With bigs that can run the floor - LA (if he re-signs) - Monroe - Plumlee - Leonard - Vonleh Shiiiiiiiit who cares about defense, not us! Our defense will be wearing your slugs out.
I'm reading about the interest we had in Monroe last summer and evidently it almost happened; (at least according to marc stein) ----- Sources said the Pistons also seriously discussed various sign-and-trade scenarios this month that would have landed restricted free agent Greg Monroe in Portland, but the Blazers ultimately pulled themselves out of the race for Monroe by signing free-agent big man Chris Kaman to join Robin Lopez in the Blazers' center rotation. ----------- Evidently the stickup might've been batum. So what I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if Monroe is target #1 regardless of what happens to Aldridge.
Another probably useless tidbit: Monroe is signed with Jordan brand, same as LA. And don't forget his agent is David Falk who might push his client towards Portland if the money is the same.
Also found this article that shows how much better Monroe is when playing center: ----- Monroe has yet to raise his game when slotted at power forward. Change is acceptable so long as it's beneficial, and it's best that teams don't get stuck in a rut. But unfortunately for the Pistons, things haven't worked out so nicely with Monroe at the 4. 82games shows that the big man has posted a PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 17.6 while playing power forward—he's allowed opponents to post an 18.9 PER. That's a net PER of minus-1.3, although the statistical databases indicate that rounding errors are steering us away from a more-accurate number of minus-1.4. When he plays center, he's posting a 19.9 PER and holding opponents to 15.5. That's a net PER of 4.4. That's a pretty sizable difference, as Monroe is more effective at center on both ends of the court. NBA.com's statistical databases (subscription required) also show that Monroe's most effective five-man unit (among the ones with at least 30 minutes played) is outscoring opponents by 20.3 points per 100 possessions. He plays center in these units. http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1931901-the-detroit-pistons-have-a-major-greg-monroe-dilemma
Yup. Can't see both though. If we get Monroe it's to play center. He's clearly better fit there. Edit. Read that wrong. It's early
Dame Henderson Tobias Harris Greg Monroe Plumlee This is squad that can run, let Dame be option #1 and get to the FT line with more frequency than out last lineup.
I do believe we are going to be following a model similar to the Warriors. I wouldn't call it run and gun in the mold of Steve Nash Sun's, but simply more active ball.movement, more an uptempo college style game.
Basketball is simple. If everyone moves and passed the defense will break down. Iso ball sucks and is boring to watch.
Thanks for posting that. Interesting statistics and analysis. I wonder if there were some other factors involved besides him just playing either center of power forward. Anyway, it inspired me to track down this scouting video about him. Obviously intelligent and skilled player, and seems to hustle. But his big weaknesses are on defense where he doesn't have the lateral quickness as a PF and not the size, strength of jumping ability as a center. Was an interesting not at the end, the guy though he would play best alongside a stretch four types who rebounds hard.... Leonard? Although not sure why the scout was worried about his rebounding, averaged over 10 a game. It seems his offensive game is too similar to Aldridge as to where he starts out, but he almost always goes all the way to the basket, as he has no jump shot. I guess I would only consider him if Aldridge went, but still not sure if he would be worth the investment. I think the offense would flow really well with him. I did notice that he makes his offensive moves a lot faster than Aldridge.
I'm over lopez. Time to get more athletic. It was a cool two years but time to move on. Unless he wants to be a backup.
Prediction we add Monroe and Aminu, Lamarcus stays. Starters Lillard - Henderson - Aminu - Aldridge - Monroe With Monroe we give up a little defense, not as much as people think though, but we add a lot of offense. When was the last time the Blazers had a legit scoring threat in the post? Henderson and Aminu we give up some shooting but increase our perimeter defense. Aminu has gotten better each year. Bench Frazier - CJ - Crabbe - Leonard - Plumlee Then we still have Vonleh, Kaman and probably Connaughton.... Although Diez could maybe surprise us and beat out Crabbe.
Don't know much about Monroe other than he wanted more money than Detroit thought he was worth last summer and didn't do much this year for Detroit to change their perspective on him. Monroe wants big time money but is he really a big time player or more of a role player? Also Lillard isn't exactly known for his fast break passing skills.
Can't we go over the cap to re-sign Matthews even if we sign two max guys? (LA, Monroe) I'm probably wrong, just wondering.
Also no way Frazier is the backup PG. I know olshey mentioned mccollum but I'd bet anything he will still sign another vet like Barea or maybe even sergio.
