When the Bucks beat out some mega-market suitors to land Greg Monroe in free agency last summer, it was considered a major victory for the team. But after a rocky first year with Monroe on the roster, they are showing an increasing willingness to simply cut their losses and pull the plug on the Monroe venture outright.
According to a report by Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops on Monday, the Bucks are aggressively shopping Monroe. They may run into some difficulty finding a suitor for him, however, as he has a minimum of roughly $17 million remaining on his deal (a number that could jump to nearly $35 million if he picks up his player option for 2017-18).
Sources: Bucks are shopping Greg Monroe hard. He's owed $17.1 million next season and has a $17.8 million player option for 2017-18 season.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 20, 2016
Monroe, 26, averaged 15.3 points per game, 8.8 rebounds per game, and 2.3 assists per game in 2015-16. But with his slow, lumbering frame he proved a poor fit next to the Bucks’ young run-and-gun nucleus. Monroe has yet to really find his rapport with the team, often bogging down the offensive flow last season by commanding a high volume of touches in the post.
While Monroe supposedly chose the Bucks over basketball royalty like the Knicks and the Lakers for their potential as a playoff team, they were anything but in 2015-16, finishing 33-49 and missing the postseason by a full 11 games. They may be blaming Monroe for those struggles as they reportedly tried to dump him on the Pelicans last trade deadline.
As a traditional back-to-the-basket big man, Monroe seems like a relic of a bygone era. He doesn’t protect the rim, cramps floor spacing, and can’t switch out to the perimeter to defend smaller, quicker players. That severely restricts his upside on an otherwise up-tempo, versatile Bucks team. Unfortunately for them, it also limits the amount of interest Monroe may attract on the trade market as it doesn’t look like he’s worth his salary, even under the new cap. Milwaukee may ultimately be hard-pressed to find someone willing to solve their Monroe dilemma by taking him off their hands.
Image Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
H/T Rotoworld
