As always, no matter what anyone tries to spin, first and foremost it’s about the money — if there had been enough of it on the table Greg Monroe would have signed an extension with the Detroit Pistons last summer. He wouldn’t be playing for the $5.5 million qualifying offer so he can be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
But there are certainly other issues also that go into decisions about where to live and who to work for.
Monroe has seen a lot of change in Detroit over his time there — four coaches in his four seasons, and now a new management team headed by coach/president Stan Van Gundy. That played heavily into his decision not to take an eight figure a year extension, Monroe told Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News.
“It’s no disrespect to the people working here but it was just tough for me to agree to another four years with new people,” Monroe said. “Honestly, if you were to ask the average person would they do that in the arena they’re in, they’d say no.”
Actually if most of our bosses offered to basically double our salary we’d take the risk of working with new people we don’t know well. (Note to my NBC bosses, I’ll take that deal.) It’s all about the money.
However, I get what Monroe is saying — the plan in Detroit seems to change annually. They were going to rebuild through the draft, then once they drafted a quality front line with Monroe and Andre Drummond former GM Joe Dumars changed to win-now mode and added ill-fitting Josh Smith to the mix. Van Gundy was brought in to provide a better, more stable plan and design going forward, and he likely will, but if Monroe wants to see that not just hear the words you can’t blame him.
The contract negotiations and an embarrassing DUI arrest can make you understand why Monroe might want a fresh start outside Detroit. But he said he likes the city.
“I can’t speak for everybody but in my case, when talking about leaving Detroit, it was the team specifically,” Monroe said. “I have no problem with the city, or the fans or the people. I don’t have a problem with anyone here. I’ve been received with open arms. People have always shown me love. Fans, they’ve stuck with us through tough times.”
Monroe is going to get paid next summer, whether by the Pistons or someone else (and his name will come up in a lot of trade rumors this season). But you have to be careful thinking other franchises are more stable, a quick look around the NBA shows very few of those (and the new CBA was set up to mean more player movement and less core stability).
