Greg Monroe to meet with Celtics


At least one big name free agent will be meeting with the Celtics when free agency opens on the 1st.
Five teams have shown serious interest — the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers. Monroe said he’ll meet with those teams this week.

“I’m looking to be with a team that’s ready to win,” said Monroe during a timeout at his youth basketball clinic Saturday morning at the Delgado Community College gymnasium. “Hopefully it will be a team where I’m the missing piece.”

Not too many years ago a player like Greg Monroe wouldn't even see free agency. He's a strong post-up big man that a team would be foolish to let go. In the new NBA where centers are becoming dinosaurs, teams wither want to play 4 out or 5 out (like the Warriors did when they played Draymond Green at center). One post player stunts the flow of the offense. Two kills it. The Pistons already have Andre Drummond, so there is no room for Monroe. Remember when the Rockets tried to play both Dwight Howard and Omer Asik together? They never looked worse.

Monroe makes sense for the Celtics, since he'd immediately become our best player. He's a legit post up threat, which we haven't had since Shaq's brief tenure on the Celtics. I guess one could consider Sully a post up threat, but Monroe is a much better player than Sully.

The reason why Monroe is available is because he doesn't do the two things that big men in 2015 need to do. He's not a rim protector and he can't step out and hit 3's (or at least long KG 2's). You have to play Monroe at the 5, so the best player to put next to him would be a 3 point shooting shot blocker. That combo doesn't really exist, so likely you'd just pair him with a Kelly Olynyk type and just deal with not having a rim protector (Basically what the Warriors did and the Cavs as well when they played Tristan Thompson at the 5).

Who knows? Maybe Jordan Mickey can extend his range as he matures as an NBA player and he'd be a solid fit next to Monroe. I think we learned on draft night that the Celtics collection of mediocre assets even combined together are not going to bring in a star. We aren't tanking (Stevens is too good of a coach to lose that much and fans don't have the patience), so we're going to have to find a star on the free agent market. While Love would be better, Monroe would be a solid consolation prize, and at this point it might make more sense to go after the 2nd tier guys like Monroe and Tobias Harris, while everyone else battles for the 1st tier guys. If you wait, you'll have more competition.

While not the ideal player in the new small ball NBA, Monroe would be a solid signing. We'll know much better later this week how likely a signing it will be.





Related: Report: Boston and New York are top suitors for Greg Monroe
What does Jordan Mickey bring to the Celtics?