On December 12, 2017, the Toronto Raptors played against the Bucks at home. In the fourth quarter, Terrence Ross caught a pass from the Bucks in the half court. Ross calculated his steps and jumped up. It was a standard move. The big wheel pose. As a slam dunk contest champion, this is just a piece of cake for Ross. However, this time, the basket defeated him and gave him a hot pot. In less than a second, It is almost the epitome of everyone's impression of Ross in the past. Perhaps it can be described in a song. A good performance is always fleeting and cannot be sustained. In short, it is unstable.
With strong physical fitness, good defense, strong athletic ability, fast break arrows and show-off confidence, this is Terrence Ross in everyone's eyes. He seems to be full of talent, but the shortcoming is that he cannot integrate his advantages on the court, or in other words, There is no way to see him perform attentively in a game, and whenever Ross is asked why his performance varies from game to game, he can't give an answer.
"Ah...I don't know. Sometimes I just get lost in my thoughts when I'm on the court."
As for the missed slam dunk, his explanation was:
"That may be Vince Carter's curse. I guess after he left the Raptors, the basketball gods would not allow anyone to perform a wheel slam dunk in the ACC arena."
For a long time, the biggest impression Terrence Ross has given most people is 51 points in a single game and the Slam Dunk Contest championship. Only when he gets the ball during fast break, we have expectations for him. Most of the time, we just ask him not to make mistakes. And indiscriminate shooting is the greatest help to the team.
However, Terrence Ross has become an adult this season, and this missed slam dunk is just a trace of the boy he still has on his body.
Painful realization
In 2012, Terrence Ross was selected by the Raptors with the eighth pick in the first round. Although a rookie contract seems ordinary in the NBA, for a 20-year-old boy, it was the first time in his life that he had received so much. Money, Ross' idea is simple, enjoy:
“I eat big fish and meat every night, steak and seafood are the basics.”
Although the team has professionals who will arrange meals, Ross often "fouls" and eats a lot when he finds an opportunity. However, for an athlete who relies on his body, the side effects become more and more obvious. Ross begins to often Feeling lazy, I started to have injuries, big and small.
In May 2015, after Ross had surgery on his left ankle, he was lying on the hospital bed, thinking that his lifestyle in the past few years was the main reason why he was now lying in the hospital. He was ashamed of his identity and expertise as a professional basketball player, and he learned from this painful experience. , Ross decided to make a complete change, regain the professional life of an NBA player, and get himself back on track. It was time to grow up.
During the rehabilitation period after the surgery, Ross gained 15 pounds. However, in addition to these 15 pounds, the burden accumulated in the past few years became a burden on the court. Therefore, Ross began to adjust his diet. He hired a personal chef to design a regular menu for him. , now I only eat fish and chicken as the main course for three meals, and mix them with vegetables, fruits and water, or mainly eat foods with high protein content, and completely cut off high-calorie foods and red meat.
"My metabolism is very fast, so I can digest any food very quickly, so I used to feel free to eat whatever I wanted, but now I just eat from the menu and eat more vitamins and fruits and vegetables."
After improving his diet, Ross lost the extra 15 pounds and regained his lost explosiveness and athletic ability.
“I am now back to the weight I was when I entered the league (around 190 pounds). I feel that my feet have become lighter and my speed has become faster. I have regained my athletic ability and it will also help my performance on the court.
Ross himself admitted that as he gets older, he understands more and more that he has to work hard to deserve his career and be responsible for his life and goals:
"As I got older, I realized that I wasn't on the right path, so I had injuries that could have been avoided and delayed my career, so I changed my life, changed my diet, and did the right thing."
boy becomes man
Going back to the beginning of the game against the Bucks before he missed a dunk, this game was Terrence Ross's best performance so far. Before he missed a dunk, Ross personally went on a 10-0 offensive in the fourth quarter. , scored 25 points in 21 minutes of playing time, helping the Raptors completely open the lead.
So far this season, the results of 10.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals seem to be about the same as in the past, but Ross has shown rare efficiency in the past. The playing time is 21 minutes, a new low since his rookie year, but he is the league's average per possession. The player with the most points, his field goal percentage of 46% and efficiency value of 20 also hit a career high, but the offensive end is still a little unstable. The real improvement is the defense. It may not be as good as last year's defensive lineup, but it is beginning to show that it is not used. The word that describes it is stable.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey felt the most profoundly:
"Where I really feel Ross has matured is on defense. He has become extremely stable and consistent on the defensive end, whether it is rotation or showing up at the right time. This is something I haven't seen from him in the past few seasons."
"I once talked to Bryan Colangelo. The young man he selected four years ago has become very mature and has finally changed from a boy to an adult. We used to call him an unstable brother, but now he is a stable brother, no, stable. man."
Dwane Casey also explained that in the past, Ross would run around when defending on the weak side. He could only shake his head when watching gambling interceptions, but now Ross will only attack when he is sure, judging and waiting for the best opportunity. , which is the accumulation of mature value and experience.
mature value
After five years of coaching Ross, he has finally matured, and Dwane Casey is very pleased.
"The value of player maturity can be verified from him. When he came to the league in the first year, he spent a lot of time exploring. He had no clue on the offensive end, so he kept honing his defense. I think he was a little lost at the time and didn't know. What to do when? It also makes him easy to lose focus on the court, and I think he has found his direction again this season. This is the value of maturity. He is still a good shooter as before, but now he is enough to coordinate with the ball. A player who brings value to the team.”
If Ross himself were to explain it, he would explain his maturity by understanding the rhythm of the court better. When he first joined the NBA five years ago, Ross was constantly rushing offensively, pushing forward as soon as he got the ball, and defending. At that time, it was all kinds of gambling, but now Ross is more able to adjust the rhythm according to the situation on the field, which also makes him sharper on both offense and defense. Young players such as Ross, who just entered the league, will need some time to understand and integrate their abilities and talents before converting them into real results and performance. NBA superstars gather together, and the comparison is who has matured in a shorter time, and who is better at it. Survive the fierce competition at the top of the pyramid.
Last season, Ross worked closely with former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse. Jerry Stackhouse currently serves as the head coach of the Raptors in the Raptors' Development League. He once had the same problem as Ross. He said to Ross, "The top six players in his career Years ago, I didn't know how to play. I didn't know anything except scoring." Stackhouse believes that Ross is in the same situation as him. He has talent and physical conditions. What needs to grow is his mental quality.
At the end of last season, Ross had almost no rest. He spent the whole summer training with Raptors assistant coach David Gale. This was the first time Ross asked for extra training during the summer vacation. Not only did Ross practice, Ross also worked with Raptors scouts. Together we study player reports, including those of teammates and opponents:
"I know better what to do when on the court, and I can also try to guess the intentions of my teammates on the court and the opponent's tactics. All in all, I seem to have a bit of a grasp on how to convert abilities into performance on the court. "
After the game against the Bucks, Terrence Ross returned to the lounge, bypassed the snacks, sat down in his seat, and reviewed today's game on the tablet, reviewing the missed slam dunk.
"I just want to help the team and shoulder my responsibilities as a man."
When a boy becomes a man.
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