In Defense of Andre Roberson

Earlier this week, Thunderous Intentions’ own Jeremy Lambert posted a piece stating his opinion on Andre Roberson starting – and even playing – for Oklahoma City. It’s a very well written and thought out article, but there’s just one problem: I love Roberson.

I’ll admit that Roberson can be frustrating most of the time on offense. He shot 25 percent from the three-point line last season on almost two attempts per game and 48 percent from the free throw line (although it was on only 48 attempts). He showed little to no offensive skill for most of the season, but that’s not why you play Andre Roberson.

Roberson will be 24 for most of next year – six days older than Dion Waiters and about six years younger than Anthony Morrow – with less than 1700 total minutes of experience in the NBA (152 players played more than 1700 minutes last season alone). The jump in minutes from his rookie season to last year showed that former OKC head coach Scott Brooks was starting to trust what Roberson brought to the team. While the holes on offense are glaring, he has an elite skill.

Even though the statistics for defense aren’t as trustworthy as the offensive metrics, you would be hard pressed to find a defensive metric that doesn’t rate Roberson as one of the best defensive shooting guards in the league. ESPN.com’s Defensive Real Plus-Minus gives him a rating of 3.30 (third highest among qualifying shooting guards) and basketball-reference.com gave him a 2.1 rating in the Defensive Box Plus/Minus statistic. But NBA.com gives a statistic that is far more telling – in Roberson’s 67 games last season, opponents shot almost 5 percent worse when directly guarded by Roberson – including 7 percent worse within six feet of the rim. 

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On-ball defense is largely overrated when discussing a player’s individual defense. On average, a player is guarding the ball 20 percent of the time while on defense (100 percent divided by the five players on the court gives each player the ball 20 percent of the time, on average), leaving help defense to account for about 80 percent of a player’s defense. This is the reason Kyle Korver and Khris Middleton rank so highly in defensive statistics despite being less athletic than their counterparts. Roberson is also a very good help defender, as I detailed almost five months ago.

When comparing Roberson to the Waiters, it’s easy to point to counting stats: almost 13 points per game for Waiters compared to under four for Roberson. Two assists per game for Waiters compared to only one for Roberson. However, Roberson is better on defense than Waiters is on offense. 

Scoring 13 points per game isn’t an accomplishment if it takes 13 shots to accumulate those points. Having an effective field goal percentage under 44 percent isn’t what a competitive team wants from a player that’s being used on only an average number of possessions (the league average for effective field goal percentage is around 50 percent). There is value to shot-creation, but on a team with Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Enes Kanter, how many opportunities should Waiters be given to create his own shot?

Last season wasn’t the optimal scenario for Roberson to show his value. As has been pointed out many times, he’s not the type of player that can be expected to create his own offense, but without Westbrook and Durant for large parts of last season, that’s what the Thunder needed. Despite improving his three-point percentage from a miserable 15 percent two seasons ago to a slightly less miserable 25 percent last season, his shooting was magnified because the Thunder were missing two significant offensive contributors. 

One of the qualms with Brooks’ coaching was his unimaginative offensive schemes. While most of the discussion was focused on what he did with the two stars on offense, the role players were hurt by his coaching, as well. Roberson isn’t a good shooter at this point in his career, but he converted on over 61 percent of his shots inside the three-point line last season. In a far larger sample size, Roberson converted on 55.5 percent of his two-point attempts in three years at Colorado. Roberson may not be able to shoot the three, but he is excellent at cutting and finishing when he gets the ball around the rim when he gets there, something Brooks did not ask him to do. Instead, Roberson was asked to stand in the corner and hoist up low percentage shots. 

If Oklahoma City needs offense, obviously Morrow is a better option than Roberson. However, pairing Morrow and Westbrook defensively is a nightmare for those actively rooting for the team. While Westbrook has all of the tools of a great defender, his off-ball defense needs work. He is often caught ball-watching allowing the opposition to back cut him or giving them an open look. When guarding the ball-handler, Westbrook is frightening considering his athletic ability and size – he averages almost two steals per game in his career – but if Westbrook decides to go for a steal and fails, which happens often, he leaves his teammates in a 5-on-4 situation.

Playing Roberson with Westbrook and Durant does two things. First, it allows the two stars the easiest of the three wing responsibilities. While Durant is an above-average defender, there is no need to waste significant energy on defense if it’s unnecessary, and Westbrook has the size and ability to avoid being posted up by bigger players. Secondly, this alleviates the pressure Roberson felt last year on the offensive end. Roberson may have the liberty to cut to the rim as his defender will spend most of his time worrying about one of the other four players the Thunder will have on the court.

The case for Roberson has always been his defense. Even if you’re of the opinion that his defense is overrated (which I disagree with), it’s good enough to give Westbrook and Durant the easier defensive assignments. Offensively, if a player isn’t a good shooter, then don’t ask him to shoot. In an era where the most common phrase is “pace and space”, there are other ways to space the floor than by standing in the corner. Tyson Chandler, Dwyane Wade and many others have been a part of elite offenses without the ability to shoot from the outside. While Roberson may not have the offensive ability as some of these players, he can be used in some of the same ways to a lesser degree.

Or at least that’s my completely biased opinion.