Greg Monroe
New Orleans Pelicans
The Phoenix Suns traded Eric Bledsoe for Greg Monroe on November 7th. Until February 1st, when he was eventually waived, the Suns deployed the strangest center rotation in the league. Either Monroe, Tyson Chandler or Alex Len could start on any given night. Another one of the three would come off the bench. The third would recieve a DNP-CD.
It was an odd decision from management. Maybe they needed more time to make up their minds about who they wanted to keep. It’s possible they wanted to boost Monroe’s trade value while trying not to torpedo Alex Len’s and Tyson Chandler’s. Or they could have just been contributing to the tank by giving none of their centers an opportunity to get a feel for their role on the team.
Regardless of their intentions, Monroe played well in his limited minutes, in fact, his first game in a Suns uniform he got the start and didn’t disappoint with 20 points and 11 rebounds. He’d then go on to have several stellar games for the Suns before getting waived.
Moose is still a capable center. He played more efficicent minutes after Boston picked him up. They may have chosen Aron Baynes to re-sign but with Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving set to be healthy before the season tips off, they needed a defensive minded big man more than a scorer.
He has improved as a defender as well, though. He’ll never be great on the other end of the floor, but the effort was there. What Monroe is great at is scoring efficiently and the New Orleans Pelicans could use that coming off the bench behind Anthony Davis next season.