Jordan Schultz of the Huffington Post:
Hearing Suns may be considering a Greg Monroe offer. They have space to get both him and Bledsoe but would lose cap flexibility long-term.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 20, 2014
Schultz doesn't often break news. That's not to say he doesn't have NBA connections -- he's the son of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who used to own the Supersonics before selling out the city of Seattle the franchise to the current owners of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But most of his contributions to the NBA media landscape are things like "LeBron James Heads Back To Cleveland, But Let's Go Easy On The Hero Talk." Need a hot take? He's your guy. Need someone to tell you the Winners And Losers of the NBA Draft or NBA Free Agency? Be sure to read The Schultz Report!
Need a rumor to get people talking and fill the doldrums of NBA free agency -- and what the hell, pick up some retweets and mentions along the way? That's easy, too!
Sources: The top candidate to replace Jim Schwartz as #Lions head coach is indeed Matt Millen.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) December 30, 2013
Forget that Dwight Howard met w/Rockets first. Great source confirms Dwight Howard is likely to sign with the Dallas Mavericks.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 1, 2013
So here we are: the Suns may be "considering" making an offer to Greg Monroe. OK. If they sign him and Bledsoe, they lose long-term flexibility. Yep, that's how math works.
Considering how far apart the Suns and Bledsoe are in negotiations, I have a hard time believing the franchise will suddenly pony up the money to sign both him and Monroe, a player who doesn't quite fit their offensive style. There's something to be said for acquiring talent for the sake of talent -- Dan Feldman makes that argument at Pro Basketball Talk -- but talent in the wrong situation often loses value. (See: Smith, Josh)
In any case, it's worth remembering that only three teams* still have the cap space to make Monroe a max offer: the Suns, the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers (who, let's face it, don't really count since no one expects they'll actually spend their money). The Sporting News' Sean Deveney makes a strong case for how the Suns and Hawks hold all the cards for the likes of Bledsoe and Monroe, but I have a hard time seeing either team making an offer the Pistons wouldn't simply match. Who knows, I could be wrong.
(*Update: My math was wrong, other teams have the max, and Atlanta is just shy. Here's a relatively recent list of who has money left.)
Now your thoughts. How worried are you that the Suns might steal Moose from the Pistons?
(hat-tip to VinceD for the FanPost)