Yesterday afternoon New York Daily News New York Knicks beat writer Frank Isola aired out “maybe the worst kept secret in the NBA”, after Isola wrote the following about Detroit Pistons’ forward Greg Monroe’s possible summer plans when Monroe becomes an unrestricted free agent:
“Maybe the worst kept secret in the NBA is that Phil Jackson plans to pursue Detroit Pistons forward Greg Monroe in free agency this summer. In fact, one league executive called it “about as close to a done deal as you can get.”
A done deal is illegal of course and would open Jackson and the Knicks to tampering charges. A more likely scenario is that representatives from both parties have made their interest known and will proceed accordingly once the free-agent recruiting period begins on July 1st. It happens all the time.
Still, the talk among scouts and executives who attended the Portsmouth Invitational is that Monroe is Jackson’s primary free-agent target. It’s easy to connect the dots; Monroe’s agent, David Falk, is one of the few agents that Jackson has a relationship with going back more than 20 years when Falk was representing Michael Jordan. Falk is looking for a max contract for Monroe and the Knicks, coming off the worst season in franchise history, are happy to oblige.”
New York Knicks’ czar Phil Jackson being interested in signing Monroe isn’t surprising, what is surprising is Isola’s assertion that this is essentially “done” behind closed doors.
(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
There is a lot to like about Monroe’s game: he’s a very good passer for his size, people close to Jackson seem to think he’d be a nice fit for the triangle offense (regardless of how funny, or strange, the reasons are) and he’s killed offensively around the hoop. To believe there isn’t mutual interest between the two sides would appear to be a bit naive, but to think this could be a “done deal” before Monroe really has had the chance to explore unrestricted free agency is a bit harder to believe.
Although, a player with a skill set similar to Monroe’s, Los Angeles Lakers’ big Ed Davis, signed with Los Angeles at a surprisingly low price last summer, so perhaps Monroe doesn’t see himself, or his agent, rather, getting a max-contract offer from that many teams this summer. Maybe Monroe’s camp sees the Knicks don’t have a realistic shot at Marc Gasol, Kevin Love or other big-name bigs like that and will overpay for his services, because, well, they have a rapidly aging star and need help inside sooner rather than later.
Who knows?
Still, like Isola points out, these kinds of things happen in the NBA all the time,and it’s not like either side can publicly come out and backup Isola’s sources, as it’d be tampering. Jackson’s relationship with Monroe’s agent, David Falk, isn’t a coincidence in this story, as they do have a history together dating back to Jackson’s Chicago Bulls days.
This afternoon when asked about Isola’s article Monroe said the following according to a tweet from MLive’s Detroit Pistons beat writer David Mayo:
#Pistons Greg Monroe: “Y’all have to go ask Frank Isola what he thinks he knows.” Says no #Knicks deal, by him or Falk.
— David Mayo (@David_Mayo) April 12, 2015
Monroe, now in a tough spot, will have to deal with this rumor until the regular season wraps up for Detroit as the Pistons play a game in New York on Tuesday night.
