What does Collin Murray-Boyles represent in Raptors’ rebuild?

What does Collin Murray-Boyles represent in Raptors’ rebuild?

toronto Raptors made Colin Murray Boils their ninth overall selection last night at the NBA draft he averaged just under 17 points just over eight rebounds a game last season with South Carolina here is Raptors GM Bobby Webster i think as a sophomore you know we had two years to evaluate him so someone that we identified last year he decided to stay in school um but sort of had our eye on him going into the season i think for those of you who watched him I think you know very obvious elite defense um really versatile great hands um a lot of stocks so I think for us it was uh the defense versatility but we felt you know he has a chance to be a really really good defender in the NBA it’s been far too long since we’ve spoken with our Raptors reporter Josh Leuenberg and here’s a terrific opportunity to do just that so Josh Toronto selects Colin Murray Boils ninth overall were you surprised by that choice a little surprised Jay i mean they needed a big they wanted a big and there was always going to be a number of bigs quality bigs available in that range but the interesting question to me was going to be how much risk tolerance did they have at number nine and I think this pick was pretty safe and I I don’t think that’s a bad thing necessarily i I do think that the ceiling is a little bit higher for some of the other bigs that were available in that range but the floor here for CMBB I think is pretty solid he’s a little bit more NBA ready a little bit more polished than some of the alternatives would have been and he checks off a lot of boxes for the Raptors i mean you look at the NBA finals that just finished and what was very clear watching those two teams is that to win at a high level in this league you need some element of mental toughness and resiliency you need u to have guys that don’t shy away from contact and embrace it you need defensive minded players toughness physicality all of that and CMB fits that criteria he is probably one of the best defensive players in this draft he takes a lot of pride in his defense really versatile player has great court vision and it’s earned him some comparisons to Draymond Green which is never a bad thing now the swing skill here is obviously his shooting he was 9 for 39 from three in his two years at South Carolina so it wasn’t a huge part of his game in college it’s something that he’s put a lot of work in on and if he can extend his range I do think that raises the ceiling a little bit but like I said really solid floor here where even if he’s not a star in the NBA I see him being a pretty good role player rotation player quickly and for a long time in this league after hearing what Bobby Webster had to say what do you think this pick says about the future build of this Toronto Raptors roster well what’s interesting as we all know is that there was a lot of noise about the Raptors going into this draft it was widely reported that pick number nine was available and we had that confirmed tonight not just by sources but what by one of the bosses himself Bobby he said that yes they were one of the few teams in the top 10 that were willing to deal their pick which is why there was so much trade speculation and so much noise now ultimately they had CNB ranked higher than nine and I I think that that’s one of the reasons why they were sold on him when he was there he fell to them he was on the board but it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here because they have been pretty active in terms of making calls receiving calls looking for things and ways to upgrade their roster in the short term and I’m not sure that that ends now that the draft is over now yes the draft is one of those inflection points over the course of the NBA calendar and Webster referred to it almost as like the first trade deadline before the actual trade deadline but another inflection point is coming up here too in terms of the start of free agency and I I don’t think we’re done seeing big moves across the league it’s just the way that the NBA is kevin Durant is off the board but there’s always a next guy so who is that next guy and you can be sure that the Raptors are always going to be in the mix whenever there’s a bigname player available so yeah I’m not sure that they’re done in terms of what this roster looks like and while CNB is a good addition here I I still get the sense that they’d like to do something here to improve their roster josh Lewenberg our Raptors reporter thanks for this Josh

TSN Raptors reporter Josh Lewenberg joins SC with Jay Onrait to explain why he was a little surprised that the Raptors drafted Collin Murray-Boyles with the ninth pick at Wednesday’s NBA Draft, and what his selection says about the future build of Toronto’s roster.