Andre Roberson

Due to a ruptured patellar tendon, Roberson appeared in just 39 games last season. The Colorado product, who has never averaged more than 6.6 points in his career, is known mostly for his defense. Prior to his injury, he was posting a combined 2.8 steals/blocks per 36 minutes and would have been tied for 12th-best defensive box plus/minus (2.8) had he qualified. Roberson is the definition of a better real life player than Fantasy asset, as his other peripheral stats in 2017-18 included 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, eight total threes and a career-high 53.7 percent shooting on 4.2 attempts per tilt. While he should be able to jump back into the Thunder’s rotation and hover around 30 minutes per night, there’s little reason to believe he'll make any sort of significant statistical leap. As a result, he can effectively be ignored in almost every Fantasy format.

Fresh off a three-year, $30 million contract signed in July, Roberson will be entering his fifth season in the league as the Thunder’s starting shooting guard. That comes with little surprise, since the 25-year-old is generally considered to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and started in 214 of 216 possible regular-season games for Oklahoma City over the past three seasons. Even though he averaged just over 30.0 minutes per game last year, Roberson has always struggled to score, amassing just 6.6 points per game. The Thunder have been waiting for Roberson to develop his shot -- having surpassed 30 percent from behind the arc and 62 percent from the free-throw line just once apiece in his career -- but with each passing season, it’s looking more and more clear that he’s simply a bad shooter with little hope of improving. However, he still provides above-average value with rebounds, steals and blocks considering his eligibility at shooting guard.

Roberson was moved into the starting lineup at shooting guard last season after Thabo Sefolosha left the team to sign with the Hawks. Roberson was, for all intents and purposes, a carbon copy of Sefolosha. Ex-coach Scott Brooks looked at Roberson and thought, "There's another guy who can't do anything on offense but is pretty good at defense, let's give him lots of minutes since KD and Russ are going to take all the shots anyway," or so it seemed. Roberson started 65 of the 67 games he played in last season, averaging 3.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 19 minutes per game. Those numbers don't jibe with fantasy production, and there are a few different things about this season's Thunder team compared to last season's. Dion Waiters was acquired by the team in the middle of the season, and Scott Brooks was fired, hopefully ending the absurdity that was his unbalanced rotations. It'll be interesting to see how new head coach Billy Donovan decides to use him. Roberson's biggest impact in fantasy thus far has been his ability to earn minutes in the rotation and thereby limit the fantasy value of other players. That might be his calling card again this season, but probably more likley is that the Thunder will end up putting him into a limited defensive role to put out better offensive lineups.

This will be Roberson's second year in the league. As a rookie, the 6-7 shooting guard split time between the Thunder and the D-League, playing in 40 NBA games while starting 16 times. Though he's proven to be a reliable defender and rebounder, Roberson still has a lot to improve on the offensive end, and it's highly unlikely he'll play enough minutes to warrant much fantasy consideration in 2014-15.

Roberson spent three productive years at Colorado before getting drafted in the first round by the Thunder. He is a terrific rebounder as a wing, but his lack of offensive skills will limit his production. Roberson will likely spend a large percentage of the season in the D-league.