Greg Monroe: Trade report ‘completely false’
By Dan Feldman
Greg Monroe on the report he badly wants to be traded, via Vincent Goodwill Jr. of The Detroit News:
"At this point, it’s definitely annoying because we’re trying to turn things around right here, right now. And I have to answer for something I have absolutely nothing to do with. It is annoying."
"“There would be so much to go into that decision. It’s something I haven’t even … I don’t know dates, I haven’t been thinking about it,” Monroe said. “I’ve just been thinking about basketball. If they feel the need to come to me, I would have to have the discussion but that discussion would have to be initiated by them, not by me.”"
"“Where he took it was completely false. And it’s totally ridiculous I have to answer questions like this.”"
I’m sure the steady Monroe doesn’t want this distraction, but it’s here. He’ll have to weather the questions between now and the trade deadline.
Hopefully, some of them come from Stan Van Gundy soon. Monroe has the right to veto any trade, so the Pistons’ president/coach will have to discuss potential deals with Monroe.
I figured Monroe and his agent would be actively searching for a trade too, but if they’re not, Van Gundy should take Monroe up on the offer and initiate the conversation.
"Teams calling Pistons about Greg Monroe get same answer: Monroe, who must approve trade, uninterested & wants to keep Bird rights, I’m told."
Me at ProBasketballTalk, where I opine more on this subject:
"It’d be one thing for Monroe to deflect personal responsibility with the media. For the Pistons to tell other teams Monroe would reject a trade is a completely other level.Monroe can veto trades by virtue of signing the qualifying offer, and if he’s dealt, he’d lose his bird rights. But bird rights only help if he wants to re-sign with Detroit, which seems unlikely. Unless he’s more interested in staying with the Pistons than he has let on, trying to angle for a sign-and-trade would be the only reason to block a trade.It’s difficult to find a worse scenario for Monroe for the next few months than Detroit, where he’s a poor fit with Andre Drummond and Josh Smith and stuck with a bad team. Certainly, any team that would trade for Monroe would do more to help him to get a big contract next summer.Considering Monroe’s camp sought sign-and-trades last offseason, I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to get him on board with a trade – if he’s not already."
Van Gundy, via Goodwill:
"“I don’t know where that stuff comes from,” Van Gundy said. “We haven’t talked to anybody about trading Greg Monroe. We know there are teams with interest but that’s it.”"
What is he waiting for? Get those discussions rolling.