At media day on Monday, Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd told reporters that big man Greg Monroe and guard Michael Carter-Williams will come off the bench to start the season. This is not exactly a surprise -- both were moved to the second unit in February, though Monroe took his starting spot back a month later -- but it's not something that Kidd had to do. More surprising: Kidd told the media before he told Monroe, according to the Racine Journal Times' Gery Woelfel:
When a reporter told Monroe that Kidd had told the media he would be coming off the bench, Monroe said, "That's news to me.''
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) September 26, 2016
This doesn't speak well of Monroe's relationship with the Bucks. This time last year, he was their prized free-agent acquisition, but he didn't prove to be a great fit and his name appeared in trade rumors early in the season. Milwaukee reportedly shopped him this summer, but he ended up staying put, and part of that is that it's difficult to find trading partners that make a ton of sense.
The best thing that Monroe can do is make the most of this reserve role. For defensively deficient big men who lack perimeter skills, punishing opposing bench players isn't so bad. Al Jefferson is going to do the same thing for the Indiana Pacers and Jahlil Okafor might end up doing it for the Philadelphia 76ers, too. If Monroe is effective coming off the bench, then maybe he could even earn himself a promotion (or a trade).
