Murray-Boyles debuts with defense as Raptors remain undefeated
Well, if it wasn’t already abundantly clear before, it should be now. The Raptors are sitting upon a very staunch defensive culture of pressure. It’s not often that Summer League squads are such a strong representation of how the big team will play (in fact, a lot of teams play very weird basketball to test things out), but the Raptors are playing a handful of their NBA rotation at SL this year — Matas Buzelis said they have 8 NBA rotation players — and they are sticking to the principles that helped them climb defensive rankings over the course of last season.
Without a lot of offensive talent and with a few players who have major question marks around how they’re going to manage to score, the Raptors jack up the pressure on defense to create a solid floor of performance, and then wait on shot making from anywhere they can get it. AJ Lawson has been sublime through two games. He doesn’t even need plays run for him, he simply scores the ball whenever it falls into his hands; using his quick first step and lightning release to unleash as many shots as he so pleases. It was Alijah Martin who supplemented him in game 1, but the frontcourt was maybe the best source of offense outside of Lawson in game 2 – as CMB, Mogbo & Chomche combined for 30 points on 19 shots, a third of the teams points on the night.
Staying with Collin Murray-Boyles, it was a shaky game offensively despite the efficient scoring totals. His turnovers had to be nerves, because some were uncharacteristic, and also because his hands were incredibly strong and disruptive on the other end. He was put in a few of the Raptors pet actions (Horns Chin Punch, delay, pistol) and was fairly passive overall. He scored the basketball with hustle plays. Unfortunately the 3-point shot he hit didn’t count because his heel clipped the sideline.
Defensively, I thought he was very good. It’s a point of pride that the Raptors press with their guards so aggressively, but a lot of teams react by asking their wings/forwards to become bring up ball handlers. In the run to The Finals, Pascal Siakam’s utility as a press forward was massive for the Pacers to truly be unrelenting – and with Mogbo & Murray-Boyles (and Scottie Barnes when the real hoops kick off) the Raptors should be a very successful team in that sense. Murray-Boyles created 9 extra possessions for the Raptors through stocks and offensive rebounds. Of course some of that comes as a result of his quick feet and strong stance, but the lion share came from his bothersome, pestering, massive mitts. His hands get onto everything, in everywhere, and bother everyone. His hand to hand combat should be one of the most compelling features of his game over his career as he’s poised to win 90% of the grapples he gets into. Think about how the Thunder cover space, harass players, and wrestle the ball away- Murray-Boyles is like that. A true ball winner.
Even though Mogbo was relegated to a bench role in this game, he probably had a case for best player on the Raptors outside of Lawson. Not only did his presence on defense immediately beef everything up on that end (he and Chomche paired quite nicely), but he became the Raptors de facto bring up ball handler for stretches at a time and was quite effective at creating early offense after beating the Magic press. Not to mention, Mogbo started to get some of those touch shots to go that he’s had trouble with since hitting the league. He was an excellent change of pace for the Raptors, and the force and poise he played with was one of the most important factors in their win.
With the Raptors searching for offense outside of Lawson, they looked Battle’s way early and often, but to little effect. They ran more off-ball plays for Walter to get him going downhill and to provide more opportunity – which he did much better with. Walter has always done a pretty good job of playing off of two and using his pump fake to outfox players in the lane, and we saw a fair bit of that on his way to 16 points. Insofar as his on-ball creation – he’s still struggling with it. The finishing at the bucket was not shining through, and he wasn’t able to get meaningful advantages with a live dribble. However, he did have a nice possession using a step up screen after setting a ghost screen himself. Even as he works on adding the more difficult aspects to his game, he busts his ass on defense and he moves a lot on the offensive side of the floor. Meaningful performance from him, and especially with the late fader to help keep the Raptors out ahead.
Both Shead & Hepburn put in good shifts defensively over the course of this one. Hepburn is maybe the quickest on ball guy on this SL roster (and he was pretty sticky on Jase Richardson, who was great), and Shead pairs extremely well with his pressing forwards as it typically grants him opportunities to jump into plays against exasperated bigs/forwards on the defensive end. He also occupies the role of quarterback on defense more than anyone else out there. Both had their struggles in creating offense, both had their spurts of success, but their stories were on the defensive end in this one.
Lastly, Chomche was a really fun watch for the second game in a row. It’s not just that he was about as good at performing scheme as Castleton was, but he was flat out far more effective. His size and mobility really does overwhelm the less skilled bigs and smaller guards of Summer League. There’s a lot to iron out in his game, but he’s so young, and he makes plays. The Raptors paid about a million bucks to take a swing on him, and considering where he was plucked, I think the early returns and his projected development curve looks very strong right now. He also made a couple high-low passes, which every big has to be able to do. Very happy with how he’s played so far, and I’m left to wonder how long the Raptors expect to wait before trying him out for an extended stretch as a backup big at the NBA level. I wouldn’t bet on him having some run to start to the regular season, but it’s not out of the question. Especially since the Raptors like to give guys a shot before the 905 season kicks off. He’s done really well so far.
All in all, they’re still one of the best teams at Summer League. The championship is almost always decided by how many guys stick around for the full length of things, but the Raptors are very deep, very physical, and richly talented for this tournament. It should be really interesting to watch them the rest of the way.
Have a blessed day.
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