GreenMachine wrote:KJandHondo35 wrote:^^^ Could also include any of the non-guaranteed contracts to get up to the max if necessary in Babb, Johnson, and Pressy.
But then we would be stuck paying a marginal player the max!
No no no no... The problem with all these Monroe ideas is... he simply isn't that good. He's not bad, but he's not an elite player, not even close. Paying him the max is something Dumars would do... and we have been making fun of him for years for paying marginal players way too much. There is a reason Monroe hasn't gotten that max offer from ANY team... he simply isn't worth it.
I guess we'll just agree to disagree…
Monroe can provide average post defense (many statistics have echoed this and I’ve posted them), and exceptional offensive production from the center position. So exceptional that in a down year last season (due to poor coaching and a crowded front court) Monroe still had the 5th best offensive/rebounding numbers in the NBA out of the 5 spot.
You compare his 16-10-3 to Gortat’s 13-10 or Bosh’s 16-6, he’s incredibly comparable if not better and he is 24 while those others are 30. He’s not a blocks guy (could improve however if playing the 5) but he’s very good in the Stls category and when you take stls + blocks he’s right there with those 2 “Max” or near “Max” centers. Gortat has 2.0 blks+Stls, Bosh has 2.1 and Monroe has 1.7 but the 2 previous seasons he had 2.0 blks+Stls…
He’s also one of the best post passers in the NBA, probably floating close to Marc Gasol level passing ability (Gasol Career average Ast/g is 2.9, Monroe is 2.3 with a 3.5ast/g in 2012-13). Is he your best player on a championship team? Not sure yet, but he’s trending developmentally similar to Big Al (FG%, RB%, Ast% all very close to Al when he was 24) difference being touches (USG%), and FGA.
I think he would be a great 2nd best player on a contending team, and his FG% has hovered between 52%-48% which is squarely in Jefferson’s career FG%s, so give him Jeff Green or Avery’s level of shots and that’s an efficient 20pts with 5 or so FTs (FT% being another category he’s very good at as a big).
So yeah, when the alternative for any other passible Center, all with giant flaws in many offensive categories and maybe a jump from average defense to above average defense but their price tags are also in the 10+M dollar range? I take the 4M increase and have a reliable 2nd (possibly 1st) option for offense and try to turn 1 of our 5 PFs on the roster into a more athletic defensive shot blocker. And when you consider HOU basically gave away a player like Thomas Robinson for nothing at age 20 who was a lottery pick and would fill that role, it seems they are available and way cheaper than filling the 5.
Also, I'm not gonna call any player marginial who has a punchers chance at an All-NBA team honors. And Monroe full time at the center position with say 2-3 or more shots would be smack in that conversation… and he’s 24. Not forgetting that Bigs, particularly centers, historically take the longest time to reach full potential and develop, it would be crazy to not think he will improve further over the next 4 seasons.
