\n<\/p>\n
RJ Barrett and Jamal Shead, Murray-Boyles\u2019 teammates, were talking about the rookie\u2019s unusual sturdiness for a first-year player. You know how \u201cOnce he gets stronger\u2026\u201d leads most projections about a prospect\u2019s potential? Well, that doesn\u2019t apply to Murray-Boyles, who, listed at 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds, is not getting any help from the league\u2019s trusted measurement monitors.<\/p>\n
In trying to come up with a comparison for a younger rookie who so clearly looked like a sixth-year vet upon entering the league, Barrett brought up his collegiate teammate, Zion Williamson, in a mostly empty locker room after the Raptors had tied their first-round series 2-2 on Sunday<\/a>. Forget about Williamson\u2019s injury-riddled career when thinking about the two; instead, focus on the \u201cHow can someone so young look like that<\/em>?\u201d feeling that both produced in their rookie year.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re from the same place,\u201d said Shead, referring to South Carolina. Shead and Barrett stood and thought about that, as if they were thinking of the body of water that might have been powering them when they were young. Murray-Boyles, 20, continued to move around as if the conversation were not happening. Indeed, nothing about the playoffs seems like it\u2019s too much for last June\u2019s ninth pick of the draft.<\/p>\n \u201cReally just not being afraid of the moment,\u201d Murray-Boyles said after Game 3 when asked what has allowed him to produce in the playoffs. \u201c(Those are) really good guys we\u2019re playing against. This is a really, really good team. (They) have one of my favorite players (James Harden) on that team, so it\u2019s just not being scared we\u2019re going up against and really just taking it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Murray-Boyles has done just that, and in the process has perhaps become the last gift of this year\u2019s bountiful rookie class, even if San Antonio\u2019s Dylan Harper will likely have the biggest impact on the title race of any first-year player. You might have missed Murray-Boyles this season, as he was coming off the bench for the Raptors, not exactly a spot ripe for league-wide attention. He was massive as they weathered the back injury of their only true centre, Jakob Poeltl, during the regular season. He is a physical, tough defender at every position, although the Raptors used him to guard bigs more often than guards.<\/p>\n You cannot have missed what he has done in the playoffs, though. He has scored 68 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in the series so far, becoming the first Raptors rookie to score in double digits in his first four playoff games. While he is not the floor-spacing threat the Raptors badly need, he has figured out ways to fit around Scottie Barnes\u2019 and RJ Barrett\u2019s bully ball and Brandon Ingram\u2019s misfiring midrange work.<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally, I think it was maybe like four weeks ago, five weeks ago, that he started working with (assistant) coach Ivo (Simovi\u0107) on his floaters<\/a>. I\u2019ll let you sit on that for a second,\u201d Raptors coach Darko Rajakovi\u0107 said. \u201cFour, five weeks ago, and the way he\u2019s shooting floaters now<\/a> shows you the talent that he is. Talent is not, in my mind, something that God gave you, your physique or athletic abilities. It\u2019s your ability to learn and implement what you\u2019re working on. He\u2019s one of the most talented players I\u2019ve ever been around in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n The Raptors will presumably spend the next few years trying to expand Murray-Boyles\u2019 shooting range \u2014 he showed promise on a very small sample early in the year before he suffered a thumb injury in December \u2014 but he and Barnes share excellent passing vision. It\u2019s easy to imagine him making decisions as a roll man on the 4-on-3, should the Raptors ever acquire a pick-and-roll guard who can draw that sort of attention. His kickout to Ingram after an offensive rebound<\/a> \u2014 the quickness of the decision, as well as the force and accuracy of the pass \u2014 in Game 4 was notable. That was perhaps the biggest basket in the Raptors\u2019 comeback.<\/p>\n Murray-Boyles separates himself with his defensive aptitude, though. Rookies, by rule, are not good defenders; what Murray-Boyles is doing in this series is on the verge of All-Defense team stuff. He has been strong enough to battle on the glass with Jarrett Allen<\/a>, smart enough to thwart James Harden\u2019s playmaking mastery<\/a> and nimble enough to switch out on to guards when necessary.<\/p>\n The latter was the highlight on Sunday. With the Cavaliers trying to tie the game with a 3 in the final seconds, Murray-Boyles got switched on to Donovan Mitchell. The reigning All-NBA First Team member faked a shot that got Murray-Boyles off his feet \u2014 but just barely. He controlled his reaction, inched closer to Mitchell but avoided initiating contact<\/a>, and got his hands up. Mitchell had to lean forward to try to get the contact, missing badly.<\/p>\n \u201cFor him to be a rookie and be able to do that and in that position to stay down, not put his hand in the cookie jar and not to put and not get too close on the shot, to not foul in that situation, and still be aggressive shows you how much he\u2019s grown,\u201d Raptors veteran Garrett Temple said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe guarded me all preseason and I know how well he guards,\u201d Barnes added. \u201cWe was trusting him right there. We\u2019re going to ride with CMB.\u201d<\/p>\n That goes for this series and beyond. Just after halftime in Game 4, the Cavaliers made a point<\/a> of getting Evan Mobley the ball and going at Poeltl<\/a>. They got two easy buckets. Murray-Boyles came in shortly after and changed the dynamic. Mobley was barely heard from again, scoring just two points after Murray-Boyles replaced Poeltl midway through the quarter. (The bucket, again, came when the Cavs attacked Poeltl.) According to NBA.com\u2019s matchup data, the Cavaliers have scored just 48 points in 70 possessions when the rookie has guarded Mobley in the series. With Barnes needed to slow down Harden, Murray-Boyles has been massive in that sense.<\/p>\n It seemed likely before, but it\u2019s clear now: This is the Raptors\u2019 future. Murray-Boyles and Barnes are so malleable as defenders and so good, not just capable, in so many ways, that they can be the foundation of an excellent defence for years to come. That makes Murray-Boyles, and not any of his well-compensated teammates who are closer to their primes, the most important player on the roster after Barnes.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time, (we) really don\u2019t have to talk to each other to know where we\u2019re supposed to be or know where we got each other\u2019s back,\u201d Murray-Boyles said of playing with Barnes. \u201cWe kind of built that as the season\u2019s gone along. \u2026 (We know) how we can help off the ball, just the tenacity we have on the ball. We both are going to try our hardest to \u2026 get the stop.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how the Raptors will go about building around them. Having Immanuel Quickley, not playing in this series because of a hamstring injury, would help; having a more dynamic guard who can truly run the offence would be better. Whether it is Poeltl or someone else, the Raptors will need a 7-footer, if only to eat some minutes and help on the defensive glass.<\/p>\n It\u2019s undeniable, however: After just four playoff games, Murray-Boyles has proven that he is a dude.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I love about CMB is he\u2019s the ultimate competitor,\u201d Rajakovi\u0107 said. \u201cHe is a winner. He is a warrior. He does not care who\u2019s on the other side. He does not care what (your name is). He does not care about your previous achievements. He does not get fazed by that.\u201d\n<\/p><\/div>\n TORONTO \u2014 Collin Murray-Boyles either didn\u2019t hear the conversation or didn\u2019t care. Given how he carries himself, both are equally plausible. RJ Barrett and Jamal Shead, Murray-Boyles\u2019 teammates, were talking about the rookie\u2019s unusual sturdiness for a first-year player. You know how \u201cOnce he gets stronger\u2026\u201d leads most projections about a prospect\u2019s potential? Well, that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Raptors-Collin-Murray-Boyles-is-the-latest-gem-from-NBAs-outstanding.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29384,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29382\/revisions\/29384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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