Why Toronto Raptors' Reach for Terrence Ross Will Haunt Them

Picking Terrence Ross with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft will haunt the Toronto Raptors for years to come. The Raptors desperately reached for a wing player and will pay for it.

While Terrence Ross certainly isn’t a bad player to have, he completely lacks the star power that the Raptors need on the wing in order to compete at a high level.

There are a lot of things that Terrence Ross does well. He shoots the three-ball well, as he shot 37 percent from downtown last season for the Washington Huskies. He’s also very athletic and has good length for the shooting guard position. His leaping abilities are also very nice.

However, there are major downsides for this player, especially as the No. 8 pick in the draft.

Ross has absolutely no in-between game offensively. What that means is that while he can shoot three and can score at the rim, he can hardly score at all in between.

The Raptors need a player who can score for them when their offense needs to be bailed out from a broken possession. A player that can only shoot threes or get to the rim is going to struggle to do that, because he won’t always have time to get to the rim.

Another thing that any team wants in a wing scorer is a player that will take over the game in critical moments. Ross is not that type of player, and he has struggled in college ball with deferring to his teammates far too much, despite the fact that he’s the one with the talent.

The Raptors cannot spend such a high pick on a player who has shown in the past that he does not have the will to be that guy.

When you compound those concerns with Ross’ questionable shooting selection, there genuinely is cause for concern about his ability to be what the Raptors truly need in a scoring wing.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, Ross also is still too weak to be impactful on an NBA team right away. Even though he has a good frame, Ross is very thin at just 197 pounds. For a player who is 6’7”, that is not desirable.

Will Ross be a good player? Maybe. The potential is there to be a good one.

However, the No. 8 overall pick is not a place where you pick a player that could just be good. You need to pick a potential star at that spot, and Ross isn’t that type of player. The concerns in his game are just too many, and he will disappoint in the coming years for the Raptors.