When Roberson returns, will confidence on offense come too?
Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines were the only Thunder players left on the practice floor Friday when something interesting starting brewing.
Roberson and Abrines were engaged in a relaxed game of “Around the World,” the two wings hitting 3-point shots and shuttling around the arc. And would you believe, Roberson was keeping up until a miss on the left wing as Abrines continued his barrage.
Roberson still isn’t cleared for contact in his rehab process from left knee surgery, and the elite defender isn’t going to turn into an Abrines-esque 39-percent 3-point shooter whenever he returns from injury. But when Roberson isn’t in front of a crowd of 18,203, his shot doesn’t look broken at all.
While Roberson’s return to health is the most important stage of the rest of his career, it’s not unreasonable to wonder if confidence on offense will ever translate to games for the 26-yearold as he enters his sixth NBA season?
“You try to create situations, but are you creating them at the level of a game? Probably not,” said Thunder coach Billy Donovan, who flashed a smile and nodded when asked about Roberson’s post-practice shooting success. Roberson and Abrines were shooting as Donovan went through his daily session with the media on Friday.
Donovan is referring to simulating game situations. Roberson swishing uncontested 3-pointers and free throws at the Thunder ION practice facility isn’t the same as in the heat of a playoff game against Houston.
“I think everybody tries to do the best job they can within that,” Donovan said. “The making shots part of it, as much as it is physical and repetition, it’s just as much mental, too, building that confidence through working out and putting the time in.”
The mental portion on offense is where Roberson has struggled as a pro, seeing regression in free-throw percentages in three consecutive seasons. But he improved his overall field goal percentage to a career-best 53.7 last season. According to basketball-reference.com, Roberson shot 71.6 percent of his shots within three feet of the basket last season, a career high, while shooting 22.2 percent of his shots from 3-point
distance, his lowest percentage since his second season.
“Sometimes you can become a much better shooter by taking the ones that are really good for you,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said. “Dre is a great example of that. Shot (53) percent from the floor last year, and he did that simply by taking the ones that were right there for him that were right in his wheelhouse.”
Additional floor spacers (Paul George, Carmelo Anthony) meant Roberson wasn’t required to shoot as many 3-pointers, but he also had his most active season as a cutter. While Roberson only played 39 games, on a per possession basis, no wing in the NBA made cuts to the basket at a higher frequency than Roberson’s 29.7 percent, up from 18 percent each of the previous two seasons, per NBA.com data.
There hasn’t been an influx of markedly better shooters into Oklahoma City this offseason, so that movement (and Roberson’s passing off those cuts) will be critical to the Thunder’s desire to speed up its offense and create better shots.
“I actually like it, to be honest,” Roberson said Monday about the Thunder playing and thinking faster. “The game of basketball is only getting faster. The game is changing, it’s evolving. Small ball I guess you could say, less bump and bang as it was back in the day.
“But you know, you’ve got to be able to adjust on the fly, and I think that’s what they’re talking about, being able to accept things, accept roles, different play thrown at you or a different adjustment to an opposing team or maybe within our team. We’ve got to be willing to accept that and be professionals and adjust on the fly.”
Considering his shooting limitations, Roberson has made significant adjustments in five seasons to stay on the floor in this evolving NBA.
Just imagine if he brings even a hint of that post-practice magic to the main event when he’s healthy.