Celtics notebook: Examining Greg Monroe's fit with Raptors, Marcus Morris changes agents

It was clear that Greg Monroe wouldn't be returning to the Celtics this summer after the team drafted Robert Williams and re-signed Aron Baynes last month. However, Boston fans will still be seeing a healthy dose of the big man next year after the veteran inked a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum ($2.2 million) with Toronto on Monday.

It's a pretty tough fall for Monroe from a financial standpoint after signing a three-year, $48 million contract with the Bucks in the summer of 2015. The 28-year-old earned a nice payday with the Celtics ($5 million of Boston's disabled player's exception) for just a few months work with the C's last season. He had plenty of opportunities to make a major impact after injuries wreaked havoc with Boston's rotation before the postseason.

However, Monroe's defense and turnover-prone play on the offensive end kept him glued to the bench for most of the postseason run. Many players have built strong value playing in Brad Stevens' system, but Monroe just did not have the defensive skillset to make it work consistently. He was too big of a liability there for the team to get away with most nights against elite competition.

With Toronto, he'll get a chance at center minutes behind Jonas Valanuncias as a post anchor with the second unit. They needed a cheap body given their luxury tax bill and Monroe is one of the bigs left on the market with solid offensive upside.

The good news from Boston's perspective is that Monroe is a player the C's should be able to wreak havoc against in head-to-head matchups.

They've got the body to guard him (Aron Baynes) in the post and can also go small against him with Al Horford to expose him on the perimeter. The Celtics saw firsthand how much of a liability he could be on that front, so I'd expect them to take advantage of it whenever the Raptors throw him out there.

Marcus Morris signs with Rich Paul as his agent 

With his own free agency pending at the end of the 2018-19 season, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported on Monday that Marcus Morris and his brother Markieff have signed with Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.

Morris will be earning just $5.3 million with the Celtics this year in the final season of a four-year deal he inked with Phoenix in 2015. Paul is known most for being LeBron James' agent, which adds a bit of intrigue to the free agency of Morris next summer.

It's fair to assume that the 28-year-old will be looking for a sizable payday in a more player-friendly market in 2019, but it's hard to envision that coming from Boston. The team will be running up a very high luxury tax bill if they re-sign Kyrie Irving to a max deal and it will be tough to pay Morris what he wants in what will probably only be a bench role. Things can obviously change this year on that front but this change in agents won't change the fact this is probably the last season for Morris.

Schedule comes out Friday

The league will release the full NBA schedule on Friday afternoon, but we will get a sneak peek of it on Wednesday, as the national TV schedule is released for opening night week, Christmas day and MLK Jr. day. The Celtics are already rumored to open up their regular season against the Sixers, according to a report from Gary Washburn in the Boston Globe, but look for them to stay active on the Christmas day front again as well. We'll have a full breakdown of the slate here at BSJ.

Brad Stevens podcast

The head coach joined Chris Mannix of the Vertical for a lengthy podcast to discuss Game 7, the offseason, LeBron out west and much more. You can give it a listen here.