If you watched Wednesday’s Boston Celtics-Detroit Pistons tilt and thought, “Man, I’d love to have Greg Monroe on my team,” you weren’t alone.
The 6-foot-11, 250-pound power forward pounded the Celtics for 29 points off the bench, including 11 in the fourth quarter to lead a Pistons rally before Boston ultimately prevailed 109-102 in overtime.
“Monroe, obviously, that’s a tough spot especially when you’re coaching, because you know what can beat you is the three, and they keep chipping away with two after two,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after the game. “And I thought (Brandon) Bass and Tyler Zeller guarded them about as well as you could, but he just made shot after shot after shot.”
Monroe is set to hit free agency this summer, and as a former college teammate of Celtics forward Jeff Green at Georgetown, he said he’s at least entertained the idea of coming to Boston.
“We joke about it,” Monroe said, via WEEI.com. “We all joke about it, man, but obviously it’s a lot more than us two coming here or us two talking about it. Right now, I’m just focused on where I’m at. Whenever the time is and if everything is right, then obviously I’ll always weigh my options, but right now I’m not worried about that.”
Adding Monroe wouldn’t address the Celtics’ need for a rim protector, as he averages just 0.2 blocks per game. Monroe would provide post scoring, however, as he and center Andre Drummond showed in scoring 56 of Detroit’s 102 points Wednesday.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge addressed his team’s lack of rim protection Thursday in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich,” but said it’s an issue that’s unlikely to be solved before the offseason.
“I’m always trying to get quality. We’re trying to get better, more impactful players,” Ainge said. “We do have a hole from the rim-protecting standpoint. You can’t just add rim protection and give up other things that you have that are solid. A quality one is not easy to find; maybe through the draft or free agency. But we will work all the way up to the trade deadline to see if we can fix that hole in the meantime.”
Monroe has spent his entire career with the Pistons since being drafted seventh overall in the 2010, averaging 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He is making $5.5 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract.
Thumbnail photo via Raj Mehta/USA TODAY Sports Images
