The Milwaukee Bucks? Trade Greg Monroe? Less than a season into his two-plus-one-year deal?
Keep dreaming, dreamers.
That’s the Bucks’ reaction to the notion they should deal the big man, anyway. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com floated the idea in a column last Friday, noting that Milwaukee isn’t actually shopping him:
Parker will find NBA identity at some point, but Milwaukee already has to start thinking about whether he can do that with Carter-Williams and Monroe. The Bucks aren’t ready to cut bait on the Monroe-Parker-Antetokounmpo trio yet, but Monroe will draw interest at the trade deadline if they put him out there.
They haven’t yet, league sources say. But Monroe can opt out after next season, and if the Bucks don’t think he’s a long-term fit, now is the time to gauge the market.
This is not, in theory, ridiculous. Monroe isn’t statistically killing the Bucks’ defense relative to the rest of his teammates, but Milwaukee has declined on that side of the floor, in large part because its entire scheme has changed to accommodate the defensively challenged Monroe. He has another season before he can explore free agency again, so the Bucks can sell potential suitors on that, increasing the likelihood that they can capitalize on his departure. It helps, too, that he’s an offensive juggernaut. A team like the Boston Celtics, that tethers its defensive livelihood to pesky wings already, is a perfect fit.
Not that any of this matters. As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders is hearing:
Bucks sources found the idea of moving Monroe laughable, but when you consider that Milwaukee is 18-25 on the season and about five games out of the eighth seed in the East, could Monroe return the best value?
It’s an interesting question to ponder, especially given the Bucks’ young frontcourt. However, Bucks sources could not have been more adamant that moving Monroe at the deadline was not under consideration and that landing him in free agency was a huge win for the team so they were not open to trading him.
This also makes sense. At the same time, it doesn’t.
As Lowe pointed out, the Giannis Atetokounmpo-Jabari Parker – Greg Monroe tricycle is a spacing disaster. And if the Bucks are going to cheat themselves out of space, they’re best rolling with a more capable rim protector at the 5, such as John Henson.
Henson isn’t an offensive juggernaut, though, and the Bucks struggle in that facet of the game as it is. Still, the idea of trading Monroe has to be internally broached at some point—if not ahead of the Feb. 18 deadline, then assuredly over the offseason.
