Toronto Raptors' Terrence Ross Quietly Putting Together Solid Season Offensively

Roughly a quarter of the way into the 2014-15 season, the Toronto Raptors (15-4) hold the top seed in the Eastern Conference and are tied for the third-best record in the NBA.

Much of the Raptors’ early season success has been attributed to the team’s backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Toronto’s bench has also garnered widespread recognition as one of the deepest second units in the league.

While Lowry, DeRozan and the bench rightfully deserve credit for Toronto’s performance, one player who appears to have gotten lost in the shuffle has been Terrence Ross.

The 23-year-old Ross has quietly been putting together a solid year offensively as the starting small forward for the Raptors, averaging 11.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

While 11.7 points per game may not seem very high at first glance, keep in mind Ross’ usage percentage (a figure that estimates the percentage of team plays used by a player while he’s on the court) is just 17.4 percent, per Basketball-Reference.com. This is the second-lowest usage percentage on Toronto’s starting unit.

The Raptors’ depth has also cut into Ross’ playing time, limiting him to just 27.1 minutes played per game.

Despite the limited opportunities, Ross has been highly efficient with the shots he’s given. The third-year University of Washington product is shooting 46.3 percent from the field. He’s also one of the Raptors’ top options at the three-point line, shooting 43.5 percent from beyond the arc.

With DeRozan currently out with a lower-body injury, Ross has stepped up his production even more. During the past three games DeRozan has missed, Ross has averaged 17 points per game on 57 percent shooting and has hit a blistering 50 percent of his three-point field-goal attempts.

The one area Ross still needs to work on is attacking the basket and going to the line. While the Raptors are second in the NBA in free-throw attempts this season, Ross has averaged just one free-throw attempt per game and has mainly relied on field goals to score.

Considering he’s a career 81.8 percent shooter from the charity stripe, Ross could become a more dynamic scorer if he learns to harness his athleticism and get to the free-throw line on a consistent basis.

Overall, though, Ross has definitely taken a step forward from last season offensively. While he may not have the star power of Lowry or DeRozan, Ross has become one of the team’s most efficient scorers while also developing into a legitimate threat from the three-point line.

With there is no definite timeline for DeRozan’s return from injury, per Raptors Media Relations (via twitter), the Raptors will need Ross to continue to step up and help fill the void on the starting unit. Based on his play so far, it looks like Ross will be able to handle that challenge.

All stats are from Basketball-Reference.com.