To start the season, the Orlando Magic got off to a 6-2 start, which included a franchise-best 4-0 start. Terrence Ross was one of the reasons the Magic got off to that great start. He was making his case to be the Sixth Man of the Year and seemed they were ready to take the next step as a team and turn the corner.
Then Markelle Fultz suffered his torn ACL, which caused ripple effects across the roster and rotations.
Changes were made to help the rotations, and it caused the timing to be off within the units Terrence Ross was playing in. Cole Anthony moved into the starting lineup, and with Michael Carter-Williams being out with injury, it left the second unit without a true point guard.
In the first seven games Ross played in, in which Fultz was healthy, Ross averaged 20.7 points per game on 49.4-percent from the field and 46.7-percent from beyond the arc. The team scored 113.7 points per 100 possessions with Ross on the floor, the best mark on the team.
He made 14 of his 27 shots with the closest defender at least four feet away, according to NBA.com’s tracking statistics with 60-percent of his shots being considered “open.”
Ross was on a tear and was one of the early candidates for the Sixth Man of the Year Award. Ross was the leading force on a Magic bench that had been its best in years.
However, since Fultz tore his ACL, Ross has struggled to say the least.
After a hot start to the season, Terrence Ross has hit a major shooting slump as no player has been more affected by Markelle Fultz’s injury and the lineup jumble that came with it than the Orlando Magic’s sixth man.
Ross is averaging 10.9 points per game while shooting 34.9-percent from the field and shooting 25.9-percent from three. He is not even getting quality shots.
Since Fultz’s injury, Ross is making only 8 of 25 (32.0-percent) shots that are considered open (the closest defender four or more feet away). Those kinds of shots are only 49.0-percent of his 3-pointers in that time. He is getting fewer open shots and making fewer of them.
Ross has been shooting the ball poorly, and with the Magic heartbreakingly losing nine of their last 11 games, we can only ask what if Ross played well.
If the Orlando Magic had beaten the New York Knicks (seven-point loss), Indiana Pacers (two-point, overtime loss) and Charlotte Hornets (three-point loss), which Orlando had plenty of opportunities to win, they would have an 11-7 record, which would be second in the Eastern Conference.
Ross had big shots in all those games — he flipped in a 3-pointer off a jump ball to give the Magic a brief lead in the loss to the Knicks and hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in the loss to the Hornets on Sunday — but still, Ross has struggled overall.
In Wednesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, Ross scored 16 points but made only 7 of his 16 shots (although he hit two of his three 3-pointers).
Orlando Magic
What the Magic have not seen in this stretch is an efficient Ross or the Ross that takes over games and changes the flow of the game with his ability to catch fire quickly.
Certainly, with the weaker bench lineups, defenses are starting to key in on him and chase him around. With fewer other offensive weapons coming off the bench to take attention, defenses have surrounded Ross. He has responded by taking more shots off the dribble where he has shown some effectiveness.
But the crowded defense has largely taken him out of his game.
Since Fultz’s injury, then, the Magic’s offensive rating with Ross has fallen to 95.3 points per 100 possessions. The team has only been worse with Khem Birch on the floor during that time.
This is not to say that Ross is the problem with these lineups — although his inefficiency has not helped. But it certainly suggests that whatever intended effect Ross is supposed to have simply has not happened.
He is both in a prolonged shooting slump and in lineups that make it harder for him to catch fire.
The playoff race is still close, and the Magic need Ross to play well to compete.
With Ross being a player that needs rhythm and timing to play well, the injuries have affected him the most. Especially since with all the inconsistent moving players that he is playing with.
With players coming back soon, Carter-Williams being next, Ross should start to play better as the unit he plays with becomes more consistent. And this should boost the Magic’s play.
They stand ninth overall in the Eastern Conference and 1.5 games behind sixth. This portion of the schedule is going to give the Magic time to make up ground.
In the end, the Magic need Ross to make up that ground.
While Ross may not get back to averaging 20 points per game on absurd shooting as he was earlier in the season, Ross is going to need to get back to playing well and find his level and give the Magic firepower off the bench.
Getting healthy is going to help Ross with that. There is still time for the Magic to get background and Ross is going to be at the center of it all.