GREG MONROE DRAFT PREVIEW

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Player Profile: Greg Monroe

Greg Monroe stats

08-09 (frosh) 12.7/ 6.5/ 2.5/ 1.5/ 1.57 points per possession 57% FG

09-10 (soph) 16.1 / 9.6/ 3.8/ 1.5/ 1.2 /1.43 point per 52%

Assist to turnover ration improved from 1.03 to 1.14

Greg Monroe is a 6-11 C that brings a solid all around game after two years of award winning basketball (Pete Newell Big Man Of the Year, 3rd team all America).

Why I would argue that Greg Monroe would be the best suit for the Kings if they don’t land a top 2 pick.  True size with an all around game is not common.  More importantly, Greg Monroe appears to understand the secret.  The secret is to know your role and dominate within those parameters.   This past season was supposed to be Greg Monroe’s year to dominate, and carry his Hoyas to a possible Big East Title and a deep run into the tourney.  Instead of simply dominating the paint, Monroe showed he was a team player that was willing to defer to his very talented backcourt combo (Freeman, Wright- both will be 2011 draft picks).  While most analysts faulted him for this play, I watched arguing that he would be a monster of a teammate once he got to the guard friendly NBA.  It should be recognized by now that the league has ruined the game for big men in the mold of Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning.  The leagues best center is a dominating defensive player, who rebounds with a vengeance and scores basically of off pure athleticism.  Of course I’m talking about Dwight Howard, and beyond that there really only about 5-10 true centers.  What does that say; it says that to dominate you don’t need an old school post player to win in this league. 

So how does Monroe help the kings?  I would argue that Monroe would be able to step in right away for the Kings and show the tools to be one of the top 10 centers in the league within 2 years.

My top 10 centers

1.     Dwight Howard

2.     Brook Lopez

3.      Tim Duncan

4.     Yao Ming (if he returns to form)

5.     David Lee

6.     Chris Kaman

7.     Al Jefferson

8.     Andrew Bogut

9.     Andrew Bynum

10.  Andrea Bargnani

Joakim Noah, Mehemt Okur, Al Horford, Greg Oden, Marc Gasol, are all good players that will probably replace the two veterans or supplant other player.

More importantly than becoming a top ten center is the way he would help this team to their overall goal (a championship caliber team).  Monroe appears to be a great locker room guy, and a facilitating teammate on the court.  At the end of the day the kings don’t have a big man that can help Tyreke Evans and Carl Landry on a consistent basis.  While Hawes and Thompson would excel with the second unit, I just don’t see them as difference makers on a first unit. The Line up next year with Monroe would be

1st unit                

C: Monroe             

PF: Landry                

SF: Casspi               

G: Udrih                

G: Evans   

Bench Rotation

Greene

Thompson

Garcia

Hawes

Brockman             

Nocioni has no place on the floor with this team; we are young and should let the youth play.  He will be a pricey bench warmer, but that’s better than a pricey crappy player.

Monroe would basically be the passing big man that the kings have lacked for the better part of a decade.  He would allow Landry to continue to develop his scoring; he would allow Tyreke to get open more (he has run the Princeton offense for the last two years) with screens and backdoor passes.  With no true blue point guard, I would think the best scenario would be to assemble a team of skilled passers at all the positions (ala the LA Lakers). Running out a team that has 5 guys capable of 3-6 assists per game, makes the kings a very dangerous team.  Furthermore the Kings need a big man that has played in a tough college league (Big East) and showed a fair amount of toughness and success.  This team needs defense and in my opinion of players in our draft range Monroe may be the second best defensive player.  I know that there are shot blockers in the draft, but most of those players have a very limited offensive game and would be a mistake for the Kings to Draft.

The biggest reason we must take a center is because there is only 1 center in the first round of the 2011 mock draft boards.   Basically I would say that while Cousins is a very intriguing prospect, and Favors athleticism and attitude are very tempting, I believe that Monroe is the player that will truly help the kings in the long run.  If he had returned to school he would have been arguably the best player in College next year.  Monroe is a great player and I would love to see him in the purple and black next year