2018 NBA free agency grades: Raptors pick up Greg Monroe

The Toronto Raptors continued their busy offseason, acquiring a solid piece to add to what was already one of the best benches in the league with Greg Monroe.

Things seem to keep getting better up in Canada, as the Toronto Raptors have agreed to a deal with big man Greg Monroe worth $2.2 million over one year, according to Yahoo! Sports‘ Shams Charania.

The 2017-18 season was a wild one for Monroe, as the former Georgetown Hoya bounced around three different teams, finishing off the year with the Boston Celtics and averaging a total of 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game — a slight decrease from his career averages.

Standing at 6’11” and weighing 265 pounds, Monroe is more of a traditional big, preferring to have his back to the basket with a soft touch around the rim and quick footwork to nimble around his defender.

It may not be the best plan on offense given how prehistoric such moves are these days, but with more space than ever to operate, a steady diet of post play from Monroe could be effective at certain points throughout a game.

A career 70.7 percent shooter from the line, the Raptors won’t have to worry about falling victim to the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, and with a decent mid-range jumper, Monroe should be able to provide just a little bit of spacing as well.

His defense is a whole other story. As a lumbering, slow-footed center, Monroe has trouble when being switched onto smaller players, which means Toronto may only be able to deploy him when the matchup seems right.

Given that Masai Ujirii just traded away his backup big man in the deal that brought in Kawhi Leonard, signing a guy like Monroe made all the sense in the world.

It seems like his value has diminished plenty after bouncing from team to team, but he is still only 28 years old and produced 18.1 points and 12.1 rebounds per 36 minutes last season.

Also, because Monroe is only signed through this year, it really provides no financial constraint to the Raptors and is a great value at a time where so many lesser big man have gotten such massive amounts of money.

His game may be out of style, but Monroe gives the second unit an entirely new dimension on the offensive end, a guy they can throw the ball to in the post in order to slow the game down and produce points — something Jakob Poeltl wasn’t able to do.

Or, if head coach Nick Nurse wants to get really crazy, he can play both Monroe and Jonas Valanciunas together, sacrificing spacing but just punishing opponents in the paint, racking up trips to the line and owning the rebounding battle.

Monroe’s defense will certainly be a problem at times, but with so many versatile defenders on the roster, the Raptors should be able to mask his inabilities while still allowing him to do his thing on the offensive end.

Toronto is a team looking to make some serious noise in 2019, and while Monroe certainly doesn’t make others sound the alarms, he will have his moments and possibly games in which his presence down low is simply too much to handle.

Grade: B