Greg Monroe Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Payton, Papagiannis, Green, Suns

February 11th, 2018 at 4:50pm CST by marksuleymanov

Elfrid Payton‘s stint with the Magic ended on Thursday and by Saturday, he was putting up a solid performance in his Suns debut. The former lottery pick posted 19 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in the Suns’ 123-113 loss to the Nuggets. Payton’s performance drew rave reviews from his teammates and coaches, NBA.com’s Cody Cunningham writes.

“I thought he was good,” Suns head coach Jay Triano said. “It was different, the pace of play was better, getting the ball up and down the court, getting into the lane when he needed to, and making passes. He made the guys on the floor with him better.”

Payton, 23, has been viewed a disappointment through his first four NBA seasons after being the 10th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. However, given his age and upside, Payton drew interest from several teams prior to the deadline.

Check out other Pacific Division notes:

The agent of now-former Kings center Georgios Papagiannis, Marios Olympios, was critical of the team’s decision to waive the 20-year-old, Aris Barkas of Euro Hoops writes. “He (Papagiannis) never got a chance by the Kings,” Olympios said on the Greek radio station Sport FM, Barkas writes. “He had a double-double every time he played in the G-League. He had to travel for two and a half hour everytime he was assigned to Reno and still he performed. There are many details that prove that he never got a real chance”.
Warriors forward Draymond Green was fined $50,000 for directing inappropriate and offensive language toward a game official, the NBA announced on its website. The incident occurred during the Warriors’ loss to the Thunder this past Tuesday.
The Suns received $1.5MM back in the buyout of new Celtics center Greg Monroe, tweets salary cap expert Albert Nahmad.
After a blockbuster trade with the Cavaliers on Thursday, the Lakers freed up a ton of cap space that could be used to lure two premiere free agents to Los Angeles this summer. Mark Heisler of the Orange County Register writes that the organization’s moves have put it in position to be relevant again.

Celtics Sign Greg Monroe

February 8th, 2018 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 8: Now that the trade deadline has passed without the Celtics needing to use their open roster spot, the team has made Monroe’s signing official.

FEBRUARY 2: Veteran center Greg Monroe will sign with the Celtics after he becomes a free agent this weekend, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Monroe, bought out and waived by the Suns on Thursday, is on track to clear waivers on Saturday.

[RELATED: Suns buy out Greg Monroe]

The Celtics and Pelicans were believed to be the frontrunners for Monroe, a New Orleans native. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Pels offered Monroe the opportunity to be their starting center, but the big man will instead head to Boston, where he’ll have fewer guaranteed minutes, but a better chance to win a title.

Monroe will also be well compensated on his new deal with the Celtics, as Wojnarowski tweets that the one-year contract will be worth $5MM. That’s more than the Pelicans could offer, with Boston taking advantage of its extra flexibility by using its disabled player exception to reach an agreement with Monroe.

Even though the Celtics’ disabled player exception – awarded after Gordon Hayward went down in the team’s season opener – is worth $8.4MM, the DPE can only be used once, so the team won’t have the remaining $3.4MM available. Still, Boston plans to continue exploring the market for a perimeter scorer, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, who cautions (via Twitter) that the front office is reluctant to part with a first-round pick.

Monroe, who opened the season in Milwaukee, was sent to the Suns in the fall for salary-matching purposes as part of the Bucks’ trade for Eric Bledsoe. The 27-year-old saw inconsistent minutes in Phoenix as he battled fellow centers Tyson Chandler and Alex Len for playing time.

Although Monroe has had his role reduced and has only appeared in 25 games this year, he has continued to be very effective on a per-minute basis, averaging 10.4 PPG and 7.4 RPG with a .601 FG% in 21.8 minutes per contest. He’ll join a Celtics frontcourt that could use some interior scoring and rebounding help. Outside of Al Horford, no one on Boston’s roster is averaging more than 5.5 RPG this season.

The Celtics are currently carrying 14 players on their roster, so they won’t need to waive anyone to make room for Monroe. However, the move could be bad news for Jarell Eddie, who would have been a candidate to rejoin the C’s if they still had a roster spot available after the trade deadline.

It’s also worth noting that there’s no rule preventing Hayward from returning to the Celtics before season’s end if he’s healthy enough to do so. The NBA initially awarded the C’s their DPE after an independent physician determined that the injured forward was more likely than not to be sidelined through June 15. If Hayward beats that recovery timetable, Boston wouldn’t be penalized at all.

As for the Pelicans, while they’ll be disappointed to miss out on Monroe, they did add another frontcourt piece on Thursday, acquiring Nikola Mirotic from the Bulls. New Orleans also still has two open roster spots, so the club figures to keep an eye out for more reinforcements on the trade market or buyout market.

Atlantic Notes: Porzingis, Hornacek, Monroe, Fultz

February 7th, 2018 at 5:10pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are still reeling after losing Kristaps Porzingis for the rest of the season and possibly longer, but GM Scott Perry told Brian Hayman of Newsday that a full recovery is expected. At a news conference today, Perry confirmed that Porzingis will need surgery for a torn ACL. The team doesn’t have a timetable for when it expects Porzingis to start playing again, but Perry did offer a bit of hope for Knicks fans.

“We have tremendous confidence in our medical group here that he’s going to make more than a full recovery,” Perry said. “And so whenever that time is, when he’s back on the court, we expect him to be back at full strength and better than ever. That was our message to him. And that’s his message to us.”

The injury complicates a huge offseason decision in New York as Porzingis becomes eligible for an extension to his rookie contract. He was in the middle of his most productive year, averaging 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and a league-leading 2.4 blocks per game, so a max offer seemed inevitable. However, the injury may change the equation as the Knicks may seek to work out a smaller deal or could let the Latvian star become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2019.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Porzingis’ misfortune affects numerous aspects of the Knicks‘ organization, including the future of coach Jeff Hornacek, according to James Herbert of CBS Sports. Hornacek has one more season left on his contract, but he was hired by former team president Phil Jackson and doesn’t have a strong connection to the current regime. Hornacek is 54-83 in a season and a half in New York and may be presiding over another second-half collapse.
Free agent center Greg Monroe will officially sign with the Celtics sometime before Thusday’s game, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. Monroe announced his plans to join the team on Friday, but there has been a delay in case the Celtics need an open roster spot for a trade before tomorrow’s deadline.
Sixers guard Markelle Fultz did a brief interview with TNT Tuesday night, prompting a round of post-game questions for coach Brett Brown about the rookie’s condition, relays Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He doesn’t go through everything — there are some drills that I take him out of — but he does go through a lot,” Brown said. “He does go through a large majority of the practice. It isn’t 100 percent yet, but it a very large majority of our practices.” The top pick in the 2017 draft, Fultz has appeared in just four games.

Atlantic Notes: Kanter, Deadline Plans, Lin, Monroe

February 4th, 2018 at 1:58pm CST by marksuleymanov

The Knicks‘ strategy approaching Thursday’s trade deadline is still unclear — the team has struggled to win games, but is within striking distance of the playoffs. Center Enes Kanter, who has arguably been the team’s best player, hopes the team caters its deadline decisions around a playoff push, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.

“I think right now, our only goal is making the playoffs,” Kanter said. “Whatever guys they move or they don’t move, my thing is just focus on the playoffs. Obviously, I like every guy on our team. I would want to play with all the guys for the rest of my season and career because they’re just good locker room guys — besides basketball, they’re really just good guys off the court.”

Players such as Courtney Lee, Kyle O’Quinn, Willy Hernangomez, and even Kanter himself have seen their names floated in trade rumors. However, Kanter, along with Kristaps Porzingis, is the latest player to express a desire for the team to prioritize a playoff push rather than selling assets.

Check out other Atlantic Division notes below:

Despite sentiments from Knicks players of continuing a run at the postseason, Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders opines that the team should sell at the deadline. Beer writes that while getting Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina playoff experience would be beneficial, it should not come at the cost of acquiring assets for the future.
Jeremy Lin‘s season-ending ruptured patellar tendon on opening night derailed a lot of optimism for the Nets at the season’s onset. While injuries have limited Lin to just 37 games in his first two seasons in Brooklyn, he’s expected to recover in time for Nets training camp next season, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes.
The Celtics agreed to a deal with Greg Monroe on Friday but the team may be waiting for a corresponding trade before making the signing official, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.

Celtics Notes: Smart, Rozier, Nader, Monroe

February 4th, 2018 at 12:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

The emergence of Terry Rozier may affect the Celtics’ willingness to trade Marcus Smart, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston. Rozier posted a triple-double earlier this week in his first NBA start, then followed that with a 31-point game.

Smart took over as Boston’s primary defensive stopper on the wing after Avery Bradley was traded to Detroit during the offseason. He has excelled in that role, posting the league’s second highest defensive rating of 98.9 among players averaging at least 30 minutes per game. But Smart will be a restricted free agent this summer, and the Celtics may be reluctant to match a sizable offer for someone who will be sharing time with Rozier.

There’s more today out of Boston:

Smart expects to remain out until after the All-Star break with a hand laceration he received by punching a glass picture frame, relays Taylor Snow of NBA.com. Smart, who was angry about misfiring on a potential game-winning shot against the Lakers in a January 23 game, suffered a cut that required 20 stitches. “Being a competitor, missing the last shot, you kind of get upset with yourself,” Smart said. “You rethink about that night and what you could’ve done differently. You kind of replay everything in your head. As a competitor you want to make every shot, especially with the game on the line, and we fell short. So it was just a lot of frustration about my play as well.”
The younger Celtics are taking advantage of increased playing time with Kyrie Irving sidelined by a right quadriceps injury, Blakely writes in a separate story. Rozier has been the obvious beneficiary, but rookie forward Abdel Nader has also been making some important plays. “I just think when you’re young and you get the opportunity to play, it’s great experience when you have the responsibility of the game on your shoulders instead of just, you know, when you increase your minutes played,” said Celtics coach Brad Stevens.
Once free agent Greg Monroe formally signs, he will make the Celtics the clear favorite in the Eastern Conference, Blakely adds in another piece. The veteran center announced his plans to come to Boston after agreeing to a buyout with the Suns earlier this week. He cleared waivers Saturday and is expected to sign soon. Blakely notes that Monroe will give the Celtics the additional size and inside scoring that they have been needing.

Latest On Greg Monroe

February 1st, 2018 at 4:20pm CST by Luke Adams

4:20pm: Monroe, whose buyout is now official, has spoken to both the Celtics and Pelicans and could make a decision within the next 24 hours, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7. If it comes down to those two teams, Monroe would have to weigh an increased role in New Orleans vs. a greater chance to win a title in Boston.

Scott Kushner of The Advocate tweeted earlier today that the acquisition of Mirotic won’t adversely affect New Orleans’ pursuit of Monroe.

11:06am: The Pelicans have gathered “significant momentum” in their pursuit of Monroe and intend to make an aggressive play for him, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, Pels head coach Alvin Gentry has already spoken to Monroe, who could decide on his next NBA home as soon as Friday or Saturday. Playing time will be a big factor in the veteran’s decision, Woj adds.

10:43am: The Suns and Greg Monroe reached a buyout agreement on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. However, Monroe has not yet been formally waived by Phoenix. Once he’s cut, he’ll spend two days on waivers before becoming eligible to sign with a new team, so no club with interest in the veteran center will be able to add him right away.

Still, the list of potential suitors for Monroe is growing longer. As we relayed in our initial report on Monroe’s buyout, the Celtics and Pelicans are viewed as two viable potential destinations for the big man, with the Thunder cited as a possible dark horse. TNT’s David Aldridge adds a couple more teams to that list today, tweeting that the Spurs and Wizards also have interest in Monroe.

While there are a number of teams trying to get into the mix, the buzz around the Pelicans continues to be the loudest. According to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), there’s “strong” mutual interest between the Pels and Monroe, who is a New Orleans native. With DeMarcus Cousins out for the season due to an Achilles injury, major minutes are available in New Orleans’ frontcourt — not every suitor could necessarily offer Monroe that significant a role.

Although the Pelicans could pitch Monroe on regular minutes and the idea of a homecoming, they may find themselves at a disadvantage if other teams offer the 27-year-old more than the minimum salary. New Orleans has portions of its mid-level and bi-annual exceptions available, but is only about $1.2MM away from a hard cap, limiting the team’s ability to sweeten the pot for Monroe. By comparison, a club like the Celtics could offer up to $8.4MM, the value of their disabled player exception (though I’d be very surprised if they do so).

It’s also worth noting that the Pelicans’ reported pursuit of Nikola Mirotic could be affected by how things play out with Monroe — it’s not clear if the club would have interest in adding both players.

Suns Buy Out Greg Monroe

February 1st, 2018 at 4:06pm CST by clarkcrum

FEBRUARY 1, 4:06pm: The Suns have officially waived Monroe, according to a press release issued by the club. He’s on track to clear waivers on Saturday.

We rounded up several rumors on Monroe’s next landing spot earlier today.

JANUARY 31, 9:53pm: The Suns and Greg Monroe have reached an agreement on a buyout, tweets Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN adds that there will be “significant interest” around the league in signing Monroe to a rest-of-the-season contract once he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The timing of the deal is a bit peculiar with the trade deadline about a week away, but Bordow surmises that a worthy deal likely wouldn’t have materialized for Monroe anyway, so the timing really didn’t matter to Phoenix. Wojnarowski adds that the Suns did in fact exhaust all trade possibilities before agreeing to the buyout.

Monroe, who was sent to the Suns earlier this season in the move that landed Eric Bledsoe in Milwaukee, had seen inconsistent minutes since arriving in Phoenix, with Tyson Chandler and Alex Len also vying for minutes at the five. Monroe has been viewed as a candidate to be traded or bought out since the Suns acquired him — a trade would have been challenging due to his $17.88MM cap hit.

Earlier in the evening, John Gambadoro of ArizonaSports.com opined that a buyout could be forthcoming after Monroe was not in attendance for tonight’s game against Dallas. Multiple sources indicate that the Celtics, who possess an $8.4MM disabled player exception, are a team to watch in the Monroe sweepstakes, with Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports reporting that the interest is expected to be mutual.

Helping Boston is the fact that its disabled player exception – acquired as a result of the season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward – does not prorate throughout the season. As detailed by ESPN’s Bobby Marks, this is different from the mid-level exception that most teams would utilize to offer Monroe a salary over the minimum.

In addition to the Celtics, another team said to be interested in Monroe is the Pelicans, per Bordow. New Orleans is in a position to make the playoffs and just lost All-Star DeMarcus Cousins for the rest of the season. Moreover, a potential deal for Nikola Mirotic just fell through after New Orleans refused to guarantee Mirotic’s 2018/19 salary.

New Orleans is over the cap and wouldn’t be able to offer a free agent more than the prorated portion of the bi-annual exception — even that would be tricky due to the team’s hard cap and tax ramifications. Still, Monroe is from the New Orleans area, so the Pelicans may be hoping that he is willing to take some sort of hometown discount. In addition, New Orleans could offer him a starting position, while the Celtics would almost certainly bring him off the bench.

The Thunder could also be a dark horse in the Monroe sweepstakes, according to Mannix. Meanwhile, the Bucks are ineligible to re-sign Monroe after trading him earlier in the league year.

2018 Free Agent Stock Watch: Phoenix Suns

January 21st, 2018 at 9:25pm CST by Austin Kent

The Suns have salvaged what initially looked like a lost season and that has done wonders for their direction heading forward. While nobody is going to confuse interim coach Jay Triano‘s team of upstarts for a contender in the making just yet, the new regime immediately changed the culture of the young organization.

Whether or not Triano remains at the helm, the Suns are in an enviable position with a lengthy list of promising prospects that Triano has helped develop. As a result, Phoenix is a semi-intriguing free agency destination that will, conveniently, have boat loads of cap space to boot.

While it may not seem like much yet, the Suns are slowly building toward something. A summer of shrewd, responsible decisions could put them in an even better position for the future.

Isaiah Canaan, PG, 27 (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $1.1MM deal in 2017
Canaan has bounced around over the course of a five-year NBA career and may have found himself a home in Phoenix. The point guard immediately usurped Mike James as the club’s primary backup point guard, and his skills as a volume scorer off the bench have come in handy. Even if Brandon Knight figures to factor into the club’s 2018/19 point guard rotation, there will be plenty of room for Canaan to slot in somewhere as a functional combo option. Expect him back at a reasonable price.

Alex Len, C, 25 (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $4.2MM deal in 2017
It’s hard to know what the Suns truly think of Len as a low-post building block. This year, with over $30MM tied up in between Greg Monroe and Tyson Chandler, it’s a wonder Len even makes his way onto the court at all. Despite the logjam, and a head coach that seems genuinely intent on getting the most out of his roster, Len has earned a consistent reserve role and has been modestly productive in it. Len signed a qualifying offer last summer which will make him an unrestricted free agent. There may not be a long list of suitors willing to bid for his services in the summer, but don’t be surprised if another team looks to poach him considering his upside.

Greg Monroe, C, 28 (Down) – Signed to a three-year, $50MM deal in 2015
There has been no player whose value has been impacted by the dawn of the small ball era more than Monroe. The lumbering big man has gone from being a revered young beast with the Pistons in 2011 to a stalwart reserve for the Bucks in 2015 to a barely playable expiring contract on the Suns in 2017. When the monster deal he inked with Milwaukee three years ago is officially off the books though, common sense will prevail and he’ll sign with a contender for dirt cheap and punish your favorite team in the playoffs. It doesn’t make sense to build an NBA team around a heavyweight in 2018, but that doesn’t mean those players can’t still be effective in select situations.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Daniels, Booker, Nuggets, Paul

January 1st, 2018 at 8:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Shooting guard Troy Daniels is one of the players the Suns could move before the trade deadline, according to Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic. Daniels is averaging 8.3 PPG off the bench this season while shooting 42.5% from long range. He is signed through next season for a very affordable $3.25MM but if rookie Davon Reed comes on strong this month, Daniels becomes expendable, Bordow continues. Veterans Tyson Chandler, Greg Monroe and Jared Dudley could also be moved during the next five weeks, Bordow adds.

In other Western Conference developments:

The Suns have been using Devin Booker at the point during crunch times situations, Bordow notes in the same piece. Interim coach Jay Triano believes Booker could eventually become a playmaker in the mold of James Harden.
A friendly schedule could boost the Nuggets over the two next months, as Christopher Dempsey of the team’s website points out. They play 17 of their next 25 games at home, where they have gone 12-4 this season. “Hopefully we can use January, which is a lot of home games, to kind of build and get ahead and not be two games over .500,” coach Michael Malone told Dempsey. “I’m pretty satisfied with where we are, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Gerald Green was surprised how much he was able to contribute after signing a non-guaranteed contract with the Rockets last week, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Green scored 18 points in 27 minutes off the bench on Friday in Washington, his first NBA game since a preseason stint with the Bucks. “I am very surprised about my wind,” he told Feigen. “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I’m actually happy with myself about the work I’ve been putting in. That’s really been paying off.”

Suns Notes: Canaan, Booker, James, Monroe

December 23rd, 2017 at 11:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Isaiah Canaan‘s playmaking and defense helped him win a roster spot in Phoenix, writes Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. After joining the Suns when they were granted a hardship exception 10 days ago, Canaan has been rewarded with a contract for the rest of the season.

“I wasn’t caught up in how many days and how long I might be around here,” he said. “Make a splash and showcase what I can do. I was going to come in, do what I knew I was capable of doing and what I needed to do to stay around.”

Canaan earned the nod over incumbent starting point guard Mike James, who was waived Friday. The Suns see Canaan as more of a natural point guard than James, Bordow explains, and were happy with how he ran the offense. He also exhibited a willingness to fight through screen-and-rolls and helped Phoenix hold its opponents under 100 points twice in his first four games with the team.

There’s more tonight out of Phoenix:

The Suns expect Devin Booker back in the lineup Tuesday, Bordow relays in the same story. That will mark exactly three weeks since he suffered a left adductor strain. Booker will participate in Sunday’s practice, then will be medically evaluated to see how he responds. “He’s moving well, but it’s a tough situation because I’m not one of the guys that’s going to make the decision on that,” coach Jay Triano said. “And I think we’re going to be cautious more than anything else. With where we are and where he in this franchise history, I think it makes sense to be cautious.”
With Booker returning soon and rookie guard Davon Reed expected back around the first of the year, the Suns chose to waive a player from their backcourt rather than seek a buyout with Greg Monroe, Bordow adds. Monroe sat out three straight games before playing 27 minutes Thursday, but was back on the bench tonight. However, Triano wants to keep him around for depth so Tyson Chandler won’t have to play on back-to-back nights.
Monroe hasn’t given up hope of returning to the rotation and has played pretty well when given the chance, Bordow notes in a separate piece. He is averaging 11.2 points and 8.3 rebounds and is shooting better than 60% from the field in 11 games since being acquired from Milwaukee. “I want to play,” Monroe said. “But I’m just trying to control what I can. That’s all I focus on. But it definitely is hard. I’d definitely like to be playing consistently.”