Pistons: To match max offer for Monroe?

[spurraider21]

actually, they can and fairly easily. they free up the money from villanueva and stuckey, match monroe for let's say 14 a year and that means around 50M for 12 or so players. The capspace should be more than enough to fix the sg-sf spot and a three big rotation of smith, monroe, drummond is pretty awesome, they just need time and purpose to gel. There are more than enough minutes for the three of them to fill just two spots.

The problem is Monroe isn't about to get paid "3rd big" money. Signing Monroe to a gigantic contract would be a mistake. Smith and Drummond would be a really good duo at the 4 and 5. Smith is an excellent 4 but is lost at small forward because it highlights his most glaring weakness. With Monroe and Drummond in, the spacing Josh Smith provides is .

Keeping Monroe is lose-lose. Either he starts and you are misusing Smith who you just signed to a giant contract, or you are overpaying your 3rd big while Drummond will get paid in a few years. Signing smith should have been accompanied with a Moneoe trade to fix their SG situation

[Raven]

The problem is Monroe isn't about to get paid "3rd big" money. Signing Monroe to a gigantic contract would be a mistake. Smith and Drummond would be a really good duo at the 4 and 5. Smith is an excellent 4 but is lost at small forward because it highlights his most glaring weakness. With Monroe and Drummond in, the spacing Josh Smith provides is .

Keeping Monroe is lose-lose. Either he starts and you are misusing Smith who you just signed to a giant contract, or you are overpaying your 3rd big while Drummond will get paid in a few years. Signing smith should have been accompanied with a Monroe trade to fix their SG situation

that doesn't count in the fact that smith and drummond together are not one inch of the player monroe is tbh. let's assume that all three are on the same level which they are not: Monroe can play with smith as the center or with drummond at the pf, both combinations are good because smith and drummond are mostly defensive players while monroe is more of a go-to-guy on offense. That's a 3 man rotation for two spots, i don't see what is bad about that. If i am correct, drummond will be a rfa in two years, so by then they be able to simply match the offer he gets and get in tax zone without much problem. let's assume that all 3 cost 14(smith)+14(monroe)+16(drummond), they would still have the money for jennings to be resigned and fix the 2 and 3 spots in the long run (before resigning drummond of course). I really don't see the issue abaout a player being overpaid when you can afford it, detroit obviously can.

[spurraider21]

that doesn't count in the fact that smith and drummond together are not one inch of the player monroe is tbh. let's assume that all three are on the same level which they are not: Monroe can play with smith as the center or with drummond at the pf, both combinations are good because smith and drummond are mostly defensive players while monroe is more of a go-to-guy on offense. That's a 3 man rotation for two spots, i don't see what is bad about that. If i am correct, drummond will be a rfa in two years, so by then they be able to simply match the offer he gets and get in tax zone without much problem. let's assume that all 3 cost 14(smith)+14(monroe)+16(drummond), they would still have the money for jennings to be resigned and fix the 2 and 3 spots in the long run (before resigning drummond of course). I really don't see the issue abaout a player being overpaid when you can afford it, detroit obviously can.

a) you are overrating Monroe in your first sentence
b) i'm aware they would make a nice 3 man rotation. however, its too expensive to be paying all 3 what they will be getting paid, which was one of my points earlier. either you are overpaying for a 3rd big, or you are starting all 3 together which won't work. either way its not a good plan
c) if they resign drummond/monroe for the figures you mentioned, thats 44 million on 3 players. jennings makes 8 so you are up to 52 million (cap around 63) with 3 starters and 1 reserve. i don't think that formula is going to add up to anything good
d) its never a good idea to overpay in a salary cap league. it will bite you in the ass down the line. detroit "could afford" to overpay guys like villanueva and gordon at the time too

[Killakobe81]

a) you are overrating Monroe in your first sentence
b) i'm aware they would make a nice 3 man rotation. however, its too expensive to be paying all 3 what they will be getting paid, which was one of my points earlier. either you are overpaying for a 3rd big, or you are starting all 3 together which won't work. either way its not a good plan
c) if they resign drummond/monroe for the figures you mentioned, thats 44 million on 3 players. jennings makes 8 so you are up to 52 million (cap around 63) with 3 starters and 1 reserve. i don't think that formula is going to add up to anything good
d) its never a good idea to overpay in a salary cap league. it will bite you in the ass down the line. detroit "could afford" to overpay guys like villanueva and gordon at the time too

This. Said even better than I could. They will rue the day if they pay max money and yes he still could be traded but it wont be at face value. Sure you dont want to lose him for nada but a sign and trade for a draft pick is better than overpaying your 3rd big. I like Monroe would love him on the lakers but not at max $ he is NOT a max money player. And if Detroit does sign him fine, that is one less team i have to worry about winning a le before the Lakers can snag another (somewhere down the road) ...

[bdubya]

If there's a trade that makes the team better in the next eight days pull the trigger, but that's highly unlikely. Pistons better be prepared to sign him for the max; if a good sign-and-trade can be done, great, but overpaying the third big is not such a terrible option as long as the rotations are done right. Give Drummond a lot of minutes with the second unit, where he and Bynum form a lethal pick-and-roll combo. Maybe we have to trade Moose for less than face value down the road, but that's no worse than trading him now for less than face value, is it?

As for Dumars' worst moves, I give him a total pass on the Darko bust. Darko was #2 on a lot of mock drafts that year, and with Carmelo instead of Prince I don't think the Pistons would have sniffed the finals in '04 or '05. Worst move was definitely the Villlanueva/Gordon signings, with Billups-for-Iverson running a close second (it would be first except that there was a slim outside chance that it could have worked, and the fan base was screaming at the time for a "stud scorer" that could get the team past the conference finals).

[spurraider21]

the pistons were reportedly shopping josh smith around near the deadline

[DMC]

I honestly don't give a who gets their value. In the end, it's always going to be where the majority of talent is concentrated on large market teams. Let the NBA decide what players comprise that list of talent. All this shuffling is just smoke and mirrors to keep fans thinking their respective franchise is trying to improve.