Greg Monroe has yet to sign a contract with anyone. The restricted free agent is not happy with the Detroit Pistons, but not getting enough attention on the trade market to warrant a move. The Pistons are currently weighing the options of what to do with the big man, realizing that he cannot function to the best of his ability alongside Josh Smith and Andre Drummond. With an offer sheet on the table and a sign-and-trade the ultimate goal, what happens to Monroe?
Head coach Stan Van Gundy admitted that the uncertainty surrounding Monroe has been frustrating. The team has explored every option. They have discussed a new contract extension, trades and one-year qualifying offers. Monroe either wants out of Detroit or wants Smith to be sent packing, all of which has been hard to come by.
"There's only so many things that can happen," Van Gundy said, via the Detroit Free Press. "There's four things that can happen when you get into this situation. You reach a deal with the guy ahead of time. You reach a deal with him. You do a sign-and-trade. He signs a qualifying offer or he goes and gets an offer sheet and brings it back to you and you make your decision to match or not. We're prepared for all of those. I just keep saying the same thing. We're prepared in all of those things. I really don't feel a real sense of anxiety about it. I know I would love to have Greg long-term, that's what I want. But you can only control what you can control. I'm fairly relaxed about it."
Monroe may want out of Detroit, but the Pistons hold the leverage over him. According to Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders, Monroe is not getting many looks on the trade market because the qualifying offer is simply too high to meet. Detroit has a $5.5 million offer on the big man and teams are not looking to devote that salary cap space to essentially a one-year rental. The best case scenario for Monroe is to sign the deal and then hit free agency in 2015.
The Pistons could get lucky and get a deal finalized for Smith. There have been several negotiations with the Sacramento Kings, but no deal has been made. The end result for Detroit could be that both players remain on the roster for next season and put up the same results as last year. At this point in the offseason, salary cap space is an issue for every team and both players have too much money on their name.
