Collin Murray-Boyles’ size let’s him live in both worlds
Size is a weird thing in the NBA. Players are measured in many different forms and fashions. We have moved far beyond the idea of height alone to indicate who is… large. I can’t say I was privy to the conversations that were being had about guys like Dennis Rodman or Charles Barkley, who achieved varying amounts of big man things incredibly well while being undersized and differently shaped. But, I do remember Reggie Evans, Kenneth Faried, Montrezl Harrell – players of that nature. Each of them outrunning their size limitations with an additional measurement, whether that was in the form of bodily extremities or athletic feats.
With a guy like Scottie Barnes, it’s easy to see how he’s able to play up. He has a monstrous standing vertical (and he’s a quick jumper at that) in addition to a massive wingspan and standing reach. He’s also very strong. So, he high points the basketball while skying above others. He outwrestles them below the rim and his arms jut out farther. He has a very wide range that he can access for around the rim stuff on offense and defense. A guy like Harrell was similar, using a huge standing reach and a big two-foot vertical to take aggressive, direct lines to the ball and rim in the air. Hundreds of dunks every year. A lot of high pointing rebounds. Pretty inherent stuff. Jonathan Mogbo — based on his absurd measurements, explosive two foot jump and prodigious number of dunks in college — should he become accomplished at the NBA level, will probably succeed in this fashion.
Collin Murray-Boyles is a good bit different than every name mentioned. A lot of people have made the Barkley comparison — I heard it all the time during the pre-draft run — and while I don’t feel knowledgeable enough about Barkley’s game to confirm or deny, in highlights it’s easy to see the resemblance. It’s easy enough to compare the low, strength based rebounding as akin to Evans, but you have to hope for much more. An Evans career can’t be the sum of Murray-Boyles’ ambition and we’re already seeing that.
He is definitively NOT an explosive jumper (29.5 inch max standing vert, 34.5 max vert), and his standing reach comes in well under the likes of Barnes, Harrell, Mogbo. If you look at the intersection of standing reach and both types of vertical he’s giving up at least 3-4 inches to the likes of Mogbo everytime, but upwards of 7-8 to guys like Barnes and Harrell. These aren’t even centers, who he’s often matched up against, these are other power forwards. This helps explain why he’s not a very high volume dunker. Rather than springing upwards while buried under the rim, daring for someone to meet him at the mountaintop, he typically surveys and finds shooters and cutters against a collapsing defense. CMB requires a bit of momentum and a big gather to summon the courage to challenge someone above the rim. Still, through his guile and awareness, he’s an above average finisher in the NBA right now.
When it comes to rim protection Murray-Boyles is trending as a positive. He contests a lot, is above average at forcing misses, and has a healthy block percentage. Very few of these blocks are coming high above the rim, though. The Raptors rookie is far more astute at timing players up or identifying a would be finisher who is blind to him, than he is at vacuuming up air space and winning the dog fight above the rim. He does it his own way.
Whether it’s on offense or defense it seems to me that Murray-Boyles is just barely big enough and long enough to enter himself into the competition of the frontcourt, but his aggression, strength, and most of all ability to read the game is what allows him to actually find his feet in the land of the giants. His feet also belong in smaller spaces, too.
The pick n’ roll is a good example of how Murray-Boyles can make things work on both sides.
On offense, CMB is sandwiched between Pascal Siakam, Karl-Anthony Towns and Isaiah Hartenstein in terms of points per possession as a roller. Defensively, he’s been phenomenal in stepping out on switches and allowing the Raptors to maintain their shell. He’s also, just flat out, helped the Raptors across the biggest playtypes. If Murray-Boyles is involved in an iso, a pick n’ roll, or a post up the Raptors have been above average defending that play. Defense is always a 5-man situation, but take into account Murray-Boyles’ elite defensive playmaking, 99th percentile placement in deflections, and his big, sexy defensive on-offs (Raptors are +5.6 points per 100 poss better with him on the court)? Well, you’ve got a stew going.
We’re still waiting on the more guard-y stuff to come around for Murray-Boyles, by the way. There’s actually a lot more upside here. Obviously, the biggest feature of his game coming out of the draft was his defense. However, he was far from a defense only prospect.
“Now, the most exciting and impressive aspect of Murray-Boyles’ offense is his driving/attacking game. South Carolina did him very few favors in creating advantages or spacing the floor on his behalf, and Murray-Boyles was dynamite at knifing through the lane and to the rim for finishes with a live dribble. This feature of his game is largely why I find the Jonathan Mogbo comps to be nonsensical. Mogbo played strictly as a big, with no variety to his shot diet. Murray-Boyles was an all out creator at the college level, in the SEC, and was one of the best drivers in all of college basketball in my mind. I think he has the capability to beat bigs in space using his dribble, and to bully guards/wings with his strength. I think he can mine those advantages for points in the halfcourt. In transition I have no worries, that would be easy enough for him.
In addition to his driving game, he is a 240 pound young man, who can set flat screens, ghost screens, or regular screens; plant all of them, and operate out of them as a roller or popper. He is more than comfortable to facilitate that kind of offense should a team want him to. If that’s what you think he’ll be best at in the NBA, I’d be worried, but if you believe in this stuff as a tertiary skill then it’s easy to see how he could provide a lot of value doing this when teams want to find interesting screening partnerships to punish weaker defenders. If teams play their bigs on him trying to roam off, then he can carve out tons of space for his ball handler or create a switch for the guard to attack – or create a post touch against a small for himself.
It’s been about 3 years in a row of watching the playoffs and seeing teams go down the line of different screening partnerships, and how important that dynamic has become. He also makes some pretty interesting passing reads. I didn’t find him to be very good passing out of the drive, but I thought he was pretty solid as a short-roller and as a post passer.”
So far? Murray-Boyles has flashed all of the classic big man stuff offensively. He screens, runs handoffs, plays out of delay action. He rolls. Hits the occasional outside shot. Battles for offensive rebounds. The usual trappings of a passable big man. He has, in my mind, already shown a better than average awareness and talent as a passer so far, too. The big thing I’m waiting on is the driving. Now, the offense is not built for him in the slightest and doesn’t encourage much creation for him. The pecking order is important, and the guys who need their shots, do need their shots. As a result? Not a lot of driving from the Raptors rookie. However, on small volume, Murray-Boyles is getting to the rim and touching the paint a lot on his drives with middle of the pack efficiency. For a rookie who is driving bigs to the rim? Very happy about that. Although, his overall efficiency on drives, when you include his passes out of them, is very bad because the Raptors are in a very odd cold streak from downtown. They’re 0-7 despite 5 of the looks being wide open. It’ll come around.
The outside jumper? I was always optimistic for it, but I’m not doing any victory laps yet. It was nice to see him jump out to 45-percent from downtown across his first 27 games, but he’s currently in an 0-9 stretch across the last 8 outings. Still optimistic for it, but he’s got a long road ahead of him. It would be really nice if you could count on him for 1-1.5 makes a game on passable efficiency over the next few years, though. It could put him in more closeout situations which would really elevate his driving/playmaking.
Something to watch for.
In fact, there’s a lot to watch for with CMB. It’s why he’s become a fan favorite in such short order. You don’t have to look long to find him doing something on the court. I’m excited to keep watching him figure out how to accomplish things his way.
Have a blessed day.
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