addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
BOSTON – Greg Monroe has unofficially become the first player-coach of the Boston Celtics since Dave Cowens in 1978-79.
OK, not quite, but Moose does have a side gig of teaching the Celtics everything they need to know about Milwaukee’s deer.
“He knows all their plays,” Terry Rozier said of Monroe’s knowledge of the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston’s first-round playoff opponent. “He knows all the players’ tendencies.”
When Rozier uses the word “all,” he’s not exaggerating. Monroe, who spent two-plus seasons with the Bucks, including all of this season’s training camp and the first two weeks of the regular season, made that clear to Celtics.com.
“I remember everything,” he said bluntly. “I remember everything.”
Monroe has deep working knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each Bucks player, as well as how Milwaukee’s coaching staff makes adjustments during a playoff series. He was a key member of the Bucks squad that took Toronto to six games last postseason and gave the Raptors plenty of trouble.
There have been players who have come through Boston in the past who have faced former teams in the Playoffs, such as Tyler Zeller against Cleveland in 2015, but most of them claimed that they felt no advantage by facing their previous employer. Their stories have often stated that within a playoff series, the teams know each other so well that the players’ ‘inside information’ is not anything that would otherwise be unknown.
Monroe takes a different stance on the topic.
“It helps a lot,” Monroe said, “especially when you’re talking about players’ habits. Because at the end of the day, the team might make an adjustment, but most players, especially in the Playoffs, they’re going to go to their bread and butter.
“Just playing with those guys, you learn their habits to put yourself in the best position to help the team,” he continued. “So I just try to share what I think guys’ mindsets will be, the moves they make, how they like to attack and be aggressive.”
Serving as a pseudo player-coach is not the only avenue through which Monroe is helping the Celtics during this first-round series. He’s also Boston’s top – and, in some way, their only – big man off of the bench.
Brad Stevens has used Monroe to bully teams when they go small, and Milwaukee certainly goes small at times. During Game 2, Monroe took advantage of his mismatches by scoring 12 points off the bench on 5-for-7 shooting.
Monroe is one of the most challenging big men in the league to guard with a big man. When he has a size advantage? Forget about it.
“I feel like he’s one of the bigs that’s unstoppable in the league when you get him one-on-one,” said Rozier.
Monroe is also savoring the opportunity that Stevens is giving him to refresh his skills as a playmaker, skills that helped him to become the seventh overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Monroe is averaging a career-best mark of 4.3 assists per 36 minutes with Boston. He had not averaged more than 3.8 assists per 36 minutes (AP36) during any of his first seven seasons in the pros, and he averaged 2.8 or fewer AP36 during five of those seven seasons.
“It’s fun,” Monroe said of the C’s playing through him at the elbows. “You just have so many options from that position, especially in this offense. Guys are always moving, cutting. Coming off the ball, you have a chance to keep it, you can shoot jumpers if it’s open, you can drive. It’s definitely fun.”
Stevens is the first NBA coach who has given Monroe a prominent role as a facilitator, and the big man is certainly thankful for that opportunity.
“I definitely feel comfortable,” he said of the role, “and I’m happy that he (Stevens) trusts me enough to be a decision-maker within this offense.”
So here we have a big man who is coming off of Boston’s bench, who is coaching his teammates on the side, who can score and rebound around the basket, and who can dish the ball as well?
Interesting. Monroe and Cowens have a lot more in common than many may have realized.