"Speculation" Monroe to sign with either Boston or NY (update on 1st page)

[LooseCannon]

ugghh....

so greg Monroe is so great and going to bring us to the promised land. how come he couldn't do that in Detroit?

this is aiming low at it's best imo.

This reasoning would be equally valid if Andre Drummond was available in a trade.

[GC003332]

No coincidence that the Pistons lost 10 straight at one point late in the season with him and when he went out with his injury they won 8 of 11, career loser in my book, not worth the money he is asking.Pass for me.

Any coincidence that seven of those ten games were on the road, and Detroit was a bad team?

They still managed to beat Memphis, Toronto, Chicago,Atlanta and the Celtics in Boston without him, the guy is an empty stats guy,no need to waste any money on him, if you can't get a bigger fish this summer wait it out.

They lost to Philly and got absolutely crushed by Charlotte without him as well.

But if you want to parse individual games in a 10-game set during the course of a meaningless season to gauge the value of a player, be my guest.

That was just my lazy stat cherry picking to discredit the guy, nothing against Monroe, I am just tired of guys coming into the league putting up some nice stats , never winning anything, yes I know it is a team game, getting their big deals from some desperate front office that wants to make a splash.
Too many teams , too many guys getting fat contracts, too much non competetive basketball that just gets passed off as entertainment, that is my rant ha ha

[Smartacus]

ugghh....

so greg Monroe is so great and going to bring us to the promised land. how come he couldn't do that in Detroit?

this is aiming low at it's best imo.

This reasoning would be equally valid if Andre Drummond was available in a trade.

I also don't really count Monroe's lame duck 2014/2015 campaign against him. Everyone knew he was gone, he had a new coach/president of basketball operations that runs a system that he was never going to fit into, and he spent half of the season he toiling off the bench behind Josh Smith.

He's the highest profile case of a restricted FA taking the qualifying offer after a rookie scale contract ever. Literally his only 2 goals for the season would have been to not cause chemistry issues and stay healthy, both of which he accomplished.

The 14/15 Pistons were a sneaky tank and ended up with a nice pick for their troubles, don't really think anyone was trying to get Mo Town to the promise land last year.

[celticsfan8591]

The pieces we currently have could fit around Monroe, we just would have a roster that is constructed differently than is currently in vogue.  The fashionable way to build a team right now is to run your offense through a perimeter player who can get to the hole at will (LeBron, Harden, Paul, etc.) and have him run pick and rolls with an athletic big (Mozgov/Howard/Jordan).  On defense, that athletic big man is the anchor of your defense.  By signing Monroe we could sort of flip that on it's head.  We'd run our offense through a big man down low and ideally surround him with perimeter players who can shoot and defend.  Bradley and Crowder both fit that mold, and Smart's shooting this season was quite a bit better than advertised.  No reason to think he couldn't get there.  The problem with a Smart/Bradley backcourt is that neither of them is a great penetrator, but if we run the offense through Monroe (a very good post-up player and passer), they don't have to be and can play more off the ball.  We know Bradley is a great cutter and Smart could learn.  Similarly, Monroe isn't a great shot blocker, but he doesn't have to be if he's playing with guards that don't allow much dribble penetration.  If we sign Monroe, re-sign Bass, and draft Justin Anderson, that gives us:

PG: Smart
SG: Bradley
SF: Anderson
PF: Bass
C: Monroe

This lineup is unconventional in that the key to the offense is the center and the key to the defense is the perimeter players, but I think it could work on both ends.  If we expect Monroe to be DeAndre Jordan and Marcus Smart to be Chris Paul, it'll be a train wreck because we'd be trying to fit square pegs in round holes, but if we give Monroe the ball and let him go to work down low with Smart and co. spotting up around him, I think it would actually be a good way to maximize the value of the personnel we have.

[MJohnnyboy]

I like the idea of bringing in Monroe because I think he's in the Isaiah Thomas mold. That is, he's a guy who clearly has shown he has talent but has never been on a team that has been able to utilize his talents to its fullest. He's got phenomenal post moves and he's an exceptional passer for his size. I think Brad would love someone like that. Now he isn't the rim protector we're salivating for, but his defensive metric stats are actually pretty decent for someone who isn't a renowned shotblocker at all. Plus our defense held up fine (not elite by any means) without a rim protector. I don't think he'd make the D much better but he wouldn't make it any worse.

We saw what happened when Isaiah Thomas came here. Not only did the Celtics get a whole lot better because IT brought consistent scoring that the team desperately needed, but IT was able to play some of the best ball of his career because he was playing in a role that suited him. He was meant to be a sixth man who can provide energy off the bench. Granted Phoenix wanted him to do that but he was competing with 2 all star caliber point guards who were both capable of playing 30+ minutes a night. Just not a good fit. I think Monroe is capable of making a similar impact. I think he's capable of putting 20-22 points along with 10-12 rebounds a night but he just hasn't been on a team that has asked him to do that. I don't think he's the superstar that will lead the Celtics to a championship but he's the first step.

Seriously, why not?

[86MaxwellSmart]

Monroe reminds me a little of Zach Randolph....Hopefully we can arrange a S&T with Van Gundy ...then we still have dollars for a Free Agent like Aldridge or Love.

[clover]

The pieces we currently have could fit around Monroe, we just would have a roster that is constructed differently than is currently in vogue.  The fashionable way to build a team right now is to run your offense through a perimeter player who can get to the hole at will (LeBron, Harden, Paul, etc.) and have him run pick and rolls with an athletic big (Mozgov/Howard/Jordan).  On defense, that athletic big man is the anchor of your defense.  By signing Monroe we could sort of flip that on it's head.  We'd run our offense through a big man down low and ideally surround him with perimeter players who can shoot and defend.  Bradley and Crowder both fit that mold, and Smart's shooting this season was quite a bit better than advertised.  No reason to think he couldn't get there.  The problem with a Smart/Bradley backcourt is that neither of them is a great penetrator, but if we run the offense through Monroe (a very good post-up player and passer), they don't have to be and can play more off the ball.  We know Bradley is a great cutter and Smart could learn.  Similarly, Monroe isn't a great shot blocker, but he doesn't have to be if he's playing with guards that don't allow much dribble penetration.  If we sign Monroe, re-sign Bass, and draft Justin Anderson, that gives us:

PG: Smart
SG: Bradley
SF: Anderson
PF: Bass
C: Monroe

This lineup is unconventional in that the key to the offense is the center and the key to the defense is the perimeter players, but I think it could work on both ends.  If we expect Monroe to be DeAndre Jordan and Marcus Smart to be Chris Paul, it'll be a train wreck because we'd be trying to fit square pegs in round holes, but if we give Monroe the ball and let him go to work down low with Smart and co. spotting up around him, I think it would actually be a good way to maximize the value of the personnel we have.

I don't think Bass works--they need a stretch 4 with Monroe.

[MJohnnyboy]

As far as choosing between the Celtics or Knicks, while there are some benefits to signing with the Knicks such as playing with Carmelo (He's better than anyone we have), getting more touches in the post, and playing in a big market, I have to say I feel there are more benefits to signing with the Celtics. The Knicks are a horribly run organization, they have no future ahead of them outside of this pick, they were amongst the worst teams in what was a historically bad eastern conference, and don't really have a shot at any big name free agent.

The Celtics may not be golden but they are a very well-run organization, have a much better future ahead (pending on any surprise free agent additions), have one of the league's best coaches, and adding Monroe would pull them higher on a conference that is pretty easy to move up. Not to mention if Monroe thrives as a Celtic, that would make Boston all the more appealing to free agents.

I don't know what Monroe's mindset is right now as far as where he wants to go, but if I were him, and hopefully I'm not sounding too biased, I'd sign with the Celtics mainly because the Celtics are competent, the Knicks are not.

[Smitty77]

a front court of Kelly and Monroe is great offensively but terrible defensively.

Monroe and Sully same...

WCS and Monroe good defensively don't know how it would work offensively...

Idk if we pickup Monroe, we need a very versatile Center or PF.

This is actually NOT accurate.  Monroe has the 11th BEST defensive rating on ESPN's real plus/minus (and once you remove anomalies such as Darrell Arthur and Lou Amondson, and perhaps Cody Zeller, he is actually either #9 or #8)!!!!

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM/position/6


Also, Monroe has far BETTER stats as a center than as a PF!!

http://www.82games.com/1415/14DET19.HTM

I get SO TIRED of almost EVERYONE on this board ASSUMING that we HAVE to get a shot blocking center to be solid defensively.  This is simply NOT true IF we have good shot blocking from our PF and our SF and are solid with our defensive rotations!!

Smitty77

Devil's advocate here because I like Monroe and think that his deficiencies are mostly overblown but...
If you have to remove 3  of the top ten players of a stat, is it really that reliable of a stat?

Couldn't you argue that Monroe appearing on this list is an anomaly? His presence on the list definitely flies in the face of the eye test.

Good point Smarticus.  That being said, Arthur and Amondson played very limited minutes and were not starters and Zeller was injured and missed a lot of the end of the season.  Zeller might be legit as I think he is a much underrated defender, rebounder, and sets very solid screens. 

Smitty77

[konkmv]

I would be happy to get monroe... but it will not happen

[GreenWarrior]

jeez calm down. is Monroe an improvement over our PF's? certainly.

but all i'd say is he's more consistent offensively, and just on par defensively with what we already have. not much of an improvement.

and the lamest thing I've heard said about him so far is "all you have to do is pair him with"....

[BleedGreen1989]

I'd probably rather save a lot of money and sign somebody like Kosta Koufos.

Then again, maybe I'm a fool.

[hpantazo]

I would be very disappointed if we sign Monroe. He is a player more adept for the Knicks or Lakers at his price. A guy who scores a lot but doesnt play defense or pass well.

[Eddie20]

I would be very disappointed if we sign Monroe. He is a player more adept for the Knicks or Lakers at his price. A guy who scores a lot but doesnt play defense or pass well.

He's an excellent passer for a big.

[Evantime34]

My opinion on Monroe
1. He is best served playing Center
2. He would be a big upgrade at Center
3. If we put 4 shooters around him we could run the offense through him.
4. He is very good in the pick and roll
5. He is only 25 and I still think he can improve his shooting and defense substantially.