{"id":392858,"date":"2026-01-07T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392858\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T01:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T01:08:09","slug":"raptors-collin-murray-boyles-capitalizing-on-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392858\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors\u2019 Collin Murray-Boyles capitalizing on opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) attempts a shot over Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) and teammate Onyeka Okongwu (17) during their game in Toronto on Monday.Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Collin Murray-Boyles has developed a simple philosophy in his rookie NBA season: work hard.<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in an impactful performance for the Raptors as Toronto topped the Atlanta Hawks 118-100 on Monday. He also had three steals and two blocks, leading the Raptors with a plus-24 defensive rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not tired, you\u2019re not going hard enough, so I try to be as tired as possible,\u201d said Murray-Boyles with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles started at centre in place of Jakob Poeltl, who remains out with a sore lower back. Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic confirmed pre-game that Poeltl had been cleared for contact, however.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s steals or blocks, Murray-Boyles also has a simple philosophy on how to disrupt opposing teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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

The 6-foot-7 forward was selected ninth overall by Toronto in last summer\u2019s NBA Draft. Murray-Boyles played power forward for the South Carolina Gamecocks but, on the undersized Raptors, has been pressed into service at centre with Poeltl unavailable.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old was averaging 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists in 18.8 minutes per game heading into Monday\u2019s win over Atlanta. He\u2019s played at least 24:45 in each of his last five games, however, as he earns Rajakovic\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cA common mistake is when a player comes in, you already have an idea of what he has to be. Sometimes we as coaches just try to box them in,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cWe\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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity he\u2019s taking on right now, he\u2019s doing impressive things for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Collin Murray-Boyles (12) keeps a ball in play against the Orlando Magic during the first half of a game at Scotiabank Arena.John E. Sokolowski\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles has found a kindred spirit in Scottie Barnes, with the pair an effective duo on defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both around the same size, we\u2019re both physical, we both guard really well, we can move our feet, we can guard the best of them,\u201d said Barnes, who is an inch taller than Murray-Boyles but noted that he\u2019s about 20 pounds lighter than the rookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re out there on the floor, we see a screen come together, we do a great job of when we want to switch. Depends on the scout, the game plan, what we want to do, it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray-Boyles said that for his part, he\u2019s drawing inspiration from Barnes, who won the NBA rookie of the year award in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings energy. He\u2019s probably, I think, the best defensive player based off of just his versatility and his effort,\u201d said Murray-Boyles. \u201cJust watching that, especially as a young guy, kind of similar size, obviously, seeing what he does, it just makes me want to imitate that and just be the best I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raptors (22-15) take their two-game win streak to Charlotte on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Barnes moves up in all-star voting<\/p>\n

Scottie Barnes has cracked the top 20 in NBA all-star voting.<\/p>\n

Barnes was 14th in the Eastern Conference with 232,072 votes in the second fan returns on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

His name was not in the top 20 after the first round of voting data was released a week ago.<\/p>\n

Toronto teammate Brandon Ingram was 11th with 281,799 votes.<\/p>\n

Barnes is averaging 19.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists, playing multiple positions including sometimes starting at centre while Poeltl recovers from a sore lower back.<\/p>\n

Ingram is averaging 22.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in his first season playing for the Raptors.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Hamilton was fourth in Western Conference voting and Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ont., was 15th.<\/p>\n

Raptors waive Bamba<\/p>\n

The Raptors announced Tuesday they have waived centre Mo Bamba.<\/p>\n

The 7-footer appeared in two games after signing as a free agent Dec. 29. He could be re-signed on a 10-day contract as early as Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bamba did not score in his brief stint with the Raptors.<\/p>\n

Toronto brought Bamba in as frontcourt depth while starter Jakob Poeltl continued to rehabilitate a lower-back injury. <\/p>\n

Bamba didn\u2019t play in either of Toronto\u2019s wins over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and Monday.<\/p>\n

Bamba was the sixth overall pick by Orlando in the 2018 NBA draft. He has averaged 6.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks over seven NBA seasons with six teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) attempts a shot over Atlanta Hawks forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,459,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-392858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}