Fascinating.
The Detroit Pistons have been fascinating since the end of last season. From hiring Stan Van Gundy as president and coach to the personnel they paid and overpaid to their inability to lock up Greg Monroe long term, everything about their summer has been, for better and worse, fascinating.
Monroe’s situation is especially interesting. Signing a qualifying offer is unheard of for players in his position. Restricted free agents typically take the more lucrative long-term deals that promise financial security. Monroe didn’t. So what gives exactly? The Pistons apparently offered him a deal larger than the four-year, $58 million pact Josh Smith inked with them last summer. That’s a lot of money. Why not take it?
Change. There has been a lot of turnover, both on and off the court, in Detroit. That apparently impacted his decision, or so he told The Detroit News‘ Vincent Goodwill Jr.:
“It’s no disrespect to the people working here but it was just tough for me to agree to another four years with new people,” Monroe said. “Honestly, if you were to ask the average person would they do that in the arena they’re in, they’d say no.”
…
“The trade scenarios fell through and the offers (from the Pistons), obviously that fell through,” Monroe said. “Coming in, honestly it was a new regime. A new beginning, just getting to know him and talk to him to see what he had planned.”
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“People get caught up in the money and think because it’s offered to you, that you’re supposed to take it,” Monroe said. “We make a lot of money, but everything else can’t be disregarded because of that. If players did that, they’d be unhappy because guys would take the money just to take it and wouldn’t be fully invested.”
There you have it: The untold truth of Monroe’s restricted free agency, as told by Monroe himself.
Really, he doesn’t say anything we couldn’t have guessed. This decision absolutely has to do with the Pistons being incompetent for the first four years of his career. Tethering himself to what has been an incapable franchise for the next four or five years can’t feel great, no matter how much money they’re dangling.
Next summer gives Monroe the opportunity to choose his destination, free and clear. The Pistons can—and perhaps will–offer him the most money, but he has the final say and can sign anywhere he wants without fear of Detroit matching his contract.
Does that mean he’s good as gone? It would sure seem that way, despite what he says. But if this getting-to-know-you period with the Pistons’ new regime goes well, the status quo can always change. Think of how much smoother negotiations could go if the Pistons actually, you know, make the playoffs.
A lot is riding on next season, for both Monroe and the Pistons. They’re traveling down equally dangerous, uncertain paths. It will take one more year before we know whether those paths converge into one or diverge further away from one another still.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
