Oklahoma City Thunder wing Andre Roberson returned to the court in the scrimmage against the Boston Celtics on Friday for his first action in two and a half years.
Over 11 minutes, Roberson had five points with two rebounds and a block and a steal apiece.
Head coach Billy Donovan said it was a strong performance for a comeback game.
“I think you were able to see glimpses of what’s made him him such a great defensive player,” Donovan said.
“The things that he does do, just how smart he is, and his ability with his feet and his length. He actually played really, really well and I give him a lot of credit for a guy that’s had out for as long as he has.”
His first basket back was on a drive in which it looks like he tried to pass it, eventually regained control of the loose ball and put it in.
His second was a 3-pointer:
Roberson is a career 25.7% 3-point shooter, and he made one of two on Friday. If he can make a respectable number of shots, it would help spacing immensely in the second unit.
Even if he can’t shoot, Roberson was part of one interesting set in which it was a quick pick-and-handoff.
Instead of using the screen, Abdel Nader flicked the ball to Roberson as he approached and Roberson tapped it back to Nader, who cut behind him as Roberson screened off Nader’s defender.
That left Nader open for a 3. He missed, but the quick action surprised Roberson’s defender, power forward/center Grant Williams, who was not in position to defend it.
Roberson became an indispensable piece of the Thunder over the years not through his offense, but his defense.
On Friday, he showed some of the same: Roberson favored patrolling the paint and the middle of the floor slightly away from his man but within reach in case he needed to rotate back over.
As the on-ball defender, Roberson is still able to recover quickly. Here, he got a block from behind after initially going toward the screen too aggressively.
That looks like the Roberson of 2018.
Roberson needs to continue refining his game as he sees more action in these scrimmages, but he looks like he can be of help to Oklahoma City as they try to secure a better playoff position and make a run.
At the very least, he looked good for an athlete who hadn’t played in more than 900 days.
