Are The Detroit Pistons And Greg Monroe Close To Deal?

Apr 16, 2014; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Greg Monroe (10) attempts a shot against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) during the first quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Pistons have one last off-season task left on the to-do list; signing restricted free agent Greg Monroe.  Now it appears that a two month stand-off is about to come to an end.  Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today is reporting that sources close to Greg Monroe say he is closed to signing the Detroit Pistons original qualifying offer.

"Forward-center Greg Monroe has informed the Detroit Pistons he will accept the qualifying offer, play for Detroit in 2014-15 and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, two people familiar with Monroe’s plan told USA TODAY. The people requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Monroe’s decision."

When a story like this breaks from a national source (if it is accurate) it doesn’t take long for the beat writers to confirm the report.  At the time of this post those stories have not been confirmed and Greg Monroe has yet to sign on the dotted line. That might indicate that rumors of a deal are a little premature.  If so it wouldn’t be the first time someone has jumped the gun during the Greg Monore media marathon.

Lots Of Smoke Very Little Fire

There have been so many stories about Greg Monroe and the Detroit Pistons this off-season that it is hard to tell which end is up.  There is no better example of this than “sources” recently saying that Greg Monore had turned down a 4 year $64 million contract. A report Monroe later refuted through his twitter account.

Now just a few days later with the report by USA Today about his  intention to sign the qualifying offer, Monroe took to twitter again with a confusing statement.

Right From The Moose’s Mouth

Greg Monroe is relatively honest with his fans via Twitter.  If he was about to sign a qualifying offer he wouldn’t put out a statement claiming to not know about a pending deal.

I think that if the Greg Monroe saga has taught us anything it’s that the only people that know what will happen next is Greg Monroe and his agent.  So for now the Detroit Pistons and their fans will just have to wait on the Moose’s next move.