With July 1 approaching and bringing with it the start of the NBA's free agency period, Detroit Pistons forward/center Greg Monroe is anxiously awaiting the recruiting and signing process.
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As a restricted free agent, the 24-year-old Monroe said he doesn't know if he'll be moving on from Detroit, where he played his first four NBA seasons, or if he'll sign elsewhere. Ultimately, though, the Pistons will have final say, as they can retain Monroe by matching any offer he receives on the open market.
Still, Monroe expects there to be plenty calls.
"From what I have been told, it'll be like that (college recruiting) a little bit," Monroe said. "But the NBA has really strict rules and you can't talk about it until July 1. Different things come out about teams who are interested, but I won't know for sure until July 1 when I can actually talk to them."
While the Pelicans, with about $7 million in salary cap room, don't appear to have enough cap space to sign Monroe, a source said the team has made some initial inquiries to the Pistons about the possibility of working out a sign-and-trade deal.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks also figure to be in the running for Monroe, who is expected to garner a max contract.
"I'm hoping and praying that I will have some options," Monroe said without divulging any potential landing spots. "As it looks right now I will have some. But I am just preparing myself and doing the normal things that I would around this time, working out. And on July 1, I'll be with my agent and we'll go through the process together."
Without giving it his full endorsement, Monroe believes he could fit in with Drummond and small forward Josh Smith to form a big front line.
The trio wasn't a good fit last season. But Van Gundy could change that.
"You never know because it's about to change again," Monroe said. "Last season we weren't as successful as we wanted to be, so it's hard to answer that question right now. But with new leadership, who knows what can happen."
Either way, Monroe seems content.
"Most people would rather, if possible, not to have to go through it and just re-sign with the team they are with so you can have some stability and be secure," he said. "Right now it's like the draft process all over again. You don't know if you will have to change cities or where you will end up. It's a good thing that there are teams out there that want me. But at the end of the day, if I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't have a problem with that either."
Maybe because he's talking to his hometown newspaper and not a Detroit based outlet, but it sounds to me that Greg wants out, but hedges because he ultimately knows Detroit could/will match and he'll need a sign and trade to get out of Detroit and into his desired landing spot. I think he feels that Smith isn't going anywhere and doesn't like any of the "solutions" that will entail to make it work.
