Pistons learning after Greg Monroe contract situation

For the Pistons if there was anything to learn from the Greg Monroe contract situation last year, Stan Van Gundy and the rest of the Detroit front office seemed to have learned something.

That lesson? Don’t mess around with qualifying offers, at least not with your more vital pieces.

Prior to this past season the Pistons entered a stalemate with forward Greg Monroe and his impending contract situation. Ultimately that situation led to a qualifying offer from the Pistons, which Monroe obviously took but then led to the talented forward bolting Detroit for Milwaukee as an unrestricted free agent.

Greg Monroe however was anything but a vital piece for the Pistons. As time went on and the Van Gundy system began to take shape it became more apparent that Monroe just wasn’t a fit with what the Pistons were trying to do. Monroe knew it and the rest of the team knew it.

Monroe’s decreasing value on the court didn’t mean he didn’t have value for the Pistons on the trade market.

Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /

Sure, I’m playing Captain Hindsight with the Pistons and the Monroe dilemma. However when the former Piston forward signed that qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent this year he was as good as gone. And in the end the Pistons essentially received nothing for a very serviceable NBA forward.

Which brings us to Reggie Jackson and his five-year, $80 million dollar contract he received from the Pistons this summer.

The move for the Pistons to offer Jackson the deal was indeed criticized but according to Van Gundy who appeared on NBC Sports Radio (via ProBasketballTalk.com), the team could ill afford to take the same steps they did with Monroe this time around.

"That was a scenario that we couldn’t have happen. That was really the one."

"I think all the teams like us would tell you, when you’re a team that’s been battling below .500 for a number of years, the free agent market, quite honestly, is not kind to you."

"We couldn’t afford to lose Reggie. So, yeah, that was certainly a big part of our thinking."

Jackson, unlike Monroe was not and is not just a serviceable NBA point guard the Pistons could use as a piece in a trade down the road. Van Gundy and the Pistons ‘couldn’t afford to lose Reggie’ because if the team was subjected to offering that qualifying offer someone would have paid next season, especially with the cap going up in 2016. Not to mention Jackson’s role on the Pistons heading into 2015-16 was far more important than a big man with no outside game.