What is the Max you would want to Pay Greg Monroe?

[sc8581]

That's just not sound logic. Just because we pissed away money on Will Bynum doesn't make 3.5 million, if used correctly, useless money.

I want to get VALUE for Monroe in trade. If that value can be had, take it. If not, fine, we'll wait and see. He's definitely getting the "max"... which is somewhere between 4/58 and 4/62, which means starting at 13 million or so and going up around a million a year. Washington will offer him that. Others may as well.

He's a good player. Very good on one end (if used correctly), and passable on the other end. Pair him with a defensive big and wing shooters and you can have a pretty good team. He'll be pretty good HERE if we keep him! That doesn't mean we can't do better with a trade and the money we'll save.

Some valid points.

The only way you even entertain the thought of moving a Monroe is if you can get a sure fire dominant All Star you can pair with Drummond for the next 7 or 8 years. Someone like a Lillard. Hypothetically trading a big for a PG is asinine but with our future so tightly tied to Drummond becoming that dominant offensive player it could at least somewhat make some sense. Its not realistic as teams with a Lillard arent trading him... EVER.. just as a team with a Monroe shouldnt trade him.. EVER.

Otherwise it makes zero sense to move a guy thats very very good on offense & fits great next to our franchise player.

So I'm curious, are there any players you would trade Monroe for that actually might be available in such a deal?

[menten]

about 2-3 mil. i think thats fair for a third string center

[tmorgan]

I think a lot of this board is just buying into their own narrative about the supposed near-greatness on offense of Greg Monroe. It's worth taking a closer look, because the truth is, he's not that great on offense, either.

For the 12-13 season, the Pistons basically had no point guard on offense except for the brief Calderon period. Knight was certainly not a PG, and Bynum occasionally played like one but often didn't. For that season, Moose averaged an impressive 3.5 assists and a reasonable (for someone so responsible for initiating offense) 2.9 turnovers. As the team's best playmaker and biggest offensive contributor, he averaged 16 points and shot a career low 48.6% for a big, not a particularly good number. He averaged a career high in minutes (33.2) and about the same steals/blocks (2.0) and rebounds (9.6) as the 11-12 season, but as a slightly less efficient player. That's to be expected carrying more of the load, and most people weren't claiming Monroe had peaked.

This year, with a real (and somewhat flawed) PG, things have changed, and not for the better. His minutes are up slightly (34.0), but sharing the floor with more quality players has diminished his output. You'd expect his raw totals to be down somewhat, but not his efficiency. Sadly, both are down. He's shooting a slightly better 51.2% (still below 11-12 level), his turnovers are down a little (2.4), but his assists are WAY down (2.1), his steals/blocks are down (1.8), his FT% is down, as are PPG and RPG, and his defense doesn't look any better, either.

These are NOT the numbers of a near-elite offensive big, and coupled with his mediocre defense, he's really not some awesome player. Sure, he's good, and he can continue to improve, but there's no signs of improvement on either end of the floor that I can see, as any slight bumps are being offset by declines in other areas. Moose is good, and that's probably all he'll ever be, which is a good-but-not-All-Star center that can log some minutes at the 4 without completely killing the team. Really valuable, yes, but not to the level that a lot of people are describing.

[OneBadMutha]

Are there many other players in the NBA more grossly over-rated by their own fans and media than Monroe? The idea that its asinine to trade a big for a small is built around the fact that you need defense to win Championships, bigs anchor your defense, and bigs are harder to find.

But a big who's playing the 4 who's terrible at defense is not this rare commodity you have to protect. Two way bigs or defensive anchors move the needle on wins and losses by a larger margin than similarly rated perimeter players. Offense only bigs don't. Especially not in this day and age where the rules favor perimeter players and the top offenses are perimeter based.

[Piston Pete]

I honestly think something in JSmoove's contract neighborhood would be fair. We should have traded him for Cousins when we could have. Monroe is good, but he hasn't improved much since coming into the league. He's a slightly better version of rookie Monroe.

[MrBigShot]

These are NOT the numbers of a near-elite offensive big, and coupled with his mediocre defense, he's really not some awesome player. Sure, he's good, and he can continue to improve, but there's no signs of improvement on either end of the floor that I can see, as any slight bumps are being offset by declines in other areas. Moose is good, and that's probably all he'll ever be, which is a good-but-not-All-Star center that can log some minutes at the 4 without completely killing the team. Really valuable, yes, but not to the level that a lot of people are describing.

Excellent post. Another thing I'd like to address: Monroe is not a high-upside player at this point in his career. He is the EXACT same player he was in his second year. If anyone here believes that he is going to make significant improvements, they will be sorely disappointed.

Its not realistic as teams with a Lillard arent trading him... EVER.. just as a team with a Monroe shouldnt trade him.. EVER.

Otherwise it makes zero sense to move a guy thats very very good on offense & fits great next to our franchise player.

Most of the time I agree with your posts Clarity, but I disagree that Monroe should never be traded. I think there are two types of "untradeable players". The first type consists of players that are untradeable because they are ELITE. Guys like LeBron, CP3, Anthony Davis, Paul George, Durant. These type of players generally only end up traded if they make it known that they plan on opting out or demand a trade.

The second type consists of players that are untradeable not because of they are elite, but because they are very good players who are unlikely to bring back equal or better value in a trade. I'd put guys like Kyrie, Wall and Lillard in that category; very talented players that their teams wouldn't trade at this point, because they wont get equal or better value back.

I don't think Monroe is in either category. He's not elite at either end of the floor and I think we could get fair value back in return.

[Clarity]

So I'm curious, are there any players you would trade Monroe for that actually might be available in such a deal?

Pretty sure I just explained this question.

[princeofpalace]

I thinkits possible that Greg will demand a sign & trade at seasons end, there is no way that he can be content watching Smith go 8-20 on a nightly basis while Monroe barely gets plays run for him. His role in the offense had decreased dramatically, I can't see him being happy with this.. It will be quite a shame too though to have to watch Monroe blow up for another team like once he starts getting his usual touches on offense again

But the more games we have Greg getting half the amount of FG's as Smith (and Jennings to a lesser extent) despite Smith struggling offensively, the more I think Greg will want to bolt in FA.

[No-Man]

Sign and trade easily.
Monroe does not fit today's basketball as a starter, it is just that simple, the team that starts him and give him big buckets its going to be mediocre.
He can't defend PFs one on one, he can more or less do a decent job against Centers but you need your Center to be a factor in the whole team defense and he's terrible on that category.
He is not that good offensively to be forgiven for the horrid mismatches he creates on defense.
He is almost a finished product.
His ceiling is way lower than Drummond.
You can bring more things for him than for Smith at this point, and as I said I don't like Monroe as a PF.
Easily S&T, or you trade him in February for a 1st+contract.
I think for example Denver will possibly give NYK 1st+McGee for Monroe+Villanueva.

[dVs33]

I thinkits possible that Greg will demand a sign & trade at seasons end, there is no way that he can be content watching Smith go 8-20 on a nightly basis while Monroe barely gets plays run for him. His role in the offense had decreased dramatically, I can't see him being happy with this.. It will be quite a shame too though to have to watch Monroe blow up for another team like once he starts getting his usual touches on offense again

But the more games we have Greg getting half the amount of FG's as Smith (and Jennings to a lesser extent) despite Smith struggling offensively, the more I think Greg will want to bolt in FA.

Sadly that is what i think about when i see the amount of shots smith gets over monroe.