Report: Suns Considering Greg Monroe

[JCSunsfan]

My understanding was that Frye had always been a pretty good 3pt shooter, but was never allowed to shoot from outside because he was a seven footer and teams wanted him to play inside.

Signing Monroe to a max deal with the hope that you can turn him into a decent shooter would be lunacy. You take on projects with cheap players, not expensive ones (see Beasley). I would rather sign Greg Oden to a cheap deal and let our training staff have a shot at him.

The Suns have just as good a shot at turning Alex Len into a decent mid-range shooter (he is already money from that range in practice, they say) AND he will cost a lot less.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Oh, I'm going by the clips and basic stats like overall FG% so his 26% jump shot percentage does sort of tie into my comment that he is a low post player whom Hornacek would have to give some pointers on. He may never be a Frye type shooter but Frye wasn't always a 3pt shooter. Now, question to you. You are Greg Monroe on the court with Drummond, Smith, Jennings & whomever is their SG. So your on the court with no jump shooters to provide spacing and a C with no outside shot either. What do you think the defense is going to do? Probably crowd the paint and play off the perimeter, right? So maybe that affects his jump shooting percentage. Now put him with PHX and their shooters and a penetration PG and you probably get easier shots. He really wouldn't need to be a 3pt threat as Morris and Tucker would provide that. Are we asking Plumlee to become a jump shooter? No.

No but I'd trust Plumlee to shoot from 8 feet. I don't see that in Monroe. And his defense scares me. I really couldn't care less about whether he can stretch the floor, we can find other ways to do it. But he can't jump, he can't move side to side and he can't shoot. How that translates to the salary he's asking is beyond me. He'd get playing time on our team at both positions because he has some value and we are weak at the bigs but giving him 12 per or more is a losing proposition IMO.

Steve

 

[Neo]

No but I'd trust Plumlee to shoot from 8 feet.

Steve

Have you ever watched him during warmups? I'd trust a blindfolded 12-year-old with vertigo more than Plumlee from anything more than 6 feet away.

 

[JS22]

I'm glad you've come around. Why any team would consider going out and getting a mediocre player from a lousy team is beyond me. He's a poor, poor man's Kevin Love while providing zero spacing since he can't hit (or even attempt) the three. SMH if the Suns are truly considering him.

Clearly Love is the better player but that comparison makes no sense at all.

 

[overseascardfan]

No but I'd trust Plumlee to shoot from 8 feet. I don't see that in Monroe. And his defense scares me. I really couldn't care less about whether he can stretch the floor, we can find other ways to do it. But he can't jump, he can't move side to side and he can't shoot. How that translates to the salary he's asking is beyond me. He'd get playing time on our team at both positions because he has some value and we are weak at the bigs but giving him 12 per or more is a losing proposition IMO.

Steve

I'll concede he is not a max player thus I mentioned being curious as to what PHX would offer. $12M would be my limit if I was McDonough. It might take less than it would have 3 weeks ago as it sounds like DET & Monroe are bound to part ways.

 

[overseascardfan]

My understanding was that Frye had always been a pretty good 3pt shooter, but was never allowed to shoot from outside because he was a seven footer and teams wanted him to play inside.

Signing Monroe to a max deal with the hope that you can turn him into a decent shooter would be lunacy. You take on projects with cheap players, not expensive ones (see Beasley). I would rather sign Greg Oden to a cheap deal and let our training staff have a shot at him.

The Suns have just as good a shot at turning Alex Len into a decent mid-range shooter (he is already money from that range in practice, they say) AND he will cost a lot less.

Never heard or saw Frye as a 3 pt shooter prior to PHX. 20/70 in 4 years before PHX. Again if Monroe plays C then he wouldn't have to become a 3 pt threat.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'll concede he is not a max player thus I mentioned being curious as to what PHX would offer. $12M would be my limit if I was McDonough. It might take less than it would have 3 weeks ago as it sounds like DET & Monroe are bound to part ways.

I"d offer him 44/4 but IMO that's already a significant overpay. But we're very weak at center and Monroe is still young. There's no reason to believe he can't get better. But I can't see Detroit letting him go without matching and certainly not at the contract I'd be willing to offer. We have the room to pay him a little more but how will that sit with Bledsoe's negotiations and the upcoming deals with Dragic and Markieff? If you pay him 12 or more a year and he gets outplayed by at least three teammates, where will the money come from to keep those other assets?

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

Never heard or saw Frye as a 3 pt shooter prior to PHX. 20/70 in 4 years before PHX. Again if Monroe plays C then he wouldn't have to become a 3 pt threat.

No, he wasn't but he was always a decent mid-range shooter. In college he relied heavily on a Tim Duncan-like bank shot.

Monroe has to play center and not just because he's such a poor shooter. At center, I could see him developing what he needs in order to defend the position. That will never happen at the four spot, he just doesn't have the lateral quickness to defend that far from the basket. But, playing center, he could get a little stronger and learn to work harder to keep his man from establishing himself on the blocks. Right now he just gives away that territory.

Steve

 

[Errntknght]

Well stated Steve. My feeling is that Plumlee and Len can handle the center spot okay right now if Len is used to defend the biggest opponents; and they can both improve a good bit with experience. IMO, Len's ceiling on the defensive end is very high but he is going to have to get his head in the game to get there - and it doesn't look like a sure thing that he will.

Even though Momroe is playing PF for Detroit, he isn't very effective there and PF is where we need the most improvement so I just don't see a place for him in our frontcourt now or in the future - basically at any price.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Never heard or saw Frye as a 3 pt shooter prior to PHX. 20/70 in 4 years before PHX. Again if Monroe plays C then he wouldn't have to become a 3 pt threat.

He only shot 70 in 4 years. That's right. He was not allowed to shoot it as a regular part of his game, so when he did, it was usually at then end of the shot clock in less than ideal circumstances. Frye did not learn to shoot the 3 pointer here. I am quite confident of that.

David Lee, a power forward, led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, and was statistically superior to Frye in almost every category, but Isiah Thomas, until February 3, 2007, kept Frye in the starting lineup. Thomas' rationale was that Frye is a superior perimeter shooter, and his perimeter shooting would make it harder for teams to double team Knicks leading scorer Eddy Curry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channing_Frye

The big issue is this though. We did not give Frye a max contract, or anything close to get him here. You do not give a player a max deal hoping that he will develop a basic game skill.

Monroe is such a bad idea.