Report Card (Extra Credit): Andre Roberson’s 2020 Grade

When the season shut down in March, we turned in our 2019-20 season report card knowing that basketball as we knew it was concluding for a long while. That’s how the NBA handled their 2019-20 awards as well–only counting the games played before the pandemic suspension in awards voting. But basketball did come back, and the Thunder’s players earned bonus points over the final stretch.

Previous Grade: INC

New Grade: D+

For Andre Roberson, returning to the court was reason enough for celebration. Roberson appeared in his first NBA games since 2018, and the results were about what you would expect from a player who had not played professional basketball in almost two years.

Once a starter and vaunted defender, Roberson will need to make drastic improvements as a shooter to earn minutes in a league that places the utmost importance on spacing. In 7 regular-season games, Roberson shot below 30 percent from the field (8-29), with almost half of his attempts coming from three (3-14). While the 14 threes he attempted are far too small of a sample size to assess his effectiveness, it’s hard to imagine Roberson ever again earning a prominent role within a rotation without the threat of a jump shot.