable for him to just stand around out at the three-point line and wait for an open jump shot. But that isn’t going to happen with the Magic.
On Orlando, defenders are going to key in on him, so that’s going to make it even more challenging for him to get off open looks at the basket.
However, openings in the lane should start to appear as defenders sprint out in order to close out on his jumpers. If Terrence Ross can start to use that more against the opposition, it should really help him get to the free-throw line more often.
On the season he’s only averaging 0.9 free-throw attempts a game. That isn’t going to cut it on his new team, so he’s going to have to start making it a conscious effort to get to the line more often.
If he’s going to become one of the focal points offensively for the Orlando Magic, Ross has got to take it upon himself to get into the paint more. It isn’t going to help him much if he just decides to take tough, contested mid-range jumpers all game.
He can’t expect to succeed playing that way. So if he makes it a point of emphasis to get inside, it should really help make his job a little bit more easier.
Ross will have a better chance at sustaining his efficiency if he continues to start doing so. It’s going to be difficult scoring at a high percentage if Terrence decides to just settle for long contested two’s all night.
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And in order for that to change he needs to stay in attack mode. If he can do that, the Orlando Magic might have found themselves a keeper, but if he can’t, it’s going to be another year the team spends toiling away in the NBA Draft Lottery.