One of the newest members of the Toronto Raptors is big man Greg Monroe who signed with Toronto in free agency, eight years after he was drafted seventh overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Prior to being drafted, Monroe was named the Big East Rookie of the Year in his freshman season at Georgetown, where he spent two seasons before making the jump to the NBA. In his sophomore season with the Hoyas, he averaged 16.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 blocks in 34.2 minutes per game.
Monroe spent five seasons in Detroit, before signing with the Milwaukee Bucks prior to the 2015-16 season. After two seasons with the Bucks, Monroe had stops in Phoenix and Boston before signing with the Raptors this summer.
The 6-foot-11, 265-pound Monroe has career averages of 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds in 28.9 rebounds per game. His highest-scoring season came in 2013, when he averaged 16.0 points per game. In 2015, he averaged 10.2 rebounds, also a career-high. Since signing with the Raptors, Monroe has said he is working on extending his range and expanding his game.
Though he has a career-average of 2.3 assists per game, he’s a much better passer than illustrated by this stat. Monroe has two triple-doubles in his career, first a 21-point, 12-rebound, 11-assist triple-double as a member of the Pistons in 2012, then a 19-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in 2018, coming off the bench as a member of the Boston Celtics.
The NBA in 2018 is vastly different than the league that Monroe entered eight years ago. An explosion of long-distance shooting has changed the landscape for NBA big men, but Monroe can play both centre and power forward positions, backing up Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka, and filling in a roster that will be without big men Jakob Poeltl and Lucas Nogueira this season. Monroe’s court vision and above-average passing skills will also serve him well in his new role with the Raptors.
6IX QUICK FACTS
- He is a New Orleans, Louisiana native, and was named a McDonald’s All-American in his senior year of High School where he averaged 21.0 points and 14.0 rebounds for Helen Cox High School.
- Monroe was awarded the Pete Newell Big Man Award in 2010. This award is given to the top low post player in college basketball and is given by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
- He was the final Detroit Pistons player to wear the #10 jersey, with the Pistons retiring the number for Dennis Rodman in 2011.
- His triple-double with the Celtics in 2018 was the first triple-double by a Celtics player off the bench since Robert Parish in 1987.
- He plays basketball left-handed, but is quoted as telling the Detroit Free Press he is actually right-handed.
- Monroe made the playoffs for the first time in his career during the 2016-17 season in Milwaukee. He averaged 13.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 23.5 minutes in six postseason games in a first-round series against the Raptors. Toronto won the series in six games.