Greg Monroe

Greg Monroe
PF/C - 6’11, 265lbs - 28 years old - 8 years of experience

After receiving the single biggest part-season pay check I can remember, the theory was that after being bought out by the Phoenix Suns (for whom he was redundant and only ever a contractual piece of the Eric Bledsoe trade), Monroe would pair with Al Horford in some two-post line-ups to overcome the Celtics’ occasional offensive droughts. Horford, it was thought, could cover for Monroe’s sub-par perimeter defence and incredibly sub-par contests at the rim, while Monroe got enough points through his post-ups and dribble-drives to offset the loss of Gordon Hayward (and, as it later turned out, Kyrie Irving) offensively.

Instead, despite that offensive famine ultimately being the one thing that prevented the Celtics from making the NBA Finals, Monroe stayed on the bench. There were no two-post line-ups. And Marcus Morris got his job.

Is Monroe’s defence really so bad as to negate all that which he did offensively? Not really. Monroe really is a very talented offensive player, with footwork, touch, good passing vision and a mid-range jump shot. A team that did not have Al Horford would have gotten more from that.

However, let us not be hypocrites. Marcus Smart takes away much of that which he brings to the team defensively with his poor offensive instincts, and yet he is sometimes beatified for it. Monroe’s defence is worse than Smart’s offence, sure - through transition and lob passes, Smart has some uses, whereas Monroe has only rebounds borne out of not contesting to offer on his end. But there’s not a million miles in it.

Player Plan: Expiring $5 million salary. The Celtics clearly do not seem to want him any longer, but that amount of money for this amount of production, however flawed it is, will definitely work somewhere else. After all, all the defenders in the world need a lead to defend, and in a league of switches, teams need offence from every position.

Greg Monroe
C, 6’11, 265lbs, 27 years old, 7 years of experience

Transformed his career this year by becoming a star sixth man, whereas he was once considered pretty surplus. The numbers were much the same, save for a spike in turnovers and assists, but the role was more concerted, and his success within it evident. Posts and dives, scores and boards, and defended better. Still not a rim protector and struggling against true speed, he at least tried and rotated better, and generally engaged with his new role. He’s therefore gone from an awkward fit with limited trade value to one of the two pieces of a potentially amazing two-headed centre combo. And fair play to him for ostensibly accepting that.

Player Plan: Has a $17,884,176 contract for 2016/17, final season. As valuable as he has become as a sixth man, he can also have that value elsewhere; with Maker growing into the starting role and salary pinches elsewhere, Monroe should be a candidate for trade.

Of the aforementioned 29 players signed so far, all but Wesley Johnson, DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, Gordon Hayward, Avery Bradley, Craig Brackins, Quincy Pondexter and Lazar Hayward have performance incentives in their contracts. This means that the top three picks all have them, as do most of the ones below them. So when I say it is standard practice to have performance incentives in rookie scale contracts, I am not just yanking your crank. It really is.

Greg Monroe

Monroe doesn't exactly add the rugged physical play that a frontcourt featuring Chuck Newhouse and Chris Wilcox could use. But he's good, which was always more important. I have no problem with the unconventional way that he plays, but for it to really work, he'll have to add a jumpshot. And I have much more confidence in his ability to do this than I do in his ability to start playing primarily on the interior on offense.

Pick 7: Needing front court help, and thankfully knowing it, the Pistons draft Greg Monroe out of Georgetown. Which might mean that Bumpy Jonas isn't starting at power forward next year.

Monroe isn't a freshman like Sexual Favors or Sexual Cousins; he's a junior who almost went back for more. He doesn't have their production either; Monroe is an average rebounder for someone of his physical tools, does not like to post up, can't do it particularly well when he does (unwilling and unable to use his right hand), doesn't take it strong to the rim, and is without much of a jumpshot. And while his assist numbers are extremely high, so are the turnover numbers. He's good, though.

Monroe's face-up athletic driving and passing game in a 6'11 frame offends purists, but it's fine in the modern NBA. To succeed, though, he'll have to develop the complimentary jumpshot. And if he does this, he'd best not fall in love with it. Monroe's career arc could go one of two ways; he could be the next Lamar Odom, or the next Troy Murphy. The Odom route is likely, and the Murphy route is unwise. He also has to develop a right hand, which the other two did not do. As of right now, Monroe does not have one either. At all.

(Don't pick me up on the dodgy wording in the phrasing there. You get the idea. Monroe can't make shots with his right, and he avoids trying to do so accordingly. It won't help.)

In his interview with Mark Jones, Greg Monroe has no eyes.