When I think about how badly Greg Monroe’s career derailed, I legitimately get sad. Normally I don’t feel emotions, much less emotions like sympathy, much less sympathy towards well-paid famous guys, but it is what it is. I can’t deny my emotions. And my emotions whenever Greg Monroe crosses my mind are predominantly sad in nature.
When he signed with the Bucks for a shorter-than-normal deal, the conventional wisdom is that Monroe would parlay his strong play in Milwaukee into a longer-duration max or near-max contract. It didn’t quite work out that way. His minutes in Milwaukee dwindled and he was dumped onto the Suns, who initially played him big minutes, but soon phased him out of the rotation just like the Bucks had phased him out. Then the Suns waived him, and the Celtics picked him up.
The summer of 2018 was the off-season where, just three years ago, it had been assumed that Monroe would get his big payday as a top five center in the league who had ample playoff experience and had been shown to be a winner. Instead, he signed with the Raptors for super cheap, but, again, couldn’t stay on the floor because of his slowness. Traded to the Nets for cash, he was waived, then picked up by the Celtics on a ten-day to relive past success, but they didn’t really want him, so he signed with the Sixers. And that’s where we’re at now.
Thinking about all that makes me want to go to sleep and never wake up again. Just never wake up from that dark, blissful sleep. Sleeping forever, never to wake again.
From a potential max contract to scrounging the league, begging GM’s for any kind of contract at all, Monroe’s fall from grace was swift and surprising. It’s almost like a Carmelo situation, where analytics have taken hold in every front office, and slow players who can’t play defense and who only want to chuck shots are no longer valued. Even in this game, where he scored eighteen points, the whole thing felt like a circus and the commentators didn’t really talk about him all that much.
If I was the GM of a team, I would honestly give him a four-year, fifty-million dollar deal just because I felt so bad. Then I would get fired. But it would be worth it I think.