Greg Monroe reportedly will be changing uniforms yet again.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported on Monday that the eight-year veteran has agreed to a contract with the Toronto Raptors.
The No. 7 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft, Monroe spent the first five years of his career with the Detroit Pistons. He signed a three-year, $50 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks as a free agent in 2015.
This past season, he spent time with three different organizations. He started the campaign with Milwaukee before being traded along with draft picks to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Eric Bledsoe in November. He was bought out by Phoenix in February and subsequently signed with the Boston Celtics.
Overall in 2017-18, the 6’11”, 265-pound center averaged 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. Despite bouncing around from team to team, he shot a career-high 56.5 percent from the floor.
At his best, Monroe has been a big man who can give a team 15 points and nine rebounds a night. Those were numbers he averaged for a five-year stretch from 2011-16.
The 28-year-old is coming off a pair of “down” years, but he still can bring a lot to a team.
“He’s a big body,” Boston forward Marcus Morris said of Monroe in February, per Taylor Snow of Celtics.com. “Even if he’s not scoring, he’s carving space for other guys to be able to drive. He’s well respected around the league so that goes a long way.”
Adding depth up front became a need for Toronto after it shipped center Jakob Poeltl along with DeMar DeRozan and a future draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
The Raptors could have used another rim protector to help Serge Ibaka, but Monroe’s size and scoring ability made him too good to pass up.
With Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas having already proved their value in Toronto, Monroe will find himself in a backup role, assuming everyone stays healthy. That means he will have to make the most of his minutes and prove he can be a key rotation piece for first-year coach Nick Nurse.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
