Liputan6.com, Boston- Boston Celtics dikabarkan akan menambah amunisi demi menjadi juara NBA 2017-2018. Celtics diklaim jurnalis ESPN Adrian Wojnarowski bakal merekrut center Greg Monroe.
Monroe saat ini berstatus free agent setelah sepakat berpisah dengan Phoenix Suns awal pekan ini. Monroe membeli sisa kontraknya sehingga bebas pindah ke klub lain.
Usai meninggalkan Suns, Monroe awalnya diincar oleh New Orleans Pelicans. Monroe disiapkan menjadi pengganti DeMarcus Cousins yang harus absen sampai akhir musim akibat cedera.
Namun tawaran Pelicans nampaknya kurang menggiurkan bagi Monroe. Dia konon akan segera meneken kontrak berdurasi satu tahun bersama Celtics.
Di Celtics, Monroe akan mendapat bayaran lima juta USD. Tawaran Celtics jauh lebih besar ketimbang Pelicans karena tim asuhan Brad Stevens punya peluang besar menjadi juara.
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If you see Danny Ainge walking around town in one of those popular “NOT DONE” shirts, it may have more meaning than just the Patriots’ postseason slogan.
Even with the planned signing of Greg Monroe today, the Celtics are still in business until next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline and beyond.
According to two Western Conference sources, the Celts are still in pursuit of Lou Williams and Tyreke Evans. They have had discussions regarding others, but those two appear to be the main targets as the C’s look to add scoring off the bench.
The key in each of these cases is how much will be required to make a deal. The Celts are said to be willing to part with assets, but Ainge seems to be again holding the line on what he believes is proper value. The strategy has frustrated other clubs and a percentage of the fan base, but it doesn’t appear to be changing.
Memphis has been asking for a first-round pick for Evans, but the Celts haven’t yet been willing to go there. Denver has reportedly offered Emmanuel Mudiay and a second-round pick, and while the C’s could propose something similar, the second -round pick (or picks) they could send would not be very high.
Also, sources say the Celts are being careful with their pursuit of wings. As much as they might be able to gain some level of help at the position, they have told people they do not want to do something that would too greatly impede the progress of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, who, they believe, will be even better by the postseason because of the minutes they have been getting all year.
But the Celts are still said to be very active in talks. There is a reason behind the fact the Celts will be giving Monroe $5 million instead of the full $8.4 million disabled player exception.
They cannot use the remaining money to sign another player, but by keeping Monroe at $5 million, the C’s have maintained a measure of flexibility as they look at trades in the next five days. As it stands, with tax and cap considerations taken into account, they will be able to take back some $4 million more than they send out in a move.
From the time the Celtics got the DPE approved for the loss of Gordon Hayward, it was thought it would be best used on a bought-out player rather than one who was still on the free agent market early in the season. That proved to be the case with Monroe, but it’s important to note that this signing does not take the Celts out of the buyout game.
They could still sign such a player to a veteran minimum contract, and though they may have lost the more-money-to-offer edge, most players who sign after reaching a deal to leave their team do wind up getting the minimum. That was the case when Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut joined the Cavaliers last season. And if you want to go back a few years, that’s how the Celts solidified their 2008 title run by adding P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell.
The important factor then, as was the case with Monroe, is that the C’s were a team in contention. That group obviously had better title hopes than this one, but the path to the 2018 Finals from the Eastern Conference has to look good to potential signees.
It’s also important to add, as we did at the time the Celtics were granted the DPE, that there will be no penalty or other ramification for the club if Hayward is able to come back and play this season, other than the fact it would have to clear a roster spot.
It remains to be seen how Brad Stevens will fit Monroe into the Celtics rotation, but, even though he will be looking to test the unrestricted free agent market this summer after he turns 28 in June, he is not necessarily a short-timer here.
The Celts could offer him some $6 million without making a corollary move, and that would seem low for his worth. But it will be interesting to see how the market for big men is this year.
Then again, it’s also possible that one of the reasons the 6-foot-11 Monroe is choosing the C’s is because Stevens always seems to raise the value of the players he coaches.
But even if Monroe winds up staying, the Celtics will still have a number of important decisions to make in the offseason, just as they will this week.
Until a couple of days ago, Greg Monroe was a member of the Phoenix Suns and one of the more logical candidates on the trade market. Sent by the Milwaukee Bucks (with whom he had had a sixth-man-of-the-year calibre year the season prior) to the Suns as a part of the trade for Eric Bledsoe, Monroe stuck with Suns not because they especially wanted him or his contract, but because the nature of guaranteed contracts rather mandated it.
We looked at the Greg Monroe situation here at GiveMeSport a couple of weeks ago, and explored whether, by virtue of being one of the few large expiring contracts in a league full of bad deals, he would have good value in the trade market. Comparing his trade value to that of Nikola Mirotic, then of the Chicago Bulls, as well as the relative dearth of large expiring contracts league-wide, we tried to imagine what if anything Phoenix could get for him on the trade market.
However, except a discount via a buyout, the Suns ultimately got nothing. There were three significant factors that ultimately submarined any such trade value for Monroe, and led to his free agency.
Firstly, the Suns significantly limited their field of suitors when they vowed not to take back big money in future seasons in exchange for Monroe. The contracts that teams most want to dump out there are not just slightly inconvenient one (like those of Omer Asik in the Mirotic deal) but really quite massive ones, such as those of Chandler Parsons, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and others. By not entertaining those suitors – it was not so long ago that the Lakers were offering completely unprotected picks in exchange for taking on Deng’s deal – Phoenix limited their market at the first hurdle.
Secondly, Phoenix would not even take back the slightly large salary. The same deal that Chicago made with the New Orleans Pelicans was also available to the Suns had they wanted to; it is certainly well known that, as a Louisiana native, the Pelicans were certainly after Monroe (see below). Indeed, considering Monroe’s larger salary this season compared to Mirotic ($17,884,176 versus $12,500,000), the Pelicans may have favoured his expiring deal even more if Alexis Ajinca could have been involved as well as a further salary dump along with Asik. But this, too, did not happen.
Finally – and perhaps most crucially – the Suns gave the game away. It was pretty obvious to any informed observer from the moment the Bledsoe deal was made that Monroe was the odd man out; with Tyson Chandler still around and somewhat productive as a veteran leader, and Alex Len playing (at that time) as well as all bar a few big men in the NBA, Monroe had no role on the team. He would not be brought back next year, and nor was he even playing much this year, frequently receiving DNP-CDs despite his talents. He was completely surplus to requirements, and Phoenix did not try and hide it.
It followed logically that a buyout would be the inevitable conclusion to it all, and the Suns tipped their cap, admitting as much on trade calls to other teams. At that point, the trade market dried up completely. His value as an expiring contract was negated by how little salary Phoenix would take back, and his trade value as a player was imploded by the likelihood of the buyout. After all, why trade for him when you can sign him in the free agency that you know is coming if you are patient?
This, ultimately, is what the Boston Celtics have just done. Despite a strong push from the Pelicans – who had deliberately included Tony Allen and Jameer Nelson into the trade for Mirotic so as to be able to have the salary wiggle room to add buyout candidates with a particular eye on Monroe – he has opted to sign with the Boston Celtics.
Home state ties aside, this makes plenty of sense for Monroe. The Celtics offered the most money, firstly, able to offer up to $8,406,000 in the form of the Gordon Hayward disabled player exception [which, incidentally, does not prohibit Hayward in any way from returning this season should he be able to – league doctors determined he would not be able to, and if they were wrong, so be it], and $5 million of which he is reportedly getting. Compared to the $2,190,385 that the Pelicans were limited to, this is a big factor Monroe could not ignore. (The fact that the Pelicans could offer to over more years was irrelevant; Monroe is not agreeing to be underpaid next year when he doesn't have to.)
The Celtics are also by far the better team. The first seed in the Eastern Conference with a 37-15 record, there is a very good chance of an NBA Finals run with the team, especially now with Monroe in the fold. The Pelicans could offer a starting role that the Celtics cannot. But when it comes to exposure for the next contract, a starting role amid a first-round exit is not a patch on a crucial bench role in the NBA Finals.
Monroe’s fit into the Celtics’ rotation is the next concern. He arrives at a team that had more assets to spend than it had things to spend them on. There was not an obviously major hole in theteam's rotation that needed filling.
Nonetheless, the fact that Monroe has been both unwanted trade filler and a buyout candidate in the same three-month span should not obscure the fact that he has long been a quality NBA player, and very much still is. The fact that the Suns barely used Monroe is not indicative of how he played when they did. In 20 games with Phoenix, Monroe averaged 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 23.3 minutes per game. He's just good.
A post-up threat, excellent rebounder (18.6% total rebounding percentage this year, 17.0% for his career) and consistently good passer when both facing the basket and posting up (17.2% assist rate this year, 13.3% for his career), Monroe will fit right in with the Celtics' moving ball style, and do a solid offensive job anywhere inside the arc when Al Horford is out. He is much more skilled offensively than Aron Baynes, and as the Celtics have shown all year, they can struggle to score the ball when both Horford and Kyrie Irving are out of the game. As a proven quality offensive hub, Monroe will very much help with that, and he should also be able to move them out of the middle of the pack on the rebounding glass.
Defensively, he is less good. While he is better at defending pick-and-rolls than his reputation suggests, Monroe does rank among the worst rim protectors at the centre spot in the NBA. Lacking quick interior rotations, great leap, length or explosion, Monroe is no deterrent in the paint, and nor has he ever been. And considering that the five spot is still the main one for defending the basket and the paint no matter how much the position has been revolutionised of late, this is a bit of a concern.
However, if any team can mask the deficiencies of a poor individual defensive player, it is the team with the best defence in the NBA, and with a coach who already has a legacy of success in the NBA in terms of both team results and player development. This is the right team for Monroe to be on. The money is just a bonus.
The Celtics, then, get a win. They get to shore up their weaknesses, use their exception that would otherwise expire unused, increase their depth and add to their already impressive talent level. Monroe also gets a win, joining one of the NBA's best teams, one that officially just graduate to buyout-candidate calibre.
Despite a good week post-DeMarcus Cousins injury overall, however, the loss of Monroe (or so it will feel like) will chide for the Pelicans. They badly need a big man with size and quality to stop Anthony Davis playing 40 minutes at centre, yet the best available one just slipped away.
And as for Phoenix, they just tipped their pitches a little bit too much.
BOSTON -- Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris believes his team landed a quality addition Friday by striking early on the buyout market.
Boston agreed to sign 27-year-old big man Greg Monroe for the remainder of the season after he reached a buyout with the Phoenix Suns earlier this week. By using their disabled player exception, the Celtics were able to land Monroe on a $5-million contract -- more than any other suitor could offer.
"I think that's a great pickup for us," Morris said Friday before hosting the Atlanta Hawks. "Veteran player. Knows how to play the game. He's been around the league awhile so I think he'll add to our size down low, scoring ability. I think it's a great pickup."
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Monroe has averaged 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds over an eight-year career. Splitting time with the Milwaukee Bucks and Suns this season, he has averaged 10.4 points and 7.4 rebounds over 21.8 minutes per game.
"Yeah, I mean, he's a big body," Morris said. "Even if he's not scoring, he's carving space for other guys to be able to drive. He's well respected around the league so that goes a long way. I think he's going to be a great piece for us going forward."
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens declined to comment on the impending Monroe signing because it is not yet official. The veteran is fully expected to clear waivers Saturday.
