BOSTON — The Celtics were able to give Greg Monroe the most money in the buyout market, and as good a chance as any team bidding for his services to play for a championship, after Monroe reached an agreement to flee the flailing Phoenix Suns last month.
What was never promised was playing time for the seventh-year big man who started 401 of 538 NBA games entering this season and has averaged 29.1 minutes a night in his career. [...]
BOSTON — The Celtics were able to give Greg Monroe the most money in the buyout market, and as good a chance as any team bidding for his services to play for a championship, after Monroe reached an agreement to flee the flailing Phoenix Suns last month.
What was never promised was playing time for the seventh-year big man who started 401 of 538 NBA games entering this season and has averaged 29.1 minutes a night in his career.
“We were really clear about that,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said before Wednesday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden. “I think you have to be.”
Still, it raised some eyebrows when Monroe did not get on the court in Monday night’s 109-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Stevens said he thought the second unit was playing too well with Daniel Theis at the center spot to break up the rotation in the first half, then elected not to go with Monroe for what amounted to garbage time late in the second half.
Monroe said he understands that could be part of the deal in joining a team that had spent most of the first two-thirds of the season atop the Eastern Conference.
“We knew where they were,” Monroe said before Wednesday night’s game. “We were just seeing about working me in wherever they could. We had that discussion, though.”
Monroe played 82 minutes over his first six games with the Celtics — averaging 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds — but figures to be in for an uptick in time as long as Theis remains out with a sore hamstring. Stevens said before Wednesday’s game that the injury does not appear serious, but “at the end of the day with muscular injuries you just never know.”
“You never want anybody to go down,” Monroe said, “but I’m always ready and willing to play. If my number is called, I’ve got to make sure to do whatever I can to help the team.”
Monroe allowed it’s been difficult playing for his third team in one season. But he added he would much rather be in his current position fighting for time on a team with NBA Finals aspirations than he was in Phoenix where he failed to play in 15 of his final 25 games for a NBA lottery squad.
“It’s just adjusting again,” he said. “Especially this time, it’s the crunch time of the year, on a playoff team. Just trying to get caught up to speed and work my way in.”
Stevens said he expects that will happen even when everyone is fully healthy based on matchups and whether the opposition elects to play big — which would open the door more for Monroe — or goes small with Theis playing more center and Marcus Morris more power forward.
“He brings a uniqueness from a skill-set standpoint that our other guys don’t have,” Stevens said. “So there will be times when they don’t get as much opportunity. That is the other side of the equation. But we’re all in it to try to be the best that we can be. All those guys are a big part of that.”
Monroe, who signed for $5 million of the designated-player exception the Celtics received after Gordon Hayward’s potentially season-ending injury, said he will continue to work to learn the Celtics defensive concepts in hopes of contributing to a long playoff run.
“These guys were rolling before I got here,” he said. “I don’t expect anything to stop because of me.”
Theis out
Stevens said Theis began to feel the hamstring issue during Monday’s victory. When it didn’t get any better from Tuesday’s off day to Wednesday morning, he was downgraded from probable to out. … With the turn of the calendar to March, it appears the Celtics will not be the active players in the buyout market — beyond Monroe — they were expected to be. Only a handful of rotation players were let go before the Feb. 28 deadline, with Stevens saying before Wednesday’s game he has not had any substantial discussions with Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge about bringing in any of the players who remain unsigned. “I don’t even know who is in that market,” Stevens said. “I haven’t even paid attention. We were talking about it yesterday. But I don’t see us changing. I don’t see us making any other additions.”