Could we retain Monroe?

[Clarity]

Better question is if you're Monroe why would you want to stay here & play 3rd fiddle to two guys you're already better then?

[rock digger]

We could retain him, but I don't think we should. Before the Monroe supporters flame me out of town, I would just like to say that Monroe is much better than Smith and if I could choose one, I'd clearly choose Monroe. The reason why I would trade him is because I think it is clear that his relationship with the team isn't good, and most definitely won't get better if we match a spreadsheet offer. If you look at teams that have won NBA championships (or had any sort of resemblance of success for that matter), you would see that they all have great team chemistry, and the main players are all happy. The only team that is an exception to this are the early 2000 Lakers, and they had two of the greatest players in their generation. Unfortunately for us, we don't have 2 all time greats on our roster, so we need to build a team with good chemistry with the team, both on and off the court.

Now why trade Monroe instead of Smith? I've said this in another thread, but just to rehash the argument I'll go through it again. The main reason is that absolutely no one would trade for Smith in the first place. Smith is probably looked at like the equivalent of Stoudamire to be honest. He probably is actually looked at worse seeing as how his contract just started. We would have to give assets to other teams for them to take Smith's contract. Trading Monroe may not lead to us getting even value back, but I don't think that if we sign a disgruntled Monroe that we'd be a successful team, so might as well ship him off for whatever value we could get.

It's a rather unfortunate situation.

[Invictus88]

We could retain him, but I don't think we should. Before the Monroe supporters flame me out of town, I would just like to say that Monroe is much better than Smith and if I could choose one, I'd clearly choose Monroe. The reason why I would trade him is because I think it is clear that his relationship with the team isn't good, and most definitely won't get better if we match a spreadsheet offer. If you look at teams that have won NBA championships (or had any sort of resemblance of success for that matter), you would see that they all have great team chemistry, and the main players are all happy. The only team that is an exception to this are the early 2000 Lakers, and they had two of the greatest players in their generation. Unfortunately for us, we don't have 2 all time greats on our roster, so we need to build a team with good chemistry with the team, both on and off the court.

Now why trade Monroe instead of Smith? I've said this in another thread, but just to rehash the argument I'll go through it again. The main reason is that absolutely no one would trade for Smith in the first place. Smith is probably looked at like the equivalent of Stoudamire to be honest. He probably is actually looked at worse seeing as how his contract just started. We would have to give assets to other teams for them to take Smith's contract. Trading Monroe may not lead to us getting even value back, but I don't think that if we sign a disgruntled Monroe that we'd be a successful team, so might as well ship him off for whatever value we could get.

It's a rather unfortunate situation.

I sadly agree. I'm beginning to think that the only way we don't lose him is if Gores steps in, fires everyone from the GM on downward and then tells Monroe that we are going back him and Drummond as the starting bigs and sitting Smith indefinitely. But that's a really hard sell to someone having to pay Smith.

At what point does it get bad enough that you ignore contracts and sit a player for the betterment of the team? I hope we get there before Monroe leaves.

[Notanoob]

Moose is probably no longer very keen on the front office guys, but it's not impossible to repair the situation. I mean, Kobe was asking to get traded before they got him a decent team. On a side note, I believe that Dumars would have landed him if Kobe was willing to come to Detroit, but that was really more of a threat to Kobe than it was something likely to happen.

[Phenomenonsense]

Marc-Zach
Hibbert-West
Pau-Bynum

You don't have to have a stretch four to win. Monroe is extending his range little by little.

Hell, even if he doesn't, 10 years ago we were all screaming for Sheed to get his ass in the post because of the success he was having going to the well. How could he have been so effective there if Ben was there 'clogging' up the paint?

All three of those combos featured at least one elite post defender and the other one was at least adequate, or near elite.

Monroe isn't even teetering near being an "okay" defender. Also, Zach, West and Pau Gasol are very, very good mid-range shooters. Hell, Andrew Bynum and Pau could knock down 15-foot jump shots incredibly well. Additionally, two of those three combo's also have the luxury of playing with an all-nba wing, Detroit doesn't have anything remotely close to that.

Unfortunately, your comparison has no legs.

Monroe is a good post defender what are you talking about?

[Uncle Mxy]

Could we retRain Monroe?
That's the real question.

[DBC10]

Marc-Zach
Hibbert-West
Pau-Bynum

You don't have to have a stretch four to win. Monroe is extending his range little by little.

Hell, even if he doesn't, 10 years ago we were all screaming for Sheed to get his ass in the post because of the success he was having going to the well. How could he have been so effective there if Ben was there 'clogging' up the paint?

All three of those combos featured at least one elite post defender and the other one was at least adequate, or near elite.

Monroe isn't even teetering near being an "okay" defender. Also, Zach, West and Pau Gasol are very, very good mid-range shooters. Hell, Andrew Bynum and Pau could knock down 15-foot jump shots incredibly well. Additionally, two of those three combo's also have the luxury of playing with an all-nba wing, Detroit doesn't have anything remotely close to that.

Unfortunately, your comparison has no legs.

Monroe is a good post defender what are you talking about?

Yeah, he ain't bad. David Lee is known as a bad defender but he still plays hard and was an all-star.


http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingDefe ... tOrder=DES

To say that Greg is some horrible (sieve like) overall defender really needs to die. Seriously. Stop.

[ImHeisenberg]

Monroe is a good post defender what are you talking about?

That's a joke, right?

[ElectricMayhem]

ESPN is saying Joe is telling teams that Monroe is not available.

Of course not. We aren't going to accept some other team's scraps. Honestly, you think we are going to lower ourselves to going to a second hand shop and trading him in with our hands cupped like some beggar? No, we'll donate him to another team so people know we are rich. Maybe they'll name a wing of their stadium after us.

Give away Greg Monroe for nothing! It's the posh thing to do!

[cammac]

Detroit is so much like the Raptors last year we had a PF who was more of a C and on a large contract, we had signed Gay and gave away a very serviceable young PF. We had a PG who was unhappy that the coach had wanted to change his style and had given away a 1st to get him.

We had drafted Ross over Drummond and our young C was struggling. We had a chucker's with both DeRozan and Gay. A very serviceable piece in Amir Johnson and the rest D League talent. Plus a coach who was erratic at best not giving the young talent a chance to play.

We got a new GM.

He traded Bargs to NYKs for scrap best player Novak plus 2 2nds and 2016 NYKs 1st. and cap flexibility.
He traded Gay with a $19 million contract and 2 back-ups for 4 player 3 of which we basic expiring and one who expires after next season.

He had put Lowry on the block but didn't receive adequate compensation. At the same time the core Lowry, DeRozan, Ross, Amir and Jonas started to play as a unit. Plus 2 of the SAC outcasts began contributing Patterson and Salmons and to a much lesser extent Vasquez. Lowry became the leader, DeRozan while still shooting lower % also contributed to defense and produced more rebounds and assists. Ross became a lock down defender shutting down players like PG and KD plus started to be a assassin from the 3pt line. ( no he isn't better than Drummond ) Amir and Jonas improved there game and since the trade they are playing well over .600 ball.

While many say yes but they are in the East but they also played a very tough schedule.

This team reminds me of the Raptors.
What you need is a great GM who makes the hard calls and has a vision for the future.