Detroit Pistons big man Greg Monroe will be an unrestricted free agent in July. Is it possible that he already knows his next destination? Is that destination the league-worst New York Knicks? According to the New York Daily News' Frank Isola, this is the case:
Maybe the worst kept secret in the NBA is that Phil Jackson plans to pursue Detroit Pistons forward Greg Monroe in free agency this summer. In fact, one league executive called it “about as close to a done deal as you can get.”
A done deal is illegal of course and would open Jackson and the Knicks to tampering charges. A more likely scenario is that representatives from both parties have made their interest known and will proceed accordingly once the free-agent recruiting period begins on July 1st. It happens all the time.
Still, the talk among scouts and executives who attended the Portsmouth Invitational is that Monroe is Jackson’s primary free-agent target. It’s easy to connect the dots; Monroe’s agent, David Falk, is one of the few agents that Jackson has a relationship with going back more than 20 years when Falk was representing Michael Jordan. Falk is looking for a max contract for Monroe and the Knicks, coming off the worst season in franchise history, are happy to oblige.
Tampering would obviously be a horrible look for New York, but let's assume for now that it's not a literal done deal. Monroe hasn't won more than 30 games in any of his five seasons. He chose to sign Detroit's qualifying offer last summer in order to have complete control over his future. It seems a little odd that he'd want to jump from the improving Pistons to the Knicks, even though they're in a big market. I suppose if they're able to draft someone like Karl-Anthony Towns and Carmelo Anthony is healthy, perhaps New York can climb the standings with Monroe in the fold. It won't be a jump to 63 wins, like Derek Fisher talked about, but it could be significant.
For the Knicks, Monroe is appealing because he'll help immediately. If president Phil Jackson is looking to be as competitive as possible while Anthony is still a star, this makes some sense. Before hurting his knee in mid-March, he'd been quietly putting together some nice numbers, and in his two games since returning he's put up 36 points and 22 rebounds. Monroe is averaging 16.1 points and 10.5 boards in 31.2 minutes per game this year, shooting 50 percent from the field and 74 percent from the free throw line. Jackson's pal, Charley Rosen, told the New York Post a couple of weeks ago that Monroe would be a "great fit" in the triangle offense.
It's worth noting that Detroit did just fine when Monroe got hurt. It allowed Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond to run pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll with shooters spacing the floor. It shouldn't be surprising if the Pistons watch him walk away, content to spend their money elsewhere. New York is not about to start running a spread pick and roll system, so a max contract is less of a problem. The question there, though, is whether or not the Knicks will be able to win enough games for either side to be happy. Monroe will have some other pretty good options.
