Terrence Ross wasn't the name most Toronto Raptors fans had expected to hear NBA Commissioner David Stern call on Thursday night.

With the eighth pick still in hand, and other decent names left to be scooped up, most were stunned when the University of Washington guard's name was announced.

And many, including myself, took to social media to express that shock, and some even went as far as slamming the selection and questioned Raptors' General Manager Bryan Colangelo's decision.

But once things started to settle down, Colangelo's decision started to make some sense to me.

You see, Colangelo isn't a stranger to throwing everyone off. Just take a look at some of his past picks.

At the 2006 draft, with the Raptors having won the first pick, Colangelo stunned everyone, by selecting Andrea Bargnani over LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, who most thought were just as worthy of being selected first.

And even though some may still hold that against Colangelo, you have to admit that Bargani has turned out to be a very good player, even though it took some time.

Then there's last year's pick, Jonas Valanciunas. When his name was announced, we all had the same reaction and the same questions all popped up. Who is this kid? Where did he come from? Has Colangelo lost his mind?

And what ticked fans off even more, was the fact that Valanciunas wouldn't be playing with the team immediately, due to his contractual obligations in Lithuania.

But with the possibility of the lockout looming, fans either thought Colangelo had completely lost his mind, or was onto something.

We eventually found it to be the latter, seeing Valanciunas' development in Europe and how the lockout played out.

Now here we are once again wondering about this latest pick.

Earlier this week, in a pre-draft media availability, Colangelo told us that he wouldn't take a pick based on the best player available but more so based on the team's need.

He also hinted that there were three players that had stood out during the pre-draft workouts that he had his eyes on.

Those three players were North Carolina's Harrison Barnes, Duke's Austin Rivers (son of Celtics coach Doc Rivers) and Ross.

When Barnes got scooped up by the Golden State Warriors, most thought that Colangelo's choice would probably be Rivers who was rated higher than Ross going into the draft. But when you look at the two, Ross, who is a shooting guard, makes more sense than Rivers, who is a point guard.

Ross who averaged 16.4 points per game in his sophomore season with the Huskies, is a polished shooter who has that offensive spark that the Raptors need to go along their improved defence next season.

And with the team in hot pursuit for veteran Canadian point guard Steve Nash who is a free agent, having another ball handler on the team just doesn't make much sense, since the team already has Jose Calderon and Jerryd Bayless on its roster.

So, as with all draft picks, only time will tell how things will turn out, so before we start making judgements, let's give the kid a chance and see if he turns out to be something special in the long run.

And with free agency set to begin on July 1st, it'll be interesting to see what other surprises Colangelo has in store for us.

NOTES:

The Raptors also selected Baylor's Quincy Acy with the 37th pick and Tomislav Zubcic from Cibona Zagreb, Croatia with the 56th pick.