Since being taken with the ninth-overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles has done nothing but impress fans, his teammates, and the Raptors brass alike.
“From the moment he came to our team, he showed in the preseason that he could be a player that we count on,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said of Murray-Boyles during his end-of-season media availability Tuesday.
“When you have a rookie, you’re always thinking about his plan and how much he’s going to be playing in the G League, but it was clear in September that he wasn’t going to see a lot of minutes with the 905. He’s got a lot of intangibles, things he does on a nightly basis – how competitive he is, how hard he plays, he just gave us confidence from Day 1 that he’s going to be an important player in the rotation.”
In 57 games in his debut season, the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds. 1.9 assists, and 1.8 stocks, while shooting 57.9 per cent from the field and 34.0 per cent from distance. A stellar defender, his play was good enough to make an All-Rookie team as he rapidly got better as the season went on.
“His development over the course of the season was outstanding,” said Rajakovic. “Being able to see him react to any challenge that was thrown his way was awesome. Getting to know him as a person was also very important to me. He’s an amazing human being. He cares so much about everybody. We’re so lucky to have him in our program.”
After an impressive showing in the playoffs, where the former South Carolina Gamecock averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 stocks while shooting nearly 66 per cent from the field, Toronto’s bench boss sees even more opportunity for the forward to contribute.
“I’m going to be putting the ball in his hands more in some pick and roll actions,” said Rajakovic. “I tried some after timeouts this year. He’s not shying away from those moments, he’s not shying away from a challenge, he likes that. The more we’re putting on his plate for his development, I think he’s going to be excited and embrace that.
“At 20 years old, we don’t know his limits, we don’t want to put a cap on his development. The majority of the season he played the five. I think he’s done a really good job there, setting screens, rolling, and creating spacing in the dunker.”
The South Carolina native now heads into his first full off-season as a professional, where the plan is to prepare Murray-Boyles for more on-ball reps.
“I think this summer we have to focus on continuing to develop his body. He needs to get stronger and faster so he can sustain a long season,” said Rajakovic. “I think it will be important for him to add a face-up game, so he can attack the rim off the dribble, he can come off dribble handoffs and turn the corner. He’s obviously going to be working on his shooting, but that’s not the prime [focus] of his development.”
