The Milwaukee Bucks were able to win the bidding for Greg Monroe's services by agreeing to a 3-year $50 million deal with a player option in the last year. Greg Monroe is significant not only because Milwaukee were in need of a center but more so for who they beat out in bidding for Monroe, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and even the Portland Trail Blazers.
How did the Bucks beat out the New York Knicks, who looked favorites to land the big man, and the prestigious Los Angeles Lakers? According to Howard Beck, Monroe was convinced the Bucks were the team with the most potential to succeed in the postseason. He was offered the max by all four teams, but with the unclear situation in Portland, the awfulness of the Knicks and the similar feeling towards Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, the Bucks turned out to be the best option out there.
The Milwaukee Bucks have a great young core consisting of Jabari Parker, Michael Carter Williams, Kris Middleton and Giannis "the Greek Freak" Antetokounmpo. Compare that to the Lakers who have a Kobe Bryant running on fumes and a Knicks team centered around an overpaid Carmelo Anthony and nothing else
Not too long ago it seemed ludicrous to think that a story franchise like the Lakers would miss out on a player they coveted to a small-market team such as the Milwaukee Bucks. Even the New York Knicks who haven't won an NBA title in over 42 years have been known to at least be able to overpay for big name players such as Amare Stoudemire and re-signing Carmelo Anthony with little to offer as far as roster talent goes.
The Milwaukee Bucks, along with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, resemble a changing of the guard, so to speak, of small-market teams ability to attract free agents to their respective cities. San Antonio seem to be the favorites to land LaMarcus Aldridge and Oklahoma City is certainly a destination as long as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are holding down the fort.
What's the common thread between all three teams? To put it simply, an appealing core of roster talent with a promising future.
The Thunder have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in their prime years while the Spurs have a young rising star in Kawhi Leonard to go alongside their veteran core of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. The Buck's young core has already been mentioned and how exactly how have these teams acquired such promising young talent, the NBA draft.
Each one of these three teams have had the ability to draft talented players and develop them within their organization and that has led to other players wanting to join them.
It's so difficult in today's NBA to lure away big time free-agents unless you have an intriguing roster already in place, which is why the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks have struggled in rebuilding their respective teams. Once teams have young stars like Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard they normally are able to retain them and see their team in the playoff hunt year after year.
With the rise of the salary cap in the next couple years and beyond, along with an NBA player's ability to market themselves on a national level, it allows players to not be as attracted to the situations of the Lakers and Knicks. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard and even Jabari Parker all have national endorsements with companies like Nike, Adidas or Under Armour that pay them handsomely outside of their NBA salary.
All of this is not to say that the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Knicks will never be relevant again but it does indicate that these two storied franchises in large markets may not have the ability for the 'quick fix' they've been able to take advantage of in the past.
Even the Boston Celtics, perhaps the most historic franchise of them all, went into full rebuilding mode in the summer of 2013 after trading away Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets but have used the draft to build a nice young nucleus under the direction of head coach Brad Stevens. The Celtics surprised a lot of people by making it to the playoffs this past season and look to have a promising future.
The Milwaukee Bucks have shown that if you can draft well and keep your young nucleus intact then it opens the door for when you go hard after a free agent you really want such as Greg Monroe. It is indeed a new day in the NBA that provides small-market teams such as Milwaukee's of the league hope and promise for the future.