The Bucks surprised many this past offseason when they landed center Greg Monroe in free agency, signing the big man to a three-year, maximum salary contract. Milwaukee, fresh off a 41-41 campaign in 2014/15 that included an Eastern Conference playoff berth, felt the addition of Monroe was the next step toward the upper-echelon of the conference. But plans often have a tendency not to work the way they are laid out and the Bucks have stumbled to a 20-31 record this season. Disappointment can bring about sweeping changes and a report by Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times relayed that the franchise is open to trading Monroe and point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who has failed to impress since coming over in a controversial deadline trade a year ago.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is reportedly the only Bucks player completely off-limits for a deal, though it would take a “crazy” offer to pry Jabari Parker or Khris Middleton from Milwaukee, a league executive told Woelfel. Several people around the league have said they’d be surprised if the Bucks don’t make a significant trade, with the deadline looming two weeks from today, Woelfel added.
This brings me to today’s topics. I say topics because there are two related questions I will be posing to all of you this evening. The first is: Should the Bucks look to trade Greg Monroe prior to the trade deadline? While this is a relatively straightforward question, it does raise another extremely important one regarding the franchise’s future dealings, which is: If the Bucks do in fact deal away Monroe, will it negatively impact their future free agent pursuits?
I will readily acknowledge that money trumps quite a bit in the free agent market, but players do have concerns outside the basketball court. When a player changes teams in the league, he also changes homes and cities, sometimes moving across the U.S., or in the case of players signing with the Raptors, outside of the country. The last thing most players want is to have to have to worry about the logistics of moving so soon after making such an important life choice, not just for themselves, but in many cases for their families as well. So, would dealing away Monroe so quickly after signing him count against the Bucks with future free agents? Milwaukee isn’t a destination city among NBA players, so the franchise already has its work cut out. Flipping a recently signed big-name player may not be the best advertisement to send out to other future free agents.
But that’s merely my take and we’re looking for yours. Take to the comments section to share your thoughts regarding a potential Monroe deal, and whether you think it would hurt the team in the eyes of future free agents. We look forward to what you have to say.
I think they’ll listen on Monroe but unless someone blows them away he’ll stay. I agree that if they traded Monroe it would hurt them with future free agents
^ same goes for Middleton
I wouldn’t think about trading Middleton unless it’s for a star like Blake.
Trading Monroe would be problematic in that future free agents would see that and maybe think twice before coming to the Bucks. At the same time, agents won’t steer players away from money. The Bucks have a talented core that should attract players so overall I don’t see it as a major issue.
How about Monroe and MCW to the Nets for Lopez?
Middleton, while good, is not getting a star like Blake unless its part of a bigger package (as in the Clippers or whatever team that is trading said star is getting more).
I think the league can in general (San Antonio notwithstanding) is far too impatient. Give this group another year.
Terrible grammar; it’s late here! *be far too impatient
Monroe is a solid offensive player and strong rebounder but a defensive liability. The Bucks knew this when they signed him. If he wasn’t in their long-term plans, why did they pursue him in the first place?
Interesting to consider.
On one side trading Monroe would have an adverse affect on Milwaukee’s ability to attract free agents in the short term. In a league with max salaries, offering the most money generally isn’t always possible, as a player could have the exact same offers from a myriad of other teams, just like Monroe had last offseason. However, Monroe, like Lamarcus Aldridge, ended up going to the team that offered the best situation in terms of winning and talent. This, I believe, is still the major factor in FA decisions and while trading Monroe will hurt them in the short term, all can likely be forgotten if they build a solid foundation of talent and put together a winning team. That ends up speaking a lot more then just money.
With that in mind, if the Bucks are trading Monroe then they likely wont be winning many games anyways, and as currently constructed that would appear to also be true if they keep him. In short, if your fielding a crappy product, players wont be coming regardless, so does it really matter if you get a poor reputation by trading Monroe?
Monroe is arguably having his best season to date, he is average 16ppg and 9rb in only 30 minutes a night, and he is boasting the best PER of his career to back up his PER 36 stats. All this and he is still under contract for two more years, again long story short his value may not ever be higher and you would fetch a decent return from a team desperate to acquire a solid talent in advance of a playoff run (solid talents seem to be tough to come by this trade deadline, not a lot of sellers who have a player of Monroes capability). The Bucks jumped the gun on their rebuild last offseason, much like what the suns 2 years ago. It would be wise to simply bite the bullet now and rebuild around the likes of Giannis, Parker, and Henson instead of trying to compete by overpaying middling FA’s (Tyson Chandler anyone?). If they acquire assets now and draft well, they can build a solid young foundation of talent in within a year or two (as mentioned before they already have some nice young players) and if they start winning games then I doubt FA will be deterred about Monroe being shipped off after a year.