THINKING BIG
The Raptors add some frontcourt depth, and take a little away from the rival Celtics.
The Toronto Raptors have decided to fill one of their last two roster spots with a veteran big man.
According to league sources and internet reports, the team will add 28-year-old centre Greg Monroe on a one-year deal for the coming season.
Think Jared Sullinger Redux, an inexpensive veteran from whom not much is expected, but who will have to carve out a spot in the rotation. It is a sensible gamble for this season. If it works, great; if not, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The $2.2 million (U.S.) deal gives Toronto a proven NBA commodity to back up centre Jonas Valanciunas and a front court that includes Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam and, perhaps, promising second-year player OG Anunoby.
Monroe spent last season flitting between Milwaukee, Phoenix and Boston. All told, he averaged 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while playing about 20 minutes per game with the three teams.
The decision by the Raptors to sign the-New Orleans native signals a move toward a more veteran team hoping to make a run at the Eastern Conference title.
Not only will his absence put a dent in Boston’s roster, the sixfoot-11 big man is a proven NBA player who’s started 415 games in an eight-year career that began with five years in Detroit.
And instead of filling the end of the rotation with a young player and an eye for the future, the Raptors have settled on a short-term veteran who can help immediately.
Given the uncertainty of what the roster might look like in 2019-20 if the Kawhi Leonard gamble ends up as a one-year failed experience, not being tied to another player going into next summer will give president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster a tiny bit more flexibility next July.
Monroe is a prototypical midrange, low-post big man, who has never made a three-point field goal in his career, although he has only attempted 12. He is, however, a solid inside presence and a good playmaker who could find his way into a crowded rotation for first-year coach Nick Nurse.
The Raptors were in need of frontcourt depth after losing Jakob Poeltl to San Antonio as part of the DeMar DeRozan-Leonard-Danny Green transaction, while cutting Lucas Nogueira adrift as an unrestricted free agent.
Instead of filling the hole with a young player with an eye to the future, they got a veteran on the cheap; the contract is for the minimum value.
Toronto’s rotation for the coming season is full and now fuller. With a presumptive starting five of Kyle Lowry, Green, Leonard, Anunoby or Ibaka and Valanciunas, and a backup group of Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles, either Anunoby or Ibaka, and Pascal Siakam, they are already at 10 without considering either Monroe or Norm Powell.
That’s an awful lot of players for a few minutes to go around.
And Nurse, who moves a couple of seats left from being an assistant to former coach Dwane Casey, to being the head man, will have lots of significant decisions to make if Ujiri and Webster can’t make any more moves before training camp begins in late September.