Houston Rockets: Three front court players to target before trade deadline
Player #2: Greg Monroe
Greg Monroe, a nine-season vet and Top 10 pick of the 2010 NBA Draft is starting show slight signs of wear-and-tear after ruling the paint during the seasons during the earlier part of his career with the Detroit Pistons. He was a force to be reckoned with then and can certainly be one now without having starter minutes being divvied out to him.
He’s one of the last of the “old school” centers that has to have the offense flow through him. The good thing with Monroe is that he’s been able to adapt and still retain value, making stops with the Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics and now currently the Toronto Raptors.
He still doing what he does best — attacking the boards and playing hard-nosed defense. He doesn’t provide that much by way of shot-blocking but his 6-foot-11 frame will be a valuable presence in the paint to help clog it up with Faried while Capela heals from thumb surgery.
Monroe has been averaging 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 56.1 from the charity stripe which is close to his career-worst. He’s been averaging 11.3 minutes per game for the Raptors through 33 games — two starts — this season.
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He currently has the 10th-highest offensive rebound percentage among active players (11.3).
Despite limited minutes, Monroe has still been effective defensively, putting up a 106 defensive rating per 100 possessions, which would certainly be tops among the current Rockets Kenneth Faried (109) and James Harden (110).
I do have concerns with him being able to keep up with this high-paced offense, especially with the pick-and-roll but since Mike D’Antoni has been drawing up a lot of isolation plays for Harden, it may not even matter for Greg as long as he’s contributing on the defensive end.
Monroe may not have to be a guy the team would have to trade for but Daryl Morey can hopefully convince the Raptors to release so that they can claim him off waivers.