Raptors Report: What does Collin Murray-Boyles Bring to the Raps?

Raptors Report: What does Collin Murray-Boyles Bring to the Raps?

Steve and I have uh put together just a quick quick and dirty uh scouting report on the two rookies for the Toronto Raptors. That’s right. Uh Colin Murray Boils and Elijah Martin. So Steve will be leading off. Why don’t you uh take it away? We can talk about Colin Murray Boils. Yeah. So, um, Conor Murray Boils was a a four-star recruit, not a five-star. Was a bit interesting. Um, he had a couple offerings and, uh, ultim went to South Carolina, which was him staying home. Um, so I think that kind of speaks a bit to his character. I saw recently his brother interviewed somebody that he cited as being the reason that he is where he is. He put the basketball on his hand. Um, I think the Raptors have really been going for character with a lot of their draft picks. And I think that it really seems like Conor Murray Boils is another stab at that. Um, I went through and I found a couple uh what I would consider interesting stats from his last season. He was uh first in the SEC in field goal percent. Uh he’s notably a fantastic rim finisher. A lot of people are concerned about his 667 frame. He doesn’t really seem to have any kind of issue with getting to the net and finishing. Uh he was third in rebounds in the SEC. again, very impressive when he’s playing as a small ball. Five, he was six in free throw attempts, like total free throw attempts. Um, that’s another thing about him is he really drives and he is happy to finish through contact. He’s good at driving, uh, good at drawing fouls. Uh, he was seventh in defense at Bucks plus minus. Probably one of the bigger upside swings about Conor Ray Boils is his defense. Um, he’s he’s a tough defender with really strong hands. In one of the clips, we’ll show just kind of um how we can can really pretty much emasculate the guy that he’s defending. It’s pretty impressive. I like that. And yeah, I because he’s he’s a he’s 67 240. He’s very stocky for the height that he is and he’s very strong. It’s a it’s a very it’s impressive how like his athleticism is not exactly a um explosive burst athleticism, but he is very coordinated. I’ve noticed his footwork is pretty impressive, especially for his 240lb frame. So really, he becomes kind of like a a bull in a Chinese shop bowling ball coming through the lane where it’s it’s not like Scotty how he’s kind of like frog hopping into the lane. He’s kind of just weaving through and taking every bump that he can on the way to the net. Um it’s pretty impressive when he’s consistently matched up against the guy he’s giving up four or five inches to. And uh one stat that I find interesting because I I like to do these kind of player comparisons with um with some highlevel players here. So when you look at um his 4.7% block rate and his 2.9 steel rate, you can compare that to number one overall pick Cooper Flag who had a 4.9 block rate and a 2.8 steel rate. almost identical on the counting stats there except Conor Murray Boles played for a team that had much less defensive isol or insulation than Cooper did because he didn’t have a big like common malwatch with him. So I think it’s pretty impressive that he had those kind of numbers compared to a guy like Cooper who is being heralded as this amazing two-way star. I think that really highlights CMBB’s uh two-way potential, which is what the Raptors seem to be shooting for. Now, that’s a really good breakdown. Um maybe I can just talk with you a little bit about kind of the the processing and the feel for the game on both ends. And as you were talking about um with his ability to handle the ball and get to the rim, can you tell me like a little bit about like what like jumped out at you? What was his process like? Why was he able to score so effectively uh at the rim in college? Yeah, so um I think it really comes down to uh his strength on the ball. He’s very confident with his dribble. Um he’s able to keep a good low dribble and he’s able to kind of fend off digowns that happen to him. He’s not afraid to face up dribble the second he gets inside the ark and he has really like a lot of sauce getting around the rim. Like if you’re familiar with how Grady Dick is very um he can kind of loop the ball up around comfortably. Everything he does that but in a much bigger frame while getting hacked. So I think he he really has the like clear intention. He’s very intentional when he’s driving to the net and he’s um some players have it where they kind of seem to look past their defender where it’s like you’re not bothering me. And that’s pretty much how he is the second he decides to grab and go. Something I found pretty impressive. And I have I’ve pulled some clips on it. I don’t know if you want to. Yeah, I just showed I I showed the first one where I think it’s went very nicely with what you were saying where it was just that clip of him uh driving the ball. He caught it on at the three-point line and then just kind of very deafly kind of dribbled the ball into the lane and went around his man and scored. So, yeah, why don’t you break it down for us uh this uh this little clip here? Yeah, that’s that’s what I found. Um that probably it’s not the majority of his offense. The majority of offense does come in the post and it does come uh in the low block area, but something like he kind of has a knack for is this grab and go gap punching from the outside, which is not common for a center to do, but because he’s a he’s playing as a 67 center, he’s very mobile and he can he can grab and he’s he’s able to just bob and weave all the way to the net. um and and ready to finish over whatever contact comes. Yeah, it’s just uh it seems like what you were saying with the coordination was just like that that pops to me right there in that first clip where he’s handling the ball. uh he kind of bumps off of his man, rolls off of his man, and then just kind of glides to the rim and then has to change his uh has to change the shot. like he has to go up and under, which um th those are a bunch of very difficult skills chained together in a way that gives me an idea of what he could do at the next level where it’s not going to be number like he’s not maybe the number one option on the floor where you just give it to him and say, “Okay, cook.” But let’s say on a not maybe not a broken play, but maybe off of just a a quick swing and his man’s out of position, he’s going to the rim and he’s beating the help defense. That’s a that’s big time. That is something that any team could use, especially from a forward slash big. Yeah. If you think if you think about how RJ Barrett carves out some of his offense, it’s it’s kind of like a late in the clock. Okay, you can toss it to him and he’s going to be able to punch it in. Except now imagine R.J. with like elite finishing, which is something that R.J. struggles with. So now you’ve got this kind of like you don’t have to drop a play for him. He can just grab, go, punch it in. At the NBA level, it probably won’t have so many people biting on it and they will probably wall up sooner. But that’s um that is later when you have to talk about his his shot developing to be able to convince them that that first jab is actually potentially a shot. Yep, that’s true. Okay, so set up this second clip here if you if you can recall it. Um so second clip I believe is kind of another example of his uh his grab and go here. I believe he was just passed here and this is him against the player of the year Jani Broom. And if you see how he immediately gets into his face up dribble, he is going against one of the best players in the country. And he’s not he’s not going into a back down in the post. He’s confident with his dribble. He’s confident to get him shifting one way, left, right, and he gets a little internal spin. Beautiful off the glass finish like it’s nothing. It’s it’s smooth. His footwork is beautiful. It’s it’s confident. It’s like it it it it really I think will translate. Obviously, he’ll have a tougher time with with some bigger bigs, but he I think he reads the game well. And in the next clip, you can kind of see how he has a different approach when the big is a bit of a different player, right? Cuz Janai uh is a little on the small side. That was kind of the criticism of him as a prospect at the NBA level. And I find it interesting like his shot was a bit bothered uh in that clip where uh Janai kind of uh moved his feet and stayed with him and he went for the hook shot off glass into the net. And um obviously I I think the degree of difficulty is he’s not going to make that shot as often as maybe in the first clip where it’s like he he just clearly just gets past everybody and gets it to lay it up off glass. So that’s a bit higher degree of difficulty. He’s not going to make that every time. But maybe you can touch on just his touch cuz I think that that is another kind of magical sort of element to his game that makes him pop as a as a prospect. Yeah, he had he had some of the best finishing numbers in the the country and it’s it’s very impressive considering how strong he’s going up to have a really soft touch up there. And you can see how he’s he’s very comfortable changing direction of it once he’s already off the floor. This is something that a lot of players struggle with. And it it’s like he makes it look like it’s it’s easy for him. It’s it’s probably one of the most impressive parts of his game and something that will translate I think when he’s able to drive against players his size. He’ll probably like I mean it’ll be a lot tougher to do that against a a Zubot or a Gobear, but that’s tough for everybody. But yeah, he’s he he really very surprisingly has a a butter soft touch. Um yeah, and if you I don’t know if you want to pull that next clip there. Yeah. Yeah. Let me just quickly cut to that and then we can take a look at that the uh the next clip here where you’re talking about against a larger defender. Yeah, this he’s in the post. Yeah, this is he’s in the post here and he’s against a I think he’s 7 foot2 7 foot three Zavanameir Visich, one of the Visich twins. So, this is a just a massive guy known for shot blocking. Um probably going to contest the shot and uh you kind of see him size him up and he makes the right decision here where he says, “Okay, I get another dribble.” After he avoids the swipe, he says, “Okay, I get maybe one dribble.” and you you take a step back and he hits a nice little uh jumper over him. The mid-range is not where he’s going to get a majority of his offense. And this this clip is not necessarily to say, “Hey, you can hit a jumper.” I mean, it’s nice to see, but like the the threele scoring is is not something that will happen immediately. Hopefully, it’s something that he can work on and continue to build. But, um, I think it’s just interesting his his decision making there is not to drive into the the massive player. It’s to just make him drop a little bit and hit the shot over him. Yep. That’s uh the process is good. Um I mean that’s every time you watch a a player uh at that size, like a 7 foot2 player, you want them to be concerned about protecting the basket on a blowby because, you know, if you’re that big, usually slower foot speed, so there’s going to be a gap. And of course, um, CMBB not an amazing three-point shooter, but as that clip showed, uh, he has that little mid-range, uh, Jimmy, and if that’s the way that you can exploit space that’s being given to you, then that’s, uh, you know, that’s a good sign. That’s a good, uh, process. So, why don’t you set up uh, the next clip here? Yeah. So, the the next clip, I think this is just the him hitting a three. It’s just to calm the people who think he can’t hit threes. Obviously, when you pull a make, it’s going to look better. But really, the the shot to me, it’s it’s not broken. It’s you see he can his base is a a little bit awkward, but he doesn’t have a hitch in it. I think as as he’s mentioned, he’s not he knows about it that he has to improve his shooting. It’s something that he’s not afraid of and something that he’s been working on all summer. Um, so and that’s the kind of the secret to him hitting a bigger upside is is can he step out? Can he hit some threes? Um, and this clip shows that he’s uh willing to and like he gets a good amount of space because they know he’s not a shooter. Yeah. And there was no hesitation there. There was just kind of pulled the trigger. Yeah, exactly. And that’s what a lot of his threes look like when you go to the tape is is he’s not um he’s not mentally hesitating or anything. He’s just putting it up and it rattles in. You know, it’s a make. If you look at a player like Jonathan Mo who hit zero threes in his in his last year at college and then he came in and he shot maybe like 30 whatever percent or maybe 28%. Not super high, but he started making threes. I think that the the Raptors obviously are known as a bit of a development um organization and I think that there’s a lot of leeway and and runway for him rather um to continue to build his shot out. So, it’s something that I I think in a couple years, like I realistically he only has to be a 33 35% shooter to get people to respect it more to be able to help him with those the way those first couple clips were with those punching of the gaps or attacking a close out is if they really believe he gets to these bang, he’s pulling that trigger. That’s what unlocked Scotty Barnes’ game, not this past season, but the year before when he started to hit a couple, they said, “Okay, we actually can’t stand 10 feet back of this guy now. we actually have to play up. So hopefully that’s something he keeps working on and uh adds to his game and it’s kind of paying dividends for a guy who’s no longer with the team. I know I talked about him maybe a little too much. The former Raptor Pascal Seakum, they had him on a very uh threeheavy shot diet in his first season cuz they were trying to figure out what they had with him and uh at that point it was just kind of like he has to play off the ball somewhere. So, put him in the corner, get him to shoot a whole bunch of threes. And he did not hit many threes. And it’s taken him since like what what is it? Year 10 or something like that, year nine or something like that. And now he’s finally like a 40ish% three-point shooter. So, you know, hopefully it’s not that long if he’s uh going to learn how to do it. But Colin Murray Boils, maybe some potential there. Who knows? Yeah, it I mean it looks like a pretty fluid motion. Like with Pascal, I don’t know if you remember, he always had he had like this toe tap that he does before every shot and then when the shot would get away from him, he would stop doing the toe tap and then you would see him kind of consciously try to bring back the the one little tap as he sets his feet and there was a big kind of mental aspect to it. Connor shot doesn’t or Colin shot doesn’t look like it has too many moving parts in it. So, right, idiosyncrasies. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so this last clip here, uh, just set it up for us and then we’ll get to it. This is probably, I think, maybe the coolest, uh, Colin Murray Boles clip that there is. Um, I don’t know if you’re if you remember there there’s kind of like an a legendary Kawaii clip where it’s like eyes in the back of his head where he he dives and grabs makes a steel behind his back and it’s like, how did he even see it? It’s just instinct. It’s just anticipation. So this is where he the player um I believe starts to go to make a pass and he just one hand peels it out of his hand like it’s nothing. It is it is feel it is instinct. It is Yeah. You can’t teach that. No. Exactly. Yeah. It is. And it and it speaks to his one of his biggest upsides of his defense is his his strong hands. like his his steal rate probably could have been higher, but he’s getting a lot of um deflections and dig downs and stuff that his teammates are picking up. And yeah, like this is just he’s he’s completely sunn the other player. It’s crazy. And he immediately looks, okay, all right, we’re going the other way now. It’s it’s such quick processing. It’s very impressive. And I think those are his his his way to minutes is by being a dog of a defender and by doing really strong plays like that. So something like that, it it it’s exciting. You probably won’t see something as cool as that again. But um yeah, I it’s it’s probably the most exciting point of his game is what he can add to the Raptors defense, who at the end of the season were improving as a defensive team, but at the beginning they didn’t look very good. So the more positive defenders you get in a door, the better. And it really to me it’s looking like Colin is a plus on the offensive side potentially, but definitely a huge plus on the defensive side. Okay. Well, that’s a good breakdown and I agree with pretty much everything you said there. Um, I think that defensively, I mean, it’s additive. Um, a lot of teams, I think for the Toronto Raptors, their identity has been to find uh players who can guard multiple positions and really do have a defensive sort of identity. Like they they’ve drafted a ton of dogs, quote unquote, over the past couple of years. uh guys who can really dig in on the defensive end and provide an element that you know is looked over quite a bit in the NBA. Of course, you want defense uh on your team, but a lot of the time I think front offices say, “Okay, we’ve got our defender.” And then they sort of, you know, dust off their hands and say, “Now, let’s go and get the offensive players. Let’s go get the guys who can put put the ball in the basket.” I feel like the Toronto Raptors work at it from the different angle. They go out and find guys who have that dog in them that really want to play on the defensive end and then they try and teach them how to shoot and how to be uh useful on offense. And of course, Colin Murray Boils is not like a project on that end because he really does have a great feel for the game and he can score inside and he can handle the ball. It’s really just about the shooting. But I feel like they can de the Raptors feel like they can develop that and they’ve they have no qualms about uh drafting guys and then you know trying to put the work in teaching them how to shoot.

Steve and Julian break down what CMB brings to the Raptors!