Collin Murray-Boyles 'thankful' after Raptors take him with 9th pick in NBA Draft

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The Toronto Raptors aren’t afraid to throw curveballs at the NBA draft and they delivered another surprise Wednesday.

The team drafted Collin Murray-Boyles, a 6-foot-7 undersized big man out of South Carolina. Murray-Boyles turned 20 earlier this month and was seen as a lottery talent, but an unlikely fit in Toronto given that the team’s franchise player, Scottie Barnes, shares some of his best qualities. They also took a player with similarities, if not the same talent level, in Jonathan Mogbo 31st last year.

While Murray-Boyles didn’t appear thrilled with his destination, he clarified that later in his first media session.

During the broadcast of the draft, he appeared to mouth an expletive and shook his head in a scene that reminded some long-time Canadian basketball fans of the obvious displeasure star guard Steve Francis showed years ago when taken by the Vancouver Grizzlies.

Murray-Boyles quickly clarified that he had a great workout with the Raptors and the reaction was simply shock.

“Just disbelief. Toronto is the first team that I worked out for,” Murray-Boyles said. “What I said was not a bad thing. Just very thankful. That was a surreal moment. This organization has a good history.

“It was a crazy moment. Obviously thankful for the opportunity that they’re giving me. And I’m taking it full on and ready to do whatever it takes and whatever they need me to do.”

It’s an interesting gambit for the second-worst shooting team in the NBA last season. He didn’t hit a single three-pointer as a freshman, and shot 26.5% from deep last year. Brandon Ingram can help only so much in that department and though Barnes and Murray-Boyles are excellent passers, floor spacing could be a major issue again for Toronto with Jakob Poeltl a complete non-shooter in the middle.

Murray-Boyles said he started his workouts early, keying specifically on his jump shot and it has yielded results.

“Everybody talks about the shot, but that’s something I’ve been fine-tuning for the past couple of months. I’m really just trying to get to that point where it’s consistent. I’m confident with it as of right now, very confident about it,” he said. “It’s a different feeling. It’ll definitely open up my game and help my team obviously in the long run.”

Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said the team had been keeping a close eye on Murray-Boyles for two seasons and thought he could be an impactful defender.

“I think those who watched him, very obvious, elite defence, really versatile, great hands, a lot of (blocks and steals),” Webster said. “I think for us it was the defensive versatility. He has a chance to be a really, really good defender in the NBA.”

Webster said that with Ingram joining the team, the shooting should be considerably better.

“You sort of think about the offensive, defensive balance of the team. Shooting is at a premium in the NBA. At the same time, I think we saw in the Finals (how important defence is),” he said. “There’s something to be said about these types of defenders that can really disrupt the other team.

“And then shooting’s something we’ve always tried to work on here. We’ve taken a lot of kids with this profile in the past, and it’s a lot of work … and sort of our evaluation of how much he can be, how willing he is to work. He’s not running from it. He knows, obviously it’s something that he wants to work on. So we’ll go from there. But we know the baseline of the defensive end and around the rim on offence. I think he’s effective around the rim and he’s been productive on that end as well.”

Murray-Boyles has been compared in best-case scenarios with future hall of famer Draymond Green because of his defensive chops and passing ability as an undersized power forward, or at times even centre (Webster expects him to be able to defend anywhere in the frontcourt). And Toronto is lacking up front behind Barnes and Poeltl so you can understand the logic, but it was an interesting call with prospects of a similar projected calibre available at positions of more need for Toronto.

ESPN’s Jeremy Woo picked Murray-Boyles as the best off-ball defender in draft.

“There will be certain one-on-one matchups where his size might be a challenge, but Murray-Boyles is a great bet to enhance defensive schemes and raise his team’s basketball IQ,” Woo wrote.

The Raptors said all along, however, they would take the player they believed the best available, regardless of position, and they stuck to their guns.

The draft began as expected, with the Dallas Mavericks moving on from Luka Doncic with Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, and San Antonio adding Dylan Harper as a sidekick to Victor Wembanyama after both teams made big jumps at May’s lottery.

Baylor high-flyer VJ Edgecombe went third to Philadelphia, Duke scorer Kon Knueppel stayed in North Carolina, going to Charlotte.

Ace Bailey, who was considered a top-three talent all year, was a somewhat surprising pick by Utah fifth overall, Texas shooter Tre Johnson went sixth to Washington, explosive point guard Jeremiah Fears next to New Orleans.

The out-of-nowhere pick was Brooklyn selecting 6-foot-8 point guard Egor Demin of BYU a pick ahead of the Raptors.

Duke centre Khaman Malauch went 10th to Phoenix, which also traded for Hornets starting centre Mark Williams.

Canadian Will Riley, of Kitchener, went 21st to Washington via a trade with Utah. The Wizards took another Canadian, Kyshawn George, 24th a year earlier and he had a solid rookie season.

@WolstatSun

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