Greg Monroe will be a game changer for Brad Stevens

WASHINGTON -- The Celtics didn’t make a trade Thursday, but that did not stop them from completing one of the biggest transactions of the day across the league: Greg Monroe, a 27-year-old who signed a max contract a mere three years ago, made his Celtic debut after being officially signed as a free agent just hours before a 110-104 overtime win over the Wizards at Capital One Arena.

Despite not practicing with the team, Monroe was thrown into the fire against a Wizards front line with plenty of size. The 6-foot-11 forward shook off some early rust and delivered a productive outing, finishing with five points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals in 19 minutes. He was second on the team in plus/minus (plus-9) and even saw a couple minutes in overtime.

“I mean, it’s hard. It’s tough for anyone to make a debut anywhere,” Kyrie Irving explained. “I mean, you could play extremely well, you could play extremely bad. For Greg to come in, not necessarily playing over the last week or so, just kind of trying his best to integrate himself within our offense and defensive schemes, I give him credit for that.

"He’s a professional, he’s been in the league for a while. And I know he definitely feels like he can add something here. And that’s why he’s here. For us, we just feel like we have a low-post presence, an incredible rebounder, and someone we can definitely utilize for the rest of the season which I’m appreciative of.”

Monroe’s presence was felt immediately in the form of some unique lineup choices from Brad Stevens that we first saw signs of last week. Injuries forced the coach to go with some ultra big lineups (two traditional bigs and wings with size: Marcus Morris, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown at the shooting guard/small forward spots) over that span as the point guard position was decimated by injuries.

That same backcourt is a bit healthier now with Irving back in the lineup, but it did not stop Stevens from going back to his big bench look early and often, largely thanks to Monroe's presence. Irving and Al Horford both played under 30 minutes in regulation, largely because the Celtics finally had a bench unit that wasn’t falling apart without their top two players. Tatum, Brown and Morris provided shot creation. Rozier continues to be reliable as an outside shooter and fill-in point guard, while Monroe and Theis gave the Celtics a rebounding presence. It was a strong grouping (even without an injured Marcus Smart) on Thursday night that allowed Stevens to avoid using unproven rookies (Semi Ojeleye, Abdel Nader, Guerschon Yabusele) for the first time in a long time.

“We obviously didn’t play Semi tonight, but he’s a big part of our rotation, a part of who we are. I think we’re going to be a little bit in experimentation mode for a while,” Stevens said of his new-look lineup.

“It adds versatility,” Irving said of the shift to more bigs. “I think that’s one of the positives we have on our team is our versatility from our wings and our bigs. We have Marcus Morris who’s able to play the 3 or the 4, JT who’s able to play the 3 or the 4. And then you throw in Greg Monroe who’s able to play the 4 and the 5. It’s just incredible that Brad has more weapons to work with now. So we’ll see how it works out going forward.”

For his part, Monroe is just eager to fit into a situation where he can contribute to winning. The big man has only made it to the playoffs once in his eight-year career and was eliminated in the first round during that chance.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity, for them wanting to add me,” Monroe said. “They could obviously stuck to what they were doing. Like I said, they’re obviously playing at a high level all season long. So just being able to join a team that’s already rolling and being able to fit in, which we all agree that we think I can, it’s just the right fit.”

For now, Monroe is just one piece of an evolving roster puzzle. The Celtics won’t need to rely on him every night, but he’s a player that can give them a double-double on any given night. More importantly, he ensures they won’t get destroyed on the glass on a nightly basis (top-15 rebounding percentage) and can get an easy bucket on the blocks during nights the outside shots aren’t falling for teammates.

“I think one of the things you think about in adding Greg is that’s time you don’t have to stagger necessarily Kyrie and Al,” Stevens explained. “And so I think that’s a positive moving forward. We still will some, depending on who we’re playing, and matchups and those types of things. But I felt good about the way Theis and Greg played together.”

By signing Monroe with the DPE, the Celtics got a bigger fish than they probably could have landed via trade on Thursday anyway. They’ll likely add another outside shooter as a complementary bench piece via the buyout market (waiving Abdel Nader in the process) and have Smart waiting to return in another week as well. That’s a bench chock full of valuable role players and appealing options for specific matchups. It’s a luxury that Brad Stevens hasn’t had all year long. Even without Gordon Hayward in the fold, the head coach has options. Given his track record, that’s good news for the Celtics’ odds of making a deep run this postseason.