The REAL Reason The Raptors Selected Collin Murray Boyles With The 9th Pick

The REAL Reason The Raptors Selected Collin Murray Boyles With The 9th Pick

the Toronto Raptors shocked many when they selected Colin Murray Boils with the ninth overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft and it was mostly surprising because of who they passed on in order to take him so in this video we’re going to investigate the real reason behind this selection was it a good pick by the Raptors let’s get into it hello everybody and welcome back to Amateur Sports this is the YouTube channel that is completely dedicated to giving you Toronto Raptors content and today we’re investigating the decision behind selecting Colin Murray Boils with the ninth overall pick in the NBA entry draft because for many he wasn’t really this high on their radar and it seemed like the Raptors had some really good options to take instead of him so what was it about Colin Murray Boils that had the Raptors passing on the likes of Colin Malawash and Noah Isang well we’re going to uncover that over the course of the video today and at the end of the video we’re going to decide if this was a good pick by the Raptors so stay tuned until the end but yeah as the draft was unfolding first four picks kind of went as expected a bit of a curveball thrown at pick number five when Ace Bailey got selected by the Utah Jazz this opened up Jeremiah fears to fall to seven so the Pelicans passed on Derek Queen anyways lots of things changed but ultimately the script was written and fell into place for the Raptors to potentially land common Malawash the center out of Duke or Noah Isang the forward out of Germany playing for Ratzio Farm and in the leadup to the draft Noah is Sanange was emerging as the favorite to land with the Raptors at ninth overall but as some situations started to change all of a sudden it looked like common Malawash was going to be available at nine for the Raptors and he became the favorite for the Raptors to select and like I said the script unfolded in favor of the Raptors he had the opportunity to select the top two players from my wish list with the ninth overall pick and for many Raptors fans Colin Malawatch has long been their first choice the guy they want the Raptors to take the fear was he just wasn’t going to be available he was available and yet still the Raptors decided to pass and they passed on these two players and passed on a lot of players to go with Colin Murray Boils out of South Carolina a player that wasn’t even on my wish list as you can see here so why did they make this decision well to uncover the answer to that let’s first learn about exactly who this player is so secondyear college player had opportunity to really develop in the second season he played and get himself into this lottery consideration now the Raptors like I said it was a bit of a surprise to see him take him at number nine but he had been mocked in some spots to go to the Raptors at number nine he’d been mocked to go 10th in the draft he’d been mocked very consistently to be a lottery picked player so it wasn’t like a very large reach necessarily for the Raptors if a reach at all for the secondyear player like I said 6’8 he measured at 6’6 in shoes but like he’ll be measuring at 6’8 when it comes to the NBA he’s actually wearing shoes 7 foot one wingspan to go with it very nice to see he’s just turned 20 years old and can play as a well he can really play a multitude of positions he’s been listed as a power forward a power forward/c center could also maybe play a little bit as a three but I think that the best way to describe it is a power forward/c center he kind of fits into somebody who wants to play as a big despite the fact that he is 6’8 which we’ll get into a little bit more later on but statistically it was a very impressive second season in college ball for Colin Murray Boils averaged 16.8 points per game 8.3 rebounds per game that along with 2.4 assists 1.3 blocks as you see here so doing a lot on both end of the floor mostly known for his defensive capabilities but I mean some really good offensive numbers here and some really efficient displays on two-pointers 62% on twos now a lot of those attempts are coming right at the rim where he’s not shooting a tremendous percentage so the statistics of efficiency are skewed a little bit that being said true shooting percentage of 63% largely because of taking a lot of twos right at the rim and gets to the line a ton really does a great job of drawing free throws similar to the way we described Noah Isang in the video that we did about him colin Murray Boils gets to the line a ton and that really does help with the true shooting that really does help to be analytically sound on offense now the one I’ve skipped over here is the three-point percentage he shot 26.5% on threes this season took about one three-point attempt per game that is the area of concern for his offense absolutely that’s one of the biggest concerns with his game it’s the lack of floor spacing and it’s a curious decision for the Raptors to go with somebody here who does lack the floor spacing considering that is a big area of need and a big area of improvement needed for this Raptors team but there had to have been stuff the Raptors liked in order to take Colin Murray Boils in this position because they passed on some really good players to take him here well there are a lot of strengths so many strengths that my typical graphic here I’ve had to I had to really take some off like I really had to think about the ones I didn’t want to include there was so much I could have written about him as far as the strengths are concerned top of the list is like the intangibles the intensity the toughness the competitive motor like this is the type of player the Raptors have looked to prioritize as of late i mean you look at Jamal Shed last season last year the 45th overall pick just the grit that this player brings to the team the the the dynamic that he can bring to the team it’s something that the Raptors are going to relish working with and I think it’ll be great for his teammates as well really brings such a tremendous amount of hustle to the floor but it’s backed up by a lot of talent particularly on the defensive end so versatile defensively in the the post-draft interview Bobby Webster Raptors GM did he talked a lot about the versatility that he brings defensively and it was a definite need going into the draft for the Raptors to get some rim protection and a lot of people after the selection was made were complaining like “We need a backup center we need backup rim protection.” Well there is so much versatility here for Colin Murray Boils that I think that they’re looking at this like potentially somebody who can kind of fill that role now Bobby Webster kind of downplayed the fit stuff basically cited that Colin Murray Boils they felt was the best player available therefore they took him there but to me it seems like this slightly can address some of the backup center situations like he can play as a small ball five and you know maybe won’t be doing it all the time but I think the versatility defensively provides the Raptors interesting opportunities to use him sometimes as that small ball five sometimes as that power forward defensively that help defense power forward and you can have Lions and Woods Colin Murray Bulls is featuring next to Yakob Purle which you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do with a traditional center now again my top choice was Khan Malawash I was willing to forgive that but basically Khan Malawash could only exist on the floor when Yakob Purle wasn’t on it there isn’t that constraint for Colin Murray Boils defensively as well like the defensive instincts are there just kind of knows how to occupy the right areas and in terms of rim protection like yes he can block shots as we saw 1.3 blocks per game pretty good for a player like him but also like he can kind of wall up in front of the rim it can can kind of deny your entry to the rim in a lot of situations which I think the Raptors will look at that and think well they clearly did look at that and think that was a good skill to have a lot of great skills defensively has tremendous feel for the game on both ends of the floor like it’s not just the offensive side of things which you would normally associate with feel for the game and you have that but defensively again just knows how to make the right plays on such a consistent basis decent at getting to his spots good in these face up situation on offense kind of is a bit of a wrecking ball on offense in creating his shot uses his size uses his body really well he’s incredibly strong for his size so he can kind of match up with opposition bigs a little bit can finish through contact at a pretty consistent degree just manufactures the scoring knows how to get his buckets on the inside consistently makes the right decisions knows when it’s time to be the player that steps ups as the lead guy but also talked about a lot in his interviews in the pre-draft process the post-draft interviews as well talked about his ability to you know he can be that lead guy but he can also be a role player he can slot into where he needs to be and for the Raptors that’s great to hear because there are a lot of great players on this team already a lot of guys who need the ball a lot like Scotty Barnes like Brandon Ingram RJ Brad Emanuel Quickley etc colin Murray Bulls knows where he needs to fit in knows where he needs to slot in to make himself effective for those guys like I said as well gets to the line a ton free throw attempt rate is great helps with his true screen percentage helps with his numbers helps with the analytics it’s just good a guy who knows how to get to the line but there are weaknesses in his game and there are weaknesses that were strong enough for me to not really consider him a threat to end up getting selected ninth overall like I said he was not on my list not on my wish list there are seven players I listed here he was not one of them and I thought the biggest thing that was going to scare off the Raptors was the floor spacing and a little bit of the size now there are a lot of ways in which he can overcome his size because he does have a long wingspan does have a pretty good standing reach as well for somebody who is kind of you know the size of a forward that allows him to match up decently as a small ball five but like for the position like if you’re going to be playing him in this role down low yeah he’s undersized for the position he again he makes up for it but he’s undersized for the position that’s absolutely a weakness and it’s also a little bit of a weakness that he doesn’t have the the highest vertical like he’s still like explosive like he gets off the ground quick he just doesn’t get super high when he does get off the ground quickly this leads to a little bit of difficulty scoring against size like he’s not the biggest and he doesn’t have the strongest vertical a lot of what he does to be successful on offense at least in the college game was going through contact scoring through bigs well against bigger stronger better opponents in the NBA is he going to be able to manufacture those opportunities as easily at the rim i’m not so sure he already wasn’t extraordinarily efficient in his shots right at the rim at the college level which can lead to a little bit of a hindrance on offense the floor spacing is the big concern projections are like low30s for three-point shooting but for a guy who shoots above 70% from the line it kind of feels like there is a shooting stroke there it’s taken a while for that three-point shot to come along and it is concerning but in listening to Bobby Webster after the selection was made in his press conference he did talk about the Raptors drafting a lot of the times they draft for the versatility the switchability and the defensive side of the ball there is some offensive talent there but they trust themselves to work with these players to get that three-point shot to the next level a big success story there is Pascal Seakkum who really developed his three-point shot with the Raptors which took his game to the next level that’s something that’s probably going to just have to happen for Colin Murray Boils to be successful with the Raptors and be successful in the NBA the Raptors do believe he is capable of doing that and I success I mean very successful i think this player can be successful and can contribute without having that shot that is a huge swing factor to how far he can go in his NBA career his handling and playmaking aren’t the sharpest decent as a passer like you know decent with his field for the game like I said pretty good passer it’s just you know he’s not going to be the lead sort of ball handler he’s not going to really be initiating the offense that’s not his style and that’s completely okay just thought I would note it here for the weaknesses overall the type of player that you’d want to compare him to draymond Green is getting thrown around for his defensive versatility i like that you know people are worried about his lack of size for playing as a small ball five he can play above it he’s done it consistently and he’s seen the likes of Draymond Green being able to do that previously so you have to think about that from a defensive standpoint on the offensive end I think there are a lot of parallels that exist with Julius Randall actually and Julius Randle really found his three-point shooting stroke when he came into the league but it wasn’t there right out the gate it took time for that to develop but just having that face up game in you know the short post in the mid-range areas and being able to get to the rim using your size to get to the rim kind of being a wrecking ball in those areas it does remind me quite a bit of Julius Randle so I think there’s a good comparison there but a little bit on defense as well i think what somebody brought up in in the chat I did uh for the live stream we did for the for the first round of the draft somebody mentioned a supercharged version of Ronda Hollis Jefferson and that kind of did resonate with me somebody who’s willing to hustle who can play multiple positions who can play above their size who can play a bit of small ball five like Raptors fans loved what Ronda Hollis Jefferson embodied now we have a supercharged much more talented version of that with the team and I think as well uh some of the traits that Jonathan Mo brought to the team defensively for the Raptors like this is a better version of Jonathan Mo it seems the Raptors have drafted here with the ninth overall pick so was this a good selection by the Raptors we finally come to that point of the video well you saw my wish list he wasn’t on it malawash Noah Isang those guys were available those were the top two on my list they were both available at nine the Raptors passed personally this is not the selection I would have made in this spot that being said I see the vision and can fully see why the Raptors went in this direction they see an extraordinarily versatile defender who has these fantastic intangibles is such a hard worker who is willing to work on his game like there’s a lot of great talent there the missing piece to Murray Boils’s game for the NBA is the spacing and the Raptors have bet successfully in the past on their players that they draft to find that three-point shooting stroke with their development team they’ve identified a lot of traits that they like defensively and the big biggest things they like is that defensive versatility and I see the vision there yes the Raptors needed extra rim protection yes the Raptors needed a backup center they may feel like Murray Bills provides enough that they can forego having to go and address that you know maybe in free agency they still will address that they’ll find a big don’t think they will because they don’t have any cap space they’re not an attractive free agent destination but I they probably feel like they have the versatility here to have a menacing defense with Colin Murray Boils involved i see this working defensively next to a lot of players in the team like the bench unit’s going to have Oce Abaji Jamal Shed and this guy that’s going to lead to some fantastic defensive numbers the issue is the offensive side of the thing of the ball on offense the fit’s a bit clunky like I see the talent there but the fit’s clunky like this is a rap team that’s already extremely lacking in floor spacing and off the bench it’s kind of extremely lacking in self-creation this isn’t addressing that this isn’t helping that you know at ninth overall we always say you draft talent over fit it just feels like there were some players that may have fit a little bit better with the Raptors and maybe had a little bit more talent so for me like I said this isn’t the selection that I would have made in this spot at ninth overall however I understand why the Raptors did it i see the talent i can see the fit working i’m like I’m bought in at this point i’m really excited to see what developmental strides Murray Boils can take with this Raptors team with this Raptors development team and with this unit going into the season i think with the defense there there is potential to impact the game and impact the Raptors rotation out the gates we will see there are a lot of quality players on this Raptors team that might make it difficult to break through out the gates immediately but I see the vision i see the potential not the not the selection I would have made holding my hands up to that however I’m bought in i have faith in this Raptors front office like Messiah Jiri Bobby Webster you know scouting team led by Dan Tolsman i am I have full belief in them of course to make the right decision in the draft cuz time and time again they’ve got it right sure there’s been some misses but time and time again this scouting team this print office has got it right on draft night so I’m not going to come out here and say that they didn’t get this one right i like the pick i like the player wasn’t my first choice wasn’t my favorite pick but I like it i’m excited to see where it goes last thing I’ll note here cuz this is was this was just circulating around and this got me so frustrated the clickbait like you people complain that I clickbait like I don’t think I do but in comparison to what I’m seeing about Colin Murray Bulls like oh my god the clickbait going around with his reaction to getting drafted uh he dropped an fbomb and was shaking his head but he was smiling he was shaking his head in disbelief by the selection he probably didn’t think he was going to go that high the Raptors didn’t tell him before the pick that they were going to take him he was probably shocked that he got selected and was basking in realizing his NBA dream emotional from all the work that has gone in to put him in that position i’m sure all of us have had moments where we’ve dropped an F-bomb and shook our head in disbelief and gratitude for all the work that has gone and for being selected there so the notion that he was upset that he got selected by the Raptors is just ridiculous it’s people looking for somebody to complain about it’s people who just want to be upset about something it’s people that are looking for something that isn’t there and it’s incredibly frustrating if you saw his interviews before the draft he spoke very highly of the Raptors and according to Bob Webster behind the scenes he talked about how he thought this was a great spot for him to go when he got selected he was literally smiling when it happened he was excited on stage and in his interviews after the selection he was talking about how excited he was to be a Raptor so any notion that Murray Bulls does not want to be a Raptor we are putting that to bed end of discussion all in all again to finish off I like the pick i understand why people thought that Malawash was the guy Asange was the guy Queen was the guy whoever i understand people’s perspective on that but put your faith in the front office to get this right again and at the end of the day whatever your thoughts are on that he is a Raptor he was selected he needs our support he needs our backing let’s hope we get the absolute best out of Colin Murray Bulls because if we do he is going to be a sensational player for the Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors shocked many when they selected Collin Murray-Boyles with the 9th overall pick in the NBA Draft. The surprise wasn’t necessarily the selection but more so who they decided to pass on to take him, as many fans felt like Khaman Malauch and Noa Essengue were the better choice.

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0:00 – The Toronto Raptors select Collin Murray-Boyles with the 9th overall pick
1:05 – How the Top 10 picks unfolded
2:34 – Who is Collin Murray-Boyles?
3:38 – Season stats
5:10 – Strengths
9:25 – Weaknesses
12:31 – Player comparable
14:01 – Did the Toronto Raptors make the right selection
17:52 – Does Collin Murray-Boyles not want to be here?

This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis, and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions, and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.

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