The little known 29-year-old, Brian Roberts has had himself quite an off-season. With Anthony Davis playing in the Olympics and Austin Rivers injured, Roberts became the star of the New Orleans Hornets’ Summer League team. Although that is not saying much, as random players have dominated these leagues over the years and have done absolutely nothing in the pros, Roberts has carried that success over to the preseason and may have created a spot in the rotation for himself.
Roberts has shown the talents to be a very effective scorer and has shown distribution skills and looks the part of an efficient point guard. For now the backup to starter Greivis Vasquez is Rivers, but he has never played the position before and seems to be more suited as a shooting guard bringing instant scoring off the bench. Also, Vasquez is no franchise caliber point guard and could be upgraded and if Roberts continues playing well he could even take over for Vasquez if he does not play well.
Roberts is in no way a world-beater and a team’s answer at the position, but if he continues his fantastic play, he will find himself in the rotation. He has earned his success and place in the NBA and looks like he could be a very useful player for the Hornets. The fact that Rivers has been playing a lot of shooting guard in preseason is a good sign for Roberts, in that he may have proved to the coaches that he should be the main backup for Vasquez. One thing is for sure, the once on-the-bubble-roster-player, will be in the NBA this year. His role is not set in stone, but if he continues to play at the level he has been playing so far, there is no telling how much he could play and how much he could help New Orleans.
