Welcome to the season review series. Here we will be taking a look back at a few themes of the season and evaluate them. In our final edition of the rookie reviews, we are going to be taking a look at Chris Douglas Roberts.
The Nets drafted CDR with the 40th pick of the night (10 pick in the second round), while many had him as a first rounder, he dropped all the way into the second round and the Nets snatched him up.
Despite not playing too much (he only appeared in 44 games averaging 13.3 MPG), I think CDR showed great promise during his rookie season. We aren’t going to look at his stats, because he didn’t really play enough for them to show us anything.
The two things that I noticed is he is very unorthodox and he can play some serious D. When I say unothodox, I mean that when he is out there playing he is all herky-jerky and just doesn’t really look smooth (For example, how he prefers jumpers off the dribble leaning in rather than catch and shot opportunities). Many people will watch him play and think that he doesn’t know what he is doing out there, but everyone around the Nets praise CDR for this basketball IQ (You can also tell that it is high just by watching him play). All of this factors into why I compared him to Shawn Marion before the season started, and I still think that comparison fits him.
As for his defense, the last couple games showed that CDR can match up with other teams best players and stop them. The best example of this was the Nets’ game against the Pistons (Who were still trying to clinch a playoff birth, so they had their starters in the whole night) late in the year. CDR got the start and he was matched up against Rip Hamilton. Rip Hamilton is one of the toughest covers in the NBA because he runs off of so many screens it’s silly, but CDR stuck with him and forced Rip into an off night. Hamilton only scored 10 points (3 from the line and 1 three on a brilliantly executed play) on 3-9 shooting.
As for what CDR needs to work on, it is tough to say because he saw so little action no team really went out there to exploit his weaknesses. I would say he needs to bulk up a tad this offseason. People don’t really seem to notice that he is a big kid (6-6) and putting some muscle on that frame would make him a scary player. He could also work on his shooting, as he plays more and more in the league, he is going to need to find other ways to score rather than lay-ups and lean in jumpers.
Depending on how the offseason pans out, I can see CDR competing with Ryan Anderson for the starting 3-spot (This is if Vince Carter moves to the 2). At the start of the season, I see CDR being our 2nd man off the bench right behind Keyon Dooling.
