Toronto Raptors’ Terrence Ross’ 2K rating is too low!

We are less than a month away from the release of NBA 2k16. One thing will be a constant sting for Raptors fans: Terrence Ross’ new rating. Ross will have a rating of 73, a significant downgrade from his 76 overall in NBA 2k15. According to Dunk360.com it was“underrated” . This was in large part to Terrence’s breakout sophomore season in which he was a vital part of the starting unit, providing both defense and shooting. Despite plateauing in his third season, the rating seems low.

Ross played well enough to maintain a starting role throughout the 2014 season and finally finding a comfort zone from long range. Ross averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds and an assist while shooting 37.2% from downtown in that season and continued the steady 3 point barrage during the playoffs.

Despite his minutes going up and down throughout the 4 game sweep at the hands of the Washington Wizards, Ross still hit more than 33% of 3’s and played good enough defense to keep Bradley Beal shooting under 41%.
Ross is only 24 and has a wide variety of deficiencies on both ends of the court. Yet the ranking he has received in the upcoming version of NBA 2k doesn’t have enough justification. According to HoopsHype NBA Player Ratings,Ross shares the same overall with 76ers point guard Isaiah Canaan, a relatively unknown player who’s never shot better than Ross from either the field or long range. Another player who shared the same overall as Ross was D.J. Augustin, a former Raptor who only surpassed Ross in the assist category while racking up almost double the plus minus rating in twice the playing time. The biggest slap in the face has to be that Andrea Bargnani has a higher overall of 74.

Having a super athletic player who also has a 3-point touch doesn’t come around often. Ross also has shown flashes of dependable defense and the promise to even become a hard-nosed defender capable of defending multiple positions. The team hasn’t seen the kind of athleticism and raw ability to just jump over opponents since Vince Carter donned the purple and red. It wasn’t too long ago that Ross tied Carter for most points by a Raptor by dropping 51 points on the Los Angeles Clippers in January of 2014. That must be worth a rating upgrade right?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX03ZWmiwzI  [Ross scores 51]

 

Unfortunately with all the potential Raptors fans see in Ross, he has a lot of negatives that could be the real reason for his low rating, besides his on-court letdowns.  Ross doesn’t slash a lot and even worse is he has so much athleticism that he could be leading the team in free throw appearances.

This season, Terrence Ross will most likely play a bench role and will even have to fight for it with the likes of rookie Norman Powell. Ross will make close to $3.5 million this season and will be expected to carry the scoring load that reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Lou Williams did.  Ross will have to work exceptionally hard to earn his next paycheque, as the bench will rely heavily on his scoring ability due to the defense heavy rotation.  If Ross plays well as the 6th man, I expect his rating to be that of  Jamal Crawford, if not higher. Ross did scorch Crawford by 14 points in their January 2014 dual for the ages.

Terrence Ross has been a starting wing on back-to-back Atlantic division teams. While being in his early twenties doing so, Ross never showed signs of backtracking. Each year he has shown progress in improving on both ends. I expected to see his rating go up, maybe by not by a lot but certainly not down. I give Ross a well deserved 76.

For the whole article, click here

 

Social media sucking our youths in

The false belief that young people can make a quick buck being “insta-famous” or a daily “Youtuber,” is full of complications.

Young, and popular celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner, Justin Bieber, and more influence the younger generations a great deal. They do this simply by posting pictures, and videos on their Instagram or Youtube account, and are immediately broadcast to their millions of subscribers and/or followers.

The posts vary, from pictures regarding fashion, to some with minimal clothing, or even poising using obscene gestures.

 

“The kids see the amount of followers these celebrities get, and how much money they make, and they just put 2 and 2 together. They’re really just in it for the attention,” says Salma Balic, a concerned mother of two 14 year olds.

 

Being social media famous also affects younger kids as they see it as an easy way to make money.  According to Videopower.com, it’s not about how many viewers or followers you have, but “how much engagement does it take?”

 

Some believe that anyone can do this, and are influenced enough to do anything to get to that point. Most of the youth don’t understand the concept of how to make money on Youtube or Instagram.

“They’ll post just about anything, they believe the more constant they post, and more things they post about, the more money they’ll get, ”jokes Balic.

Here is an example from Videopower.com illustrating an example of how REAL money might be made throughout the social media universe.

It's more or less about using ads to bring in the figures on social media.

It’s more or less about using ads to bring in the figures on social media.

Jeanie Westhaul, a 17 year old student has close to 2000 followers on Instagram, and over 100 subscribers on Youtube, and still hasn’t seen a penny.

“I had no idea you had to get all these ads and sponsors to make money, i thought you just get paid for being popular.”

It is very clear that there needs to be some serious education about social media in our public schools. Not only that, but the reinforcement of a stable career path.

Maybe there could be a career path or school program built around this field. After all, technology is always finding new ways to do more things – and do them easier. Why not money? It still doesn’t change that the young people that are getting paid on these networks, are usually celebrities getting paid by a company to use their products commercial in their video or post.