TORONTO \u2014 The 2025 rookie class is excellent. It\u2019s early days, but the early returns are that it will easily rank among the better classes of the past decade, and maybe more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cooper Flagg is proving a worthy No. 1, putting up the kind of numbers by a teenager that only LeBron James has matched. His Duke teammate Kon Knueppel, taken No. 4 by Charlotte, is already playing like a 10-year vet and is on pace to shatter rookie three-point shooting records. The No. 2 pick, Dylan Harper, is helping the San Antonio Spurs round into contending status before their appointed time, and VJ Edgecombe, taken third, is a key contributor for the surging Philadelphia 76ers. And on down the line. The New Orleans Pelicans look like they got a pair of gems in Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears, taken 12th\u00a0and seventh, respectively. There are players playing important roles taken late in the first round and early in the second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s finding their niche,\u201d he said Monday night after his crucial role in the Raptors’ convincing 118-100 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks, referring to the rest of the rookie class. \u201cEverybody\u2019s making an impact on whatever team they were picked. \u2026 we\u2019re proud of what we\u2019ve done so far.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Murray-Boyles hasn\u2019t quite got the recognition that some of his peers have. He doesn\u2019t appear on\u00a0NBA.com\u2019s rookie ladder. When influential podcaster Zack Lowe did his mid-season first and second-team all-rookie selections, Murray-Boyles wasn\u2019t on either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That situation could change in a hurry if Murray-Boyles continues playing at the level he has lately, culminating in one of the most impressive all-around performances you\u2019ll ever see from a first-year player in a Raptors uniform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Making just his sixth career start, Murray-Boyles finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks without making a turnover and shooting 8-of-10 from the floor.\u00a0\u00a0There hasn\u2019t been a rookie put up 17-7-7-3-2 without a turnover since 1991, according to\u00a0basketball-reference.com. Forgetting turnovers, the only rookies to hit those thresholds in the past decade are Amen Thompson, Victor Wembanyama and Lonzo Ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The win improved the Raptors’ record to 22-15 and strengthened their hold on fourth place in the East before they play seven of their next nine games on the road. The Hawks fell to 17-21.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the box score \u2014 as impressive as it is \u2014 doesn\u2019t really do his evening\u2019s work justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Murray-Boyles makes positive plays, big and small, over and over again.\u00a0It\u2019s both as simple and as complicated as that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the Raptors won the game fairly handily and swept the Hawks 4-0 in the season series while doing so, there were some tense moments in the fourth. Atlanta had cut what was a 14-point lead early in the period to seven with 5:19 to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dyson Daniels, the Hawks’ giant point guard, drove left, and Murray-Boyles slid his six-foot-seven, 230-pound frame alongside him, rising up to successfully contest his lay-up, forcing a wild miss that turned into a three-point play for Scottie Barnes (18 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists) at the other end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A little later in the quarter, the Raptors lead still in single figures, Murray-Boyles somehow came up with a loose ball in a battle with Daniels, who is one of the NBA\u2019s leading ballhawks. The Raptors’ rookie immediately shovelled the ball to a wide-open Brandon Ingram (19 points, nine rebounds, three assists), who nailed a three to put Toronto up by 11, effectively icing the game with 2:44 to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were plenty of more examples: a screen he set to free Ingram for a lay-up, a timely deflection. He helped hold Hawks star Jalen Johnson to 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting, along with six turnovers. Not counted among them was when Murray-Boyles was guarding Johnson on an inbounds play with just a couple of seconds left on the shot clock. As soon as Johnson caught the pass, Murray-Boyles swallowed him whole, grabbing the ball and rendering Johnson helpless as the shot clock expired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rookies are supposed to be overwhelmed in the NBA and defensive liabilities. Murray-Boyles does the overwhelming, and he\u2019s one of the best defenders on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure our defensive numbers are better when he\u2019s on the floor,\u201d said Barnes. \u201c\u2026 he makes great reads, he\u2019s doing it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
His veteran teammates have been raving about his physical strength since training camp. It\u2019s one reason he has averaged more than four offensive rebounds a game over his past seven games while averaging 25 minutes of floor time. He showed it when he wrestled hulking Hawks centre Onyeka Okongwu to a standstill over one contested rebound, forcing a jump ball, which Murray-Boyles won.<\/p>\n
He was spectacular at times, too, such as when he caught the ball on the break under the basket and whirled 360 degrees in one motion to hit Gradey Dick (11 points and two steals on 4-of-4 shooting) in the corner for a three.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At this stage, it\u2019s way too early to fully appreciate what the Raptors have in their prized 2025 rookie. So it\u2019s not fair for the rest of the NBA to have a grasp on Murray-Boyles, who has missed time with injuries and illnesses and is averaging 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists (albeit while shooting 54 per cent from the floor and 40 per cent from three) while playing 19 minutes a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the more you watch him, it becomes more and more apparent that he\u2019s the type of player who can affect the flow and outcome of games with his energy, athleticism, smarts and activity on both ends of the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What that ends up looking like is still an open question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA common mistake is when a player comes in, you already have an idea of what he has to be,\u201d said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. \u201cSometimes we as coaches just try to box them in. Obviously, there is a role and there is stuff you\u2019ve got to do. There is stuff you\u2019ve got to learn. We\u2019re constantly learning about Collin, what he can do, how he\u2019s learning, how he is picking up on things. It\u2019s really impressive, his development. The opportunity he\u2019s taking on right now, he\u2019s doing impressive things for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray-Boyles isn\u2019t overthinking anything right now. He is very willing to play hard and let his instincts make things happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not tired, you\u2019re not going hard enough, so I try to be as tired as possible,\u201d he said after playing a career-high 31 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And his seemingly unerring ability to come up with loose balls, make deflections, snare offensive rebounds, make steals and block the odd shot?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s mostly just not having your hands by your side, like, that helps a lot with it,\u201d he said. \u201cJust being active, having your hands up makes your life way easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what about being able to hold his own or even come out ahead while wrestling for either the ball or position or both against bigger, older and more experienced athletes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is he surprised his physical style has translated so easily from college basketball?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNah, I lift,\u201d he said. \u201cNo cocky stuff. But I tried my hardest to prepare for this moment, prepare to play against the best of the best. I mean, it’s a big physical aspect to that, and I feel like I prepare myself as much as possible, and I\u2019m still trying to get stronger every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all working. The ability, physicality and feel for the game even at NBA speed. It may not result in Murray-Boyles getting rookie-of-the-year buzz or even earning a spot on an all-rookie team when the season is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s hard to watch him play \u2013 and especially after games like he played Monday \u2013 and not believe the Raptors got a player in the 2025 draft who can help them win NBA games now and well into the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Traed Young?\u00a0On Saturday evening, I was chatting with a member of the Hawks front office in the tunnel leading to the visiting locker room at Scotiabank Arena when Trae Young<\/a> came up the ramp. The executive excused himself, gave the Hawks star point guard a big, warm hug, and the two exchanged a few friendly words before Young \u2014 who was inactive for both the Hawks games in Toronto with a thigh bruise \u2014 went to get changed and get in a pre-game workout. At roughly the same time of day on Monday, the biggest news drop in the NBA was that Young (and his agents) were “working with the franchise on a trade.”<\/a> Translation: the Hawks have decided that life without the 27-year-old four-time all-star earning $46 million this year and holding a player option for $49 million next season is better than life with him. Concurrently, Young and his agents have recognized that they aren\u2019t going to get an extension from Atlanta, so better to try and find a team willing to extend his current deal. No hard feelings. Why do the Hawks want to move on? Among other reasons, he\u2019s a very high-priced defensive liability (the Hawks are giving up nearly 10 more points per game in the 10 games he\u2019s played than in the 27 games he\u2019s missed prior to Monday). Not coincidentally, the Hawks are 2-8 with Young in the line-up and 15-12 when he doesn\u2019t. They believe they can use that money better in other places to round out their promising young roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n Should the Raptors get involved?\u00a0It can\u2019t hurt to ask. But it\u2019s not that easy to put a deal together. Raptors point guard Immanuel Quickley \u2014 who is making $32.5 million this year and for the next three after \u2014 would be a place to start. And while Quickley has had some nice moments this season, he\u2019s hardly taken the point guard job and sprinted away with it. He was pulled in favour of second-year guard Jamal Shead late in the fourth quarter against the Hawks, the second time Rajakovic has chosen to finish a game with Shead instead of Quickley in the past two weeks. As checkered as Young\u2019s reputation is as an iffy teammate, defensive black hole who is a shaky high-volume shooter (35 per cent from three on nearly eight attempts per game), his spectacular playmaking (10.5 per game over the past five seasons) would be an upgrade on Quickley’s playmaking. So, yeah, in the same way trading for Brandon Ingram last season was a low-risk bet on talent with some warts that has worked out well, you can see where the Raptors can talk themselves into it.\u00a0<\/p>\n But can they?\u00a0Here\u2019s the problem: Quickley\u2019s contract isn\u2019t movable right now without attaching meaningful pick compensation. One of the reasons the Hawks want to get out of the Trae Young business is that they don\u2019t want to pay a small point guard significant money to take the ball out of the hands of Johnson and Daniels, who they see as building blocks. As I was chatting with some league folks Monday, one thing I was told to keep in mind with regard to reports of the Wizards being a potential Hawks destination is that Washington can put useful veterans on expiring contracts \u2013 say Kris Middleton and CJ McCollum \u2013 into a deal. That could help the Hawks in their playoff push this season, while working their way to enough cap space to make a pitch for a big man like Dallas’s Anthony Davis next summer without having to chew through their draft capital or young talent like they would in an in-season trade. So even if the Raptors decided they were at a stage where they wanted to be sending out draft picks to acquire Young, they don\u2019t have the kind of expiring contracts that the Hawks are looking for in any case.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The 2025 rookie class is excellent. 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