Central Notes: Butler, Monroe, Wiggins

Caron Butler, whose salary ($4.5MM) for the next season is non-guaranteed, would like to remain with the Pistons next season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. Butler adds that if he is released, he would only consider signing with true contenders.

“I’m in a good situation,” Butler said. “So it’s a great opportunity to come back and continue the thing on. Or, if not, obviously the best thing for me is to contend. It’s either one or the other. But I won’t be looking for another situation to start over with some guys and stuff like that again. It’s either do this or contend for it all.”

While President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy has praised Butler for adjusting to his role on the Pistons, he was non-committal about whether the the team will bring back the 35-year-old next season. “A lot of things will determine that, where we think we’re going to be salary structure-wise and everything else,” Van Gundy said. The Pistons only have slightly more than $27.8MM in guaranteed salary on the book for the 2015/16 season, as our Salary Commitment page indicates.

Here’s more from Detroit

  • President of Basketball Operations and coach Stan Van Gundy reiterated that he and Greg Monroe have stayed away from business discussions during the season, David Mayo of MLive.com writes. “Greg and I have not spent any time talking about that,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate, number one, to be focusing on anything beyond the rest of the season until the season’s over.” 
  • Monroe was slightly surprised he wasn’t able to sign an extension under Detroit’s old regime, Mayo writes in the same piece. “I thought I did enough and conducted myself in a way to at least get an offer. As people always say, it’s one thing if the player says no. But if I was never even offered anything, that says more to me than any explanation. I don’t really need an explanation once you get to that point where there wasn’t even an option for me,” Monroe said.
  • Andrew Wiggins appears to be the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award and Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer reviews his season as well as the seasons for some of the players whom the Cavs have traded away this year.
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