Okay....another Monroe thread. I'm game although this is kind of duplicative. I agree that this last Finals didn't use big men a lot but I think it might be a big of an aberration. Not to take anything away from the Warriors but Memphis, Houston and Cleveland were all missing their PG's or in Memphis's case, for part of the time and certainly not at full strength. It allowed them to play small against other teams 2nd string PG for 3 series in a row. Put the regular PG in there and it's not such a big mismatch and then the bigs aren't so minimized.
So, let's see: The Blazers got good when they acquired RoLo. Adding RoLo allowed LA's game to really blossom. We HAD a guy who could rebound and score in JJ Hickson, but strangely, a guy who rebounded and scored less made everything so much better. Maybe because he's elite defensively? Then we acquired Plumlee instead of hanging on to a young SF when we have NO OTHER SFs. Plus we have Leonard, whose breakthrough performance in the playoffs was playing C. And now we want to throw big money at a guy whom the Pistons are letting walk for nothing because they don't think he fits next to a C. I don't get it. Maybe, just maybe, we should get a guy who's good at what we don't have? (Not to mention that LOW POST SCORING IS DEAD in the NBA.)
Last summer, they were going to give him a big (not max) offer, and he wanted a max because a couple of teams (I think we were one) would give it to him in an S&T. Pistons said no. Then he (reportedly) said, "OK, but get rid of Josh Smith". They said no. So he gave up about 9M guaranteed dollars for the right to get out of Detroit this summer. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/greg-monroe-signs-qualifying-offer-224600336.html (Yahoo, I know...) Stan Van Gundy is not a total idiot. He has no chance of signing Monroe, even if he could offer the double-max.
Well, let's see, they tried to get him to stay last summer so he signed the QO and essentially told them to fuck off. You won't why they aren't trying to re-sign him? I think he made it pretty clear he doesn't want to be there.
When everyone is going one way, it is often quite profitable to go the other. It sure helps in the investing world. Monroe is better at C than at PF so he is not a good fit with Drummond. His PER is a +4 at center and a -1.4 at PF. It seems his more natural position, he is a good passer and more and more, defense is about scheme rather than one rim protector. Lopez was good but his lack of mobility killed the Blazers in any pick-n-roll situation....and that play is run just a few times a game.
1. They got rid of Josh Smith and still weren't all that good (except for a brief euphoric time). 2. HE says "I don't want to stay where I'm not wanted". Either he's a lying whiner (just the kind of player I'd want to recruit for my team!) or they don't want him.
I don't know about you, but I actually liked having a halfway decent defense. I get depressed by a constant stream of layups by the other team. But we've lost Batum, and it looks likely we'll lose RoLo and Wes. So we have shitty perimeter D and no shotblockers. This could get ugly.
Leonard is a hybrid. On defense you can put him on a center but offensively he's not someone you put in the post. At least not right now. He can play with Monroe.
Dude. Lopez was absolute shit against Memphis. Which is why Leonard played so much in the series. You're talking about Monroe being super slow, but rolo isn't exactly usain bolt. He is slow too
Yes because thats what I said. Im shocked you want to have a hot take then actually add something indepth to the conversation My problem with Monroe, and its pretty easy to see from my last post, is his atrocious D. If were paying 15m to a player that player better not be a - on the D end unless he is so damn good on the offensive end that he essentially makes up for it.
