Report: Greg Monroe to the Knicks ‘about as close to a done deal as you can get’

Its no secret that Greg Monroe is unlikely to be in a Detroit Pistons uniform at the beginning of next season.

After a contentious summer where Monroe could neither persuade another team to sign him to a max offer sheet, nor persuade the Pistons to give him the long-term deal that he desired, he took the rarely-traveled path of playing out the season on a qualifying offer in order to become an unrestricted free agent just as soon as it was finished.

Monroe will have plenty of options this summer, though if one report is to be believed, his future destination has already been chosen.

From Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:

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.

Its easy to connect the dots; Monroes 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.

Whats interesting here is that the Knicks are likely to land one of the top picks in the draft, where big men like Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor would appear to be the most obvious choices.

But Monroe is proven to a certain extent, with career-best averages of 16.1 points and 10.5 rebounds in 31.2 minutes per game for the Pistons this season.

New York will need to rebuild with a combination of talent that is ready, and players that are young who will need time to develop. Regardless of the potential positional duplication Monroe may bring to the roster, the Knicks need to lock up guys who are ready now, in order to jumpstart what is sure to be an excruciating rebuilding process.

Source: nbcsports.com

This. Changes. Everything. 

let's workout a sign and trade. give us their first round pick, whichever lucky guy that is. they can have greg, whoever we draft for them, and even kcp.

yep.

no? fuck em. take greg.

Let him "thrive" in that triangle offense lol.

IDK why he's going to leave the Pistons for a team like the Knicks lol. They are about just as dysfunctional as we are. 

I dont like the move, Melo is more suited as a 4 and with Monroe at the 5. It wouldnt make sense selecting Towns or Okafor. But with the triangle, Melo is now playing the 3 so idk.

RipCity32 said:

IDK why he's going to leave the Pistons for a team like the Knicks lol. They are about just as dysfunctional as we are. 

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Cash, big market, more television time, Big city lol.

He's not exactly a big personality lol. 

RipCity32 said:

He's not exactly a big personality lol. 

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I know lol. He denied this report earlier anyways, well he had to.

he has to deny anything right now.
he is not the big market guy, but the money would be huge for him and maybe that's what he wants after all.

Frontpage Stardom said:

I dont like the move, Melo is more suited as a 4 and with Monroe at the 5. It wouldnt make sense selecting Towns or Okafor. But with the triangle, Melo is now playing the 3 so idk.

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Me niether..

Melo should absolutely be a 3 in the Triangle offense


But yea Monroe is a poor fit

It's never a bad thing to assemble assets though, especially if the big name guys aren't signing with them

Big Bid'Ness said:

Let him "thrive" in that triangle offense lol.

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pretty solid passing PF which is really important in the triangle! 

he's not leaving to play the four. he's leaving to play the five. he does not want to be a forward.

There seem to be so many poor fits in the triangle, and it forces certain players into one spot with no versatility. So why the fuck do they even run the triangle? Phil Jackson is a dumbass. 
 
Friendly reminder that Derek Fisher is the 4th highest paid coach in the league 

elcheato said:

There seem to be so many poor fits in the triangle, and it forces certain players into one spot with no versatility. So why the fuck do they even run the triangle? Phil Jackson is a dumbass. 
 
Friendly reminder that Derek Fisher is the 4th highest paid coach in the league 

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wait what that's insane

But the only player on the roster that somewhat fits the triangle is Melo. They need to just run a normal offense, and get actually talented players

Triangle only works with able passers at each position... Heres the starting bigs assist numbers for a few of Phils championship teams:
 
2010 LAL Odom (3.3) - Gasol (3.3)
2002 LAL Horry (3.3) - Shaq (3.0)
1996 CHI Rodman (3.1) - Longley (2.4)
1993 CHI Grant (3.4)-Cartwright (1.4)
 
and the Knicks this year:
 
2015 NYK 
Acy (1.8) - Smith (1.3)
Thomas (1.2) - Aldrich (1.9)
 
 
As you can clearly tell the players on this team at the forward and center position don't even come close to mimicking the numbers above other than to Bill Cartwright who was extremely good at kicking the ball out of the post (different game then and more physical). 
 
Adding Monroe only boosts the numbers:
 
Monroe (2.3 apg) (best season 3.5 apg) playing with subpar players.
 
Add either KAT or Okafor:
KAT - 1.1 assist this season in 20 mins
Okafor - 1.3 assists in 30 mins
 
college projected per 40
KAT - 2.1
Okafor - 1.7
 
Both are pretty good passers and are capable of complimenting Monroe on the block. They are easily upgrades on this depth chart. Plus Carmelo Anthony would be the best player Monroe has played with since entering the league. His assists should easily go up by 1-2. 
 
The more interesting deal is getting a Guard who can compliment Melo in the triangle... now enter in Russell with Galloway with Melo and it could be deadly...  

playing with melo doesn't necessarily mean anyone's assists go up. he gets the ball and isos

Papa Pugzo said:

playing with melo doesn't necessarily mean anyone's assists go up. he gets the ball and isos

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same with kobe, mj, pippin, etc. they have the right pieces with specific young players. Galloway fits the triangle well, he's doing too much right now with all these injuries. I could see them adding Russell over KAT and Okafor making things interesting after adding Monroe. Triangle is a simple offense once you have the right players who are capable passers in your lineup. 
 
PG - Galloway (3.3 AST)
SG - Russell ( 5.0 AST)
SF - Anthony (3.1 AST) 
PF - Monroe (2.3 AST)
C - Smith (1.7 AST)
 
or 
 
PG - Galloway - (3.3 AST)
SG - Hardaway/Ledo - (1.8/1.5 AST as Knick & no true experience.) 
SF - Anthony - (3.1 AST) 
PF - Okafor/KAT (1.1/1.3)
C - Monroe - (2.3)
 
Example of assists on Phil Lakers champ vs Celtics:
PG - Fisher (2.5 APG)
SG - Bryant (5.0 APG) 
SF - Artest (3.0 APG)
PF - Odom (3.3 APG) 
C - Gasol (3.4 APG)
 
The team honestly lacks playmakers and capable passers at every position since they only have played in isolation basketball (reason why american players are behind european players). I think Ledo is capable of this system since he can actually pass the basketball unlike Hardaway...  Averaged 3.5 apg in the dleague this year and played pg at his prep level (capable passer) . I like him more than Hardaway jr. but I see tim hardaway a capable 7-8 man in this league.
 
When Fisher says a team could bottom out and bounce back next year I believe it since Phil did a great job cutting fat, adding young pieces from the d-league & is in a position to sign and draft capable playmakers that compliment his system well.