April 16, 2010

- Lawrence Roberts

Ex-Grizzlies forward Roberts is signed with Partizan Belgrade. It was supposed to be a good not great gig, but Partizan have gone on to have a Cinderella season, making it all the way to the Euroleague semi finals where they will take on Olympiakos. Roberts has been a sizeable part of this, averaging 8.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the Euroleague, alongside 10.3/6.5/1.4 in the Adriatic league.

However, the 6'9 Roberts has made a distinct change to his game this year. This year, Roberts is casting up the three pointers. He has shot 19-62 from there in 19 Euroleague games (31%), and 17-55 from the Adriatic league (also 31%). Roberts has always been around about a 30% three point shooter, but year he's taking a lot more, shooting almost 3 per game in the Euroleague. And it's had a big effect on his overall field goal percentage; Roberts is shooting only 44% in the Adriatic league, and a spluttering 32% in the Euroleague. He's working on the Hunter for the whole season, and that's as a 32 mpg player.

This doesn't change the fact that he's best when defending and rebounding, though. And that's why he's playing so much.

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