Monroe Signing With Bucks

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/02/report-lakers-and-knicks-didnt-offer-greg-monroe-maximum-contracts/



Report: Lakers and Knicks didn’t offer Greg Monroe maximum contracts (update: agent says otherwise)
Dan Feldman Jul 2, 2015, 12:29 PM EDT



Update: Ken Berger of CBSSports.com:



Ken Berger ✔@KBergCBS
Agent David Falk says all four teams Greg Monroe met with offered the max. Chose Bucks due to better chance to "make playoffs immediately."
9:43 AM - 2 Jul 2015
  185 185 Retweets  138 138 favorites



Howard Beck of Bleacher Report:


Howard Beck ✔@HowardBeck
Monroe met with 4 teams: Bucks, Knicks, Lakers, Blazers. All offered the max, I'm told. Chose Bucks because they're the most playoff ready.
8:35 AM - 2 Jul 2015
  1,233 1,233 Retweets  655 655 favorites


Look, I don’t know. David Falk has incentive to say his client had more max offers. The Knicks and Lakers have incentive to say they missed on Monroe due to their own financial decisions rather than on-court ineptitude.

Either way, I think it would have been reasonable for the Knicks and Lakers to offer or not offer Monroe the max. And if they didn’t offer the max, they surely came close.



Are the Lakers and Knicks striking out in free agency?

Or are they just being patient?

Score one for patience with Greg Monroe, who agreed to a three-year max contract with the Bucks.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

Monroe plans to join a young core of talent with the Bucks, who made a strong commitment to Monroe after the Los Angeles Lakers and Knicks didn’t offer full maximum contracts, league sources said.

I think Monroe is worth a max contract to the Bucks and most teams with cap space this summer and a need for a center.

But the Lakers and Knicks, who have cap space and need centers, are different.

Part of the appeal of signing Monroe now is not having to compete for free agents with the huge number of teams that will have max cap space next summer. The Lakers and Knicks don’t have to worry as much about that, though. They can secure meetings with most, if not every, major free agent due to their prominent markets.

They can aim higher.

Presumably, they have more info about 2016 free agents than I do. If they think they have a legitimate chance at LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Al Horford or some other star, it’s fine to bid less for Monroe.

But here’s what confuses me with the Knicks: There were multiple reports of them being close to signing Monroe. Maybe those reports were just incorrect. If so, ignore this. But if they accurately reflected the Knicks’ perception, that’s troubling. Did they not realize Monroe would get a max offer elsewhere? If so, that’s a bad misread of the market, and that’s a bad sign going forward.

Lakers and Knicks fans should cautiously accept their teams missing on Monroe. But at a certain point, the Lakers and Knicks need to sign someone better to justify it.



bob
MY NOTE:  Milwaukee has something going.  Good for them, they've certainly waited long enough.  It's not Greg Monroe himself that makes the difference, it's that free agents are seeing what they've got and are seeing them as a viable destination (sought after free agent Khris Middleton re-signed with the Bucks already).  On another note, better the Bucks than us.  Love his offense, hate his defense.  Another ouch for the Knicks and Lakers.  Howard, Carmelo, Aldridge, Monroe all said no to the Lakers.  Some of it is Kobe, specifically Howard, but the rest is that players want to play where they can win.  So, when people say "free agents don't want to go to Boston because of the weather" I say "Bullshit".  If you build it, as in "the team", they will come.


.

bob,

Although Monroe has played in cold weather Detroit, Milwaukee is not South Beach or LA. You are right, they follow the money and a place to win.

Soon guys like this will want to come to Boston. Milwaukee cannot sign them all.

bobheckler wrote:http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/02/report-lakers-and-knicks-didnt-offer-greg-monroe-maximum-contracts/


MY NOTE:  Milwaukee has something going.  Good for them, they've certainly waited long enough.  It's not Greg Monroe himself that makes the difference, it's that free agents are seeing what they've got and are seeing them as a viable destination (sought after free agent Khris Middleton re-signed with the Bucks already).  On another note, better the Bucks than us.  Love his offense, hate his defense.  Another ouch for the Knicks and Lakers.  Howard, Carmelo, Aldridge, Monroe all said no to the Lakers.  Some of it is Kobe, specifically Howard, but the rest is that players want to play where they can win.  So, when people say "free agents don't want to go to Boston because of the weather" I say "Bullshit".  If you build it, as in "the team", they will come.


.

Getting the first star/excellent palyer is obviously the toughest. Once we get one, others will follow.

Shamrock1000 wrote:

bobheckler wrote:http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/02/report-lakers-and-knicks-didnt-offer-greg-monroe-maximum-contracts/


MY NOTE:  Milwaukee has something going.  Good for them, they've certainly waited long enough.  It's not Greg Monroe himself that makes the difference, it's that free agents are seeing what they've got and are seeing them as a viable destination (sought after free agent Khris Middleton re-signed with the Bucks already).  On another note, better the Bucks than us.  Love his offense, hate his defense.  Another ouch for the Knicks and Lakers.  Howard, Carmelo, Aldridge, Monroe all said no to the Lakers.  Some of it is Kobe, specifically Howard, but the rest is that players want to play where they can win.  So, when people say "free agents don't want to go to Boston because of the weather" I say "Bullshit".  If you build it, as in "the team", they will come.


.

Getting the first star/excellent palyer is obviously the toughest. Once we get one, others will follow.

Shamrock,

I agree, that's why I favored keeping Rondo. Once it became an ego trip to be courted then I was ok with moving him but for a long time I thought like you. It's a lot easier to get a second all-star than your first.


bob


.