Aug 14, 2018
Raps GM Webster: Monroe 'a proven big man'
The Toronto Raptors officially signed forward Greg Monroe on Tuesday, more than a week after the two sides reportedly agreed to a one-year deal. Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported on Aug. 6 the deal is worth $2.2 million.
TSN.ca Staff
The Toronto Raptors officially signed forward Greg Monroe on Tuesday, more than a week after the two sides reportedly agreed to a one-year deal.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported on Aug. 6 the deal is worth $2.2 million.
“Greg is a proven big man in this league,” said Raptors general manager Bobby Webster in a release on Tuesday. “We believe Greg’s experience will be a great addition to not only our frontcourt, but to our team culture as we continue to build towards our goal of an NBA championship.”
He is expected to serve as the backup centre behind Jonas Valanciunas.
TSN's Josh Lewenberg noted last week that the Raptors' biggest need was rim protection and while Monroe doesn't exactly address that, Toronto is confident in their perimeter defence which could help offset the lack of protection in the paint. Lewenberg also notes that Monroe gives them an experienced and talented scorer and passer at a position of need.
In 51 games last season split between the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics, Monroe averaged 10.2 points to go along with 6.3 rebounds.
Prior to that, Monroe spent five seasons with the Detroit Pistons and two-and-a-half seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks. He fell out of favour toward the end of his tenure in Milwaukee, playing a career-low 15.3 minutes per contest for the first five games of last season before eventually being dealt to the Suns and then to the Celtics 20 games later.
For his career, Monroe averages 13.7 points per game to go along with 8.6 rebounds on 51.5 per cent shooting from the field.
He was selected No. 7 overall in the 2010 NBA Draft out of Georgetown.