Hiatus Gives Roberson a Better Chance of Playing

The last time Andre Roberson played in an NBA game, the Oklahoma City Thunder was a completely different team. During this short training camp, Roberson will get to find out how he fits with this current roster.

Toughh! 💪🏽 https://t.co/ACPfmzy4hX
— Andre Roberson (@FlyDre21) July 13, 2020

Billy Donovan says there's "no question" that league shutdown is making it easier for Roberson to find his way into the rotation than it would have in March or April.

"I think the fact that we're having a few weeks of something like a training camp I think has really helped us."...."Because it becomes very very difficult for a player like Andre not that he could not do it...I just wouldn't know if it were April or May can he get enough reps in practice with the number of games."

"You're not practicing nearly as much we've gone up and down in practice quite a bit these last 10 days."..."You wouldn't get that if Andre was coming back at the end of the season so there's no question this is very very beneficial to our team and it's very beneficial to Andre being incorporated back into our team."

Roberson was able to go through "everything" during Sunday's workout, which Donovan says is "encouraging." But how his the physical part of his defense coming along?

"Certainly you notice him out there, I still think he's got a little bit of a ways to go offensively in terms of the things he was doing."...."I think if you go back to when he was playing the team was drastically different than it was when he was healthy

."

"I think he has got to accoustoumed to playing with other guys."..."I thought he and Russell (Westbrook) had a great chemistry when Andrre cut and ran the floor and things that he did to utilize himself

offensively

.

"

Donovan says that Roberson is disruptive during practice; he understands when to switch, positioning, and can see things before they happen. While Roberson may not be the defensive player, he was before tearing his patellar tendon Donovan is confident he will be able to defend at a high level.

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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.