Terrence Ross said on Wednesday that his awful performance through the first four games of the Raptors' first round loss to the Nets was due to off-court distractions and not playoff jitters, the Toronto Sun reports. "It was more off-the-court stuff and f

Ross said on Wednesday that his awful performance through the first four games of the Raptors' first round loss to the Nets was due to off-court distractions and not playoff jitters, the Toronto Sun reports. "It was more off-the-court stuff and family issues," Ross said. "I never really told anybody that, but I was just going through some tough times then. It kind of happened at a bad moment but I tried to get through it as good as I could."

Analysis:

He's spent the offseason sponging up everything he could from DeMar DeRozan, and Raps coach Dwane Casey has already noticed more maturity in Ross than he displayed last season. There aren't many 23-year-olds in the NBA who can boast a 51-point night on their resume, so if Ross can become a more consistent player at both ends of the court this season he could easily top the 12.2 PPG he averaged as a starter last year.