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NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 best shooting guards available

By Dre Elder

Apr 7, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) dances after hitting a three-pointer during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. The Hawks won 114-100. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 7, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) dances after hitting a three-pointer during the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. The Hawks won 114-100. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NBA Free Agency bonanza will be in full effect beginning this weekend. Here are the five best shooting guards available.

NBA free agency kicks off promptly at 12:00 A.M. on Jul 1. We have already seen the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets make monumental trades to improve their rosters. But with players like Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Lowry, Paul Millsap and others hitting the open market, there are more fireworks in store. The Golden State Warriors showed the other 29 teams how much they’ll need to improve to be competitive. So there will be no shortage of action.

While the premier free agents are mostly frontcourt players, there will be solid young talent available to bolster your favorite team’s backcourt. Not one of these players are transcendent talents, but could prove valuable on good teams. There are a couple specialists, a maligned player, and two guys who can be explosive scorers on this list. Here are the five best shooting guards available this summer.

5. Andre Roberson

Andre Roberson epitomizes defensive specialist perhaps better than anyone in the league. And that’s not exactly a compliment. Roberson excels on defense, but literally struggles in virtually every other facet of basketball. He’d have to increase his 3-point clip by about 10 percentage points to qualify as a 3-and-D player. He’s logged 5,614 minutes during his four-year career, but has only attempted 223 free throws. Roberson shot just 42.3 percent from the free-throw line on 111 attempts last season, including this memorable brick and air ball combo. Surely, you get the point by now. His offensive impact is very limited.

So how did Roberson make the list for best shooting guards available? Well, he’s a 6-foot-7 defensive agitator that is only 25 years old. His efforts landed him on the 2016-17 All-Defensive Second Team. Roberson also finished atop his position in Defensive Real Plus-Minus last season. In a league predicated on rangy offensive players, every team needs tough defenders with length to counteract that.

Roberson already provides great energy and is effective running the floor in transition. He’s also a capable cutter that can finish at the rim. He’ll need to add some semblance of a jump shot in his tool box going forward. And we have seen many players develop jump shots, as their NBA careers progress. Whichever team signs Roberson to a contract will know exactly what they’re getting. However, it’s a rapidly changing game and he will have to be more of an offensive threat than a liability to stay on the floor in crunch time.

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