OKC Thunder Offseason Improvement Series: Andre Roberson

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Andre Roberson (21) holds his bloody nose while sitting on the bench agains the Houston Rockets in the second half in game five of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Houston Rockets won 105 to 99 .Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /

In the offseason improvement series, we’ll take a look at each player on the OKC Thunder roster and determine what they need to improve on. Andre Roberson is up.

Evaluating the performance of Andre Roberson for the 2016-2017 season is a bit difficult. He put together perhaps his best defensive year ever, but experienced reductions in a number of important statistical categories. With just four years under his belt, Roberson still has a lot of room to improve. Let’s take a look at which aspects of the game he should focus on getting better at this offseason.

Andre Roberson pathetic free throw shooting

This past season Roberson was — to be kind — abominable from the free throw line. He didn’t get to the line often averaging just 1.4 free throw attempts per game. When he did get to the stripe, it was a train wreck. For the season Roberson shot 42.3 percent from the free throw line. That’s Shaq-like and for those that don’t know what that means, it’s not a positive.

Roberson’s free throw struggles reached their pinnacle when he shot 3 of 21 (14.3 percent) in the Thunder’s first-round playoff series against the Rockets. For some odd reason, Billy Donovan refused to sit Roberson despite his struggles and he ended up partially costing the Thunder the series.

It’d behoove Roberson to get in the gym, get to the free throw line, and start shooting.

Three-point shooting

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: In today’s NBA, shooting is paramount. For his career, Roberson is a 26 percent three-point shooter. This past season, he didn’t even manage to reach that already abysmal percentage. In his 2016-2017 campaign, Roberson shot just 24.5 percent from deep.

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Roberson posted a career high in minutes per game last season mainly because of his defensive impact and because the Thunder don’t have anyone better to give the minutes to. That said, if Roberson can’t find a way to improve his shooting stroke from beyond the arc, it’ll become increasingly difficult to play him.

Conclusion

Shooting, shooting, shooting. If you want to exist in today’s NBA you basically have to be able to shoot. Andre Roberson possesses a variety of tools that point to a potential ability to be a really effective rotation player on a championship caliber roster. Before he reaches this level, however, he’ll need to improve both his shooting stroke from the free throw line and beyond the arc. This offseason is a good time to start working towards that goal.

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