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Andre Roberson

Southwest Notes: Roberson, Parker, Randolph

May 5th, 2017 at 5:21pm CST by Austin Kent

Unable to come to terms with the Thunder on a rookie extension last fall, Andre Roberson will look to test the market this offseason, Erik Horne of the Oklahoman writes.

It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what the defensive-minded two-guard is worth, and the extra year of research didn’t help as much as the two parties may have hoped when the Thunder decided to let the 25-year-old become a restricted free agent.

Roberson is among the league’s best perimeter defender but his offensive shortcomings are hard to ignore. That, of course, muddies the waters when it comes to figuring out what the Thunder will (or should) pay to retain him.

“I don’t think anybody takes for granted a defensive specialist. All the GMs, the coaches, I think they see the work, so I’m not worried about free agency. I guess you could say I’m letting it take care of itself,” the Thunder guard said.

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And-Ones: Free Agents, D-League, Bennett, Oden

May 3rd, 2017 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Several under-the-radar players who will be free agents this summer are improving their bargaining position with their performance in the playoffs, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. He identifies six players, starting with Golden State big man JaVale McGee, who is averaging 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks through five games despite playing just 11.8 minutes per night. McGee signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Warriors for the veteran’s minimum and could be in line for a huge pay raise in July. The others that Kennedy singles out are Serge Ibaka of the Raptors, Joe Ingles of the Jazz, Nene of the Rockets, Andre Roberson of the Thunder and Deron Williams of the Cavaliers.

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

  • The Texas Legends, the Mavericks‘ affiliate in the D-League, have given coach Bob MacKinnon a two-year extension, tweets D-League Digest. The D-League veteran is in his first season with the Legends.
  • Invitations have been issued for the D-League’s Elite Mini Camp, which will be held May 8-9 in Chicago, relays Chris Reichert of FanSided. Many players have used this showcase to earn spots on summer league rosters, with alumni such as Jonathon Simmons, Hollis Thompson and DeAndre Liggins. Among the best-known names at this year’s camp will be Russ Smith, JaKarr Sampson, Ray McCallum and Cliff Alexander.
  • Former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett, who played 23 games for the Nets this season, has been replaced on his Fenerbahce team in Turkey, according to Bugra Uzar of Eurohoops. Taking his spot on the roster is Pero Antic, who played for the Hawks from 2013 to 2015. Bennett will remain with the club and is expected to be part of the upcoming EuroLeague Final Four.
  • Greg Oden, another former No. 1 pick, is hoping to be part of The Basketball Tournament this summer on ESPN, relays Alysha Tsuji of USA Today. Oden’s team is called Scarlet and Gray and is made up of Ohio State alumni. “We think we’re a team that can win it,” he said. “We look at the talent we’ve had here in the last 10 years or so, and we can match up with anybody. We want the state of Ohio supporting us. We’re called Scarlet and Gray, but this team is a representation of the whole state.”
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The Latest On Andre Roberson

May 2nd, 2017 at 2:26pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Andre Roberson will be a restricted free agent this summer and GM Sam Presti is optimistic that Roberson will return to the Thunder, as Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman relays.

“Every indication we’ve had from Dre and from his people, his agent, is that he loves playing here,” Presti said. “And I’ve always said this to everybody before: When the player shows an interest in being here, it really exponentially helps your opportunity to get a contract done if you would like to.”

Oklahoma City has the ability to match any offer sheet Roberson receives, but Presti cautioned that another team extending an offer “decreases the chances” that the 25-year-old will return.

The Thunder and Roberson’s camp discussed an extension last fall, but the two sides weren’t able to come to an agreement. Presti said the talks were “productive and collaborative,” and the team hopes that they can consummate a deal this time around.

“We need them to be fair with us,” Presti said. “We have to be fair with them and try to find a common ground.”

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Thunder Notes: Roberson, Gibson, Collison, Kanter

April 26th, 2017 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Andre Roberson and Taj Gibson should both get plenty of interest in free agency, according to Ryan Aber and Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. Both expressed a desire today to stay in Oklahoma City, but they won’t be easy for the Thunder to keep.

Roberson, a fourth-year guard, will be a restricted free agent, so OKC can match any offer he receives. He made less than $2.2MM this season, but figures to get a substantial raise after an outstanding defensive performance in the playoffs. Gibson will be unrestricted after making $8.95MM this year. He became a starter after a midseason trade with Chicago and was a key contributor in the postseason. Gibson had a “long talk” with GM Sam Presti and coach Billy Donovan about his desire to remain in OKC. “There’s gonna be teams out there, but you never know what’s gonna happen,” Gibson said. “Anything can happen. But I wanted to let Sam know I wanted to be here.”

There’s more news from the first day of the offseason in Oklahoma City:

  • Even though he saw little action this year, 36-year-old Nick Collison isn’t ready to retire, Aber and Dawson relay in the same story. He appeared in just 20 games during the regular season, averaging 6.4 minutes per night, and wasn’t used at all in the playoffs. Collison has been with the organization since entering the league in 2003, dating back to its days in Seattle. “I’ve got really good relationships with all the people here,” he said, “so I think it’ll be honest and fair and we’ll just — I think both sides just have to find the best thing, and we’ll figure it out.”
  • Rookie Domantas Sabonis will be part of the Thunder squad at this year’s summer league in Orlando and then will join the Lithuanian National Team, the authors add in the same piece. Rookie Alex Abrines won’t participate in summer league play and will spend the offseason playing for Spain.
  • Backup center Enes Kanter is trying to ignore trade rumors, tweets Fred Katz of The Norman Transcript. After averaging 21.3 minutes per night during the season, Kanter was limited to just 9.0 per game in the series with the Rockets. “It’s not in my hands,” he said. “… I’m at home. … I see this organization as my family.” Kanter still has another year left on his contract at nearly $17.9MM, then a player option worth more than $18.6MM for 2018/19.
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Thunder Rumors: Roberson, Westbrook, Gibson

April 26th, 2017 at 8:20am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder’s offseason is now officially underway after the team was eliminated from the playoffs on Tuesday night by the Rockets. While the summer of 2017 won’t feature any contract situations as game-changing – and uncertain – as Kevin Durant‘s was a year ago for the franchise, Oklahoma City will have plenty of crucial decisions to make in the coming months. With that in mind, let’s round up a few of the offseason’s first Thunder-related notes and rumors…

  • Andre Roberson is eligible for restricted free agency this July, and the Thunder are “intent on keeping him,” says Royce Young of ESPN.com. Although Roberson isn’t a dynamic offensive player, he’s one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, and the Thunder believe he showed some positive development and a better understanding of his role as the season went on, per Young.
  • The Thunder will explore many avenues for potential upgrades, but there’s optimism within the organization that many of the team’s young players will continue to improve. Young points to Alex Abrines and Domantas Sabonis as rookies who will have the opportunity to develop into “high-level role players” for the Thunder.
  • While other stars around the NBA may push their teams to acquire certain players, Russell Westbrook prefers to stay out of front office business, with a source telling Young that the point guard has never complained about the Thunder’s roster.
  • Speaking of Westbrook, he’ll be eligible for the NBA’s new Designated Veteran Extension this offseason. According to Young, there’s an expectation that the Thunder will offer such an extension, which would exceed $200MM over five years. This will be an interesting situation to watch, since Westbrook’s contract is only guaranteed for one more season — if he were to turn down a lucrative long-term contract, trade speculation would likely begin in earnest.
  • Following the Thunder’s Game 5 loss, free-agent-to-be Taj Gibson said that he’d like to stay with the Thunder, as Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders tweets. However, while Gibson’s love for OKC is genuine, this summer could represent his last chance at a big payday, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News observes (via Twitter). Young suggests in his ESPN story that Gibson will likely end up signing with another team.
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Northwest Notes: Gibson, Roberson, Favors

April 22nd, 2017 at 10:50pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Taj Gibson helped the Thunder with both his offense and defense since arriving in Oklahoma City and he’s already earned the respect of his teammates, Cliff Brunt of USA Today writes.

“They see I’m in here late nights, early mornings, just constantly working with my teammates, constantly putting work in,” Gibson said. “The confidence is going to be there because they understand you do the work, but I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my team.”

Gibson will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He’s making $8.95MM this season in the last year of a four year deal.

Here’s more from the Northwest:

  • Andre Roberson has done a great job on the defensive end in the Thunder’s first three playoff games, as Erik Horne of The Oklahoman details. Roberson will be a restricted free agent this summer.
  • Derrick Favors, who has one season and $12MM left on his contract after this season, is seeing extended playing time for the Jazz while Rudy Gobert recovers from a knee injury. Favors didn’t play particularly well on the defensive end, but coach Quin Synder understands that the struggles are a result of playing too many minutes, as Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News relays. “You don’t have to look any further than the guy played 38 minutes and he hasn’t played that many minutes all year,” Snyder said. “He’s battling. He’s competing, playing hard, and we’re asking a lot of him right now. We’re going to keep doing that, and he’s going to give us everything he has.”
  • Improving on the defensive end will be a top priority for the Nuggets and the team may look to the free agent market this summer to find upgrades, Nick Kosmider of The Denver Post speculates in his latest mailbag. The scribe names Gibson, Blake Griffin, and Serge Ibaka among the players who could help the team improve on that end of the floor.
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Potential 2017 RFAs Whose Qualifying Offers Will Be Impacted By Starter Criteria

April 7th, 2017 at 11:22am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will go into effect on July 1, 2017, includes a number of changes to the free agent process, including some that apply specifically to restricted free agents. However, one aspect of restricted free agency unaffected by the new CBA is what’s referred to as the “starter criteria,” which can affect how much an RFA’s qualifying offer will be worth.

Here’s how the starter criteria works: A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency. A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games in 2015/16 and 35 in 2016/17, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons exceeds 41.

A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:

  • A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
  • For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.

Extending a qualifying offer to a player ensures that a team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet, and gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO. Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. Still, those QOs can have an impact on a team’s salary cap outlook during July’s free agent period, so it’s worth checking in to see which potential RFAs will be eligible for higher or lower qualifying offers this summer.

Listed below are the top-14 picks on track for restricted free agency who have not met the starter criteria. These players will be eligible for qualifying offers worth $4,187,598.

Len and Noel had the worst QO luck this season. As the fifth and sixth overall picks in 2013, they would have been in line for qualifying offers worth about $6.4MM and $5.85MM, respectively. Instead, their QOs will be worth less than $4.2MM. Both players were very close to meeting the starter criteria too — they’ve started 77 games apiece in the past two years, so they’ll fall just short of the 82 required.

The players listed below are non-lottery first-round picks who will meet the starter criteria. That will make each of them eligible for a qualifying offer worth $4,588,840.

All four of these players were selected in the 20-26 range in the 2013 draft, and their QOs would’ve ranged from about $3.39MM to $3.22MM if they hadn’t met the starter criteria.

Here are the rest of the RFAs whose qualifying offers won’t necessarily be determined by the standard criteria:

  • Undrafted power forward JaMychal Green (Grizzlies) has met the starter criteria, putting him in line for a QO worth $2,820,497 instead of the more modest amount he would’ve received as a minimum-salary player.
  • Two players – Joe Ingles (Jazz) and Ben McLemore (Kings) – still have a chance to meet the starter criteria depending on how the season’s last four days play out. Ingles has played 1,848 minutes this season, meaning he would have to average about 38 MPG in Utah’s last four contests to reach 2,000, which is a tall order. McLemore may fall just short as well, as he currently sits at 79 starts over the last two seasons. He’ll need to start three of the Kings’ last four games in order to average 41 starts per year, but he has only been in Sacramento’s starting lineup twice since the start of March. (End-of-season update: Neither Ingles nor McLemore met the starter criteria.)
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Nuggets Notes: Mudiay, Hibbert, Roberson

April 5th, 2017 at 8:52pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Nuggets like what they see out of Emmanuel Mudiay since he’s re-entered the rotation, Nick Kosmider of The Denver Post writes. “He’s worked very hard since he’s been taken out of that rotation. He has a lot of confidence and he should. He’s played good basketball for us at times,” coach Mike Malone said. Mudiay, who was the No.7 overall pick in the 2015 draft, was rumored to be available at the trade deadline.

In a separate piece, Kosmider answers numerous questions about the Nuggets’ future. Here are the highlights from that piece:

  • Kosmider explains why the Nuggets traded for Roy Hibbert. Denver was under the salary floor and Hibbert’s $5MM deal moved the team closer to it. The scribe adds that if the franchise somehow makes the playoffs, Hibbert could be useful in certain situations.
  • The Nuggets’ biggest needs are perimeter defense and rim protection, Kosmider writes. The scribe believes Andre Roberson, who will be a restricted free agent, could be a player to watch.
  • While Portland appears to have won the Jusuf Nurkic–Mason Plumlee swap, it doesn’t mean the Nuggets made a bad trade, Kosmider argues. Nurkic wouldn’t have started with Nikola Jokic on the team and he wouldn’t have been happy coming off the bench. Plumlee is more a facilitator and he’s better suited to run with the second unit.
  • Denver won’t move veterans for the sake of opening up playing time for its younger players, Kosmider cautions. The Nuggets will enter next season expecting to make the playoffs, though they are expected to listen to offers on their older players this summer.
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Thunder Notes: Perkins, 15th Man, Roberson

February 24th, 2017 at 8:26am CST by Luke Adams

After completing a three-for-two trade with the Bulls on Thursday, the Thunder now have a roster spot open, and they’re expected to be active in the buyout market, reports ESPN’s Royce Young (Twitter link). Although Oklahoma City hasn’t been linked to notable released players or buyout candidates like Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut, the team will certainly be looking for “impact players,” says Young (Twitter link).

As Young observes, if the Thunder don’t land a top target, Kendrick Perkins could be a Plan B for the team. The former OKC big man said last week that he’d love to return to the team, and GM Sam Presti didn’t rule out that scenario on Thursday, though he didn’t make any commitments either, per Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman.

“Perk’s been here,” Presti said. “The door is always open to our former players, and so he’s part of the family. Him being here, I understand that, but I don’t want to speculate on who might be the 15th.”

Here’s more on the Thunder:

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Thunder Acquire Doug McDermott, Taj Gibson

February 23rd, 2017 at 6:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

6:44pm: The deal is official, according to press releases issued by both teams.

1:44 PM: The two teams are nearing a deal that will send Payne to Chicago and both McDermott and Gibson to OKC, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The Bulls will receive Anthony Morrow and Lauvergne in addition to Payne, while the Thunder will receive a 2018 second-round pick. Roberson is not involved in the deal.

1:28 PM: The Thunder and Bulls continue to have trade discussions regarding Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Frank Isola of the New York Daily News (Twitter links) hears that the two teams are closing in on a deal that will send McDermott to OKC in exchange for Andre Roberson and Cameron Payne.

Oklahoma City has been trying to figure out what a new deal for Roberson would look like in the offseason, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (Twitter link). Roberson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and a trade could signal that OKC feels the price tag will be too high. A Roberson trade is not imminent, as Vincent Goodwill of Comcast Sportsnet (Twitter link) hears that the deal could simply be Payne for McDermott.

The Thunder are exploring a trade that would bring both McDermott and Gibson to the team, according to Stein. Earlier today, we learned that the Bulls have been seeking a first-round pick in exchange for Gibson for quite some time. Oklahoma City has already shipped out a pair of future first-round picks in previous deals, so the first selection the franchise can trade is its 2022 pick. If OKC is to acquire both players, Stein (Twitter link) hears that it would take Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and draft compensation for the Bulls to oblige.

Gibson will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. The Bulls lost Pau Gasol to free agency last season and the experience has “motivated” to get something for Gibson rather than going through the same scenario once again this summer, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune notes on Twitter.

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