The Journey Of Josh McRoberts

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There’s Kemba Walker, There’s Al Jefferson and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist after that you might start talking about Josh McRoberts who was the Charlotte Hornets glue guy this past season as he proved that he could be an asset towards winning as he started on a playoff team. He is only 27-years old but has gone on a whirlwind of a journey that has taken him from top high school prospect, to the D-League, a guy who goes on dates with Lauren from the hit MTV show “The Hills”,to bench warmer, to starter and now a guy who proved he can be a valuable asset to not only a playoff team but the NBA’s 5th ranked defense that allowed only 97.3 points per game. McRoberts also had a career high in assists this season at 4.3 assists per game, he has opted out of his contract and will test the market. For better or for worse its been a long journey to get to this point.

In high school McRoberts was no joke at Carmel High School in Indiana where he averaged 17.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3 blocked shots. He parlayed that into being named an All-American and winning the MVP award of the 2005 McDonald’s All-American game in a class that featured the likes of Gerald Green, Danny Green, Monta Ellis, Amir Johnson and Andrew Bynum. He would later go on to commit to play at Duke University.

After a high school career which would have allowed him to play in the NBA had he declared Josh took his talents to play for coach K. After 2 years at Duke McRoberts threw his name into the hat and decided to declare for the NBA draft in 2007. McRoberts was drafted in the 2nd round with the 37th overall pick by the Portland Trailblazers who immdiatley stuck him in the D-League with the Idaho Stampede.

His D-League days were not smooth, in fact he looked awful at one point. He looked destined to be a journeyman of basketball abroad as of January 2008, here is an excerpt from Draft Express of he looked back in 2008.

“The ship continues to sink for the former top ranked player in the 2005 high school class, as after laying an egg in his first game here, he proceeded to have an even worse outing tonight, shooting 2-10 from the field.Josh McRoberts clearly doesn’t want to be here—that much is obvious from his body language, seemingly floating up and down the floor aimlessly “with his thumb up his [rear end]” as one longtime NBA scout put it. He’s coming off the bench behind two undrafted players in Lance Allred and Cory Violette who look destined for Europe—and quite frankly has not made any type of case for himself to be receiving minutes over them.

Offensively, McRoberts does not seem to have a consistent way of creating points for himself. He looked incredibly soft in the post, fading away from contact, being unable or unwilling to use his body to create space, showing very little in the ways of actual post moves, and settling for bad shots. On the perimeter, McRoberts is making things way too difficult on himself, pulling up off the dribble on more than one occasion for mid-range jumpers (air-balling one of his attempts), and even trying to shoot an NBA 3-pointer.

Defensively, McRoberts could not stay in front of any of the D-League players he tried to guard tonight, and did not really put much effort at all into this part of his game–being outhustled for rebounds as well. Opposing players have gone right at him in both games we saw here, and McRoberts really hasn’t responded to the challenge in the least bit.

The sooner McRoberts realizes how far he is right now from being an NBA player, the better off he’ll be. From what we can tell, the Development League is exactly the place he needs to be at the moment. His lofty recruiting rankings from high school will only take him so far at this point, as he looks pretty close to turning into a cautionary tale if he’s not careful.”

After being buried in the D-League by the Blazers he was traded to his hometown Indiana Pacers where he would get the chance to play in the NBA. He played 147 games for the maze and blue and was a great energy guy off the bench for them. While he never really got the vote of confidence from the organization as a starter they gave him a chance to play at the pro level and he helped the franchise make the playoffs during the 2010-2011 season. After his run with the Pacers he was on the move again but this time to the Lakers.

He played 50 games for the Lakers in a minimum role and was again shipped out of town before he even got the chance to get comfortable this time to the Orlando Magic. At 25-years old McRoberts was on his 4th team and his career was at a crossroads, would he ever get a shot to prove himself? Could he be a valuable rotation player somewhere? After 41 games in Orlando he was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for Hakim Warrick.

The move was not celebrated by Charlotte fans nor were people clamoring the box office to get tickets to see new Bobcats acquisition Josh McRoberts suit up next to Brendan Haywood or Byron Mullens but he endeared himself by making hustle plays and heady interior passes. He wasn’t a great player but he improved the team on the floor. Before you knew it he had convinced the organization to bring him back for a full season and show what he could do.

This past season he would get the chance to start every game for the first time in his career and prove he could contribute to a winner. He would play alongside Al Jefferson who went on to finish 8th in MVP voting this year. He would serve as the teams secondary facilitator and allowed Kemba Walker to move off of the basketball a lot more then he previously did before McRoberts. What you saw was a guy parlay his first opportunity to start on a consistent basis into solid production, heady passes, good perimeter shooting and the occasional Sportscenter top 10 play. The result was a one of career bests as McRoberts set career highs in games started (78), assists (4.3), and 3-point percentage (36.1%). The team went 43-39 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2010. Although they got swept McRoberts had proven at age 27 that he can be a valuable asset to a winning team.

So he went from high school all-american to D-League player, to fringe rotation player, spot starter and then a starting power forward on a playoff team. Its crazy how much he has went through from potentially becoming a cautionary tale of what could have been to as one Hornets fan would say “Indie Rock Jesus” in reference to his looks. The fact that a fan actually liked McRoberts to come up with something like that is a sign of how far he has come.

Josh has opted out of his contract and is testing the market and while there’s questions to how much he will command from other suitors he has proven he can contribute to a winner. Back in March I got a chance to pick his brain about some stuff in the video above.