With the 9th Pick, the Raptors select Collin Murray-Boyles!

[M3tro]

ESPN has him listed at 245 lbs, which would rank him as tied for 50th heaviest player in the NBA in the 24-25 season. Excluding centres, who occupy most of the top 50, he would have been the 10th heaviest as a rookie.

What a unit.

[Nature]

He's hard to find a good comp for.

Like I get why the "Zion without the athleticism" comparisons are being made but that sounds as broken as "Curry without the shooting" or "Bill Russell without the defence"

[tsherkin]

ESPN has him listed at 245 lbs, which would rank him as tied for 50th heaviest player in the NBA in the 24-25 season. Excluding centres, who occupy most of the top 50, he would have been the 10th heaviest as a rookie.

What a unit.

CMB was 238 at the Combine, so it's probably close to accurate.

[mtcan]

I'm not seeing the Zion comps. Zion's game is 100% dependent on his size and athleticism that allows him to get to the basket like a bowling ball.

CMB's elite skill is his processing and feel. He is not an athletic freak but as we are finding out...guys don't need to be uber athletic to be dominant. His processing is on the level of Luka/SGA/Cade. Obviously his shooting and iso scoring are leagues behind those guys but he sees the game as well as those guy. His defence will also differentiate him from those guys because he is easily a better defender than a Luka and Cade.

He is crafty at getting to the basket using his dribble and waiting for open seams. I don't think he's a bad shooter seeing his mid-range seems pretty good...he just needs to have more confidence. I'm not sure his 3 point shooting comes along but if he can get it above 30% for his first few seasons it would really unlock his offensive potential.

[Basketball_Jones]

Yeah I think high IQ is probably his best attribute. It’s a bit like how I look at Fears or Kon. Though I’m higher on Fears athleticism, mostly look at those guys as being smarter then everyone. They have superior scoring skills than CMB though, hence why they went higher. In the 90’s to early 2000’s you can argue CMB goes higher in this draft but the game has evolved to heavily favour shooting.

[bon]

CMB's got a good first step but Zion's is definitely quicker and he can get to his top speed faster. Their perimeter attack game won't look that similar.

I think there's a lot of similarities with their post game though

Watch on YouTube

[AbC?]

Healthy Zion is 1 of 1. Any comparisons to him are as stupid as the Barnes/Giannis comps.

[mtcan]

Healthy Zion is 1 of 1. Any comparisons to him are as stupid as the Barnes/Giannis comps.

Ya absolutely. Healthy Zion is a bowling ball straight to the basket. That's his super power. Zion with bad feet/knees is worse than late career Blake Griffin...at least Blake developed a 3 pointer late in his career.

CMB will never be the above the basket athletic freak that healthy Zion is...but what athleticism he lacks...he makes up for with craftiness.

Honestly...if he ever gets his 3 point percentage up and can get his shot off in the mid range whenever he wants it...just look at a guy like Shai. Shai isn't the most athletic and certainly isn't a great knockdown shooter (he averages 35% 3 pt% for his career)...but he makes up for with his shot making in the mid range and his ability read the floor and look for openings/open guys and to dribble and contort his way to the basket...and that what I have seen from CMB and I think he can develop that further.

[RaptorPride]

He's Sabonis and Julius Randle

[ATLTimekeeper]

He's hard to find a good comp for.

Like I get why the "Zion without the athleticism" comparisons are being made but that sounds as broken as "Curry without the shooting" or "Bill Russell without the defence"

All comps are weak. Shai is like Jordan without the athleticism and lockdown defense. If you said that as a pre-draft comp, you wouldn't think he'd be the MVP and face of the league. But, his pre-draft comps were way worse. He was getting Elfrid Payton/Shaun Livingston comps.

[StopitLeo]

He's hard to find a good comp for.

Like I get why the "Zion without the athleticism" comparisons are being made but that sounds as broken as "Curry without the shooting" or "Bill Russell without the defence"

CMB’s game reminds me of Julius Randle at Duke if you move the skill slider from offense towards defense.

[tsherkin]

Honestly...if he ever gets his 3 point percentage up and can get his shot off in the mid range whenever he wants it...just look at a guy like Shai. Shai isn't the most athletic and certainly isn't a great knockdown shooter (he averages 35% 3 pt% for his career)...but he makes up for with his shot making in the mid range and his ability read the floor and look for openings/open guys and to dribble and contort his way to the basket...and that what I have seen from CMB and I think he can develop that further.

I don't think he's suddenly going to develop an advanced handle and feel for mid-range scoring and shooting like Shai, who isn't really a good point of comparison. Meantime, he IS a great knockdown shooter. He just isn't an elite 3pt shooter. He is kind of like Devin Booker with more ability to get to the line, in that respect.

With CMB, though. He clearly has power, and the willingness to use it. He showed some ability to drive from the perimeter, which is kind of promising. But yeah, using Shai as a point of comparison for mid-range play doesn't click for me, because there's a lot which goes into what Shai does.

Even at Kentucky, he was a better slasher than CMB, with a much more comfortable handle and middie. His left hand (on the dribble and the scoop), his hesi game, more advanced footwork, can go either direction but prefers left (which is weird for a righty), the change of pace craftiness, the way he uses angles and his body to kill trailing defenders... and then just his footwork, right? He can stop on a dime, has a DIRTY pump fake, and has a nice array of pivots and step-throughs and such. He can even turn a drive into a post-up and get the bump and fling. His tempo control is next-level. So, there was just so much more there even before he hit the league relative to CMB.

CMB's drives mostly seemed pretty linear and basic, with the odd in-and-out dribble and what-not. Nothing too advanced in his bag that I saw, going back.

CMB is gonna have to find his own game, and I doubt it'll be tons and tons of live-dribble slashing. He can do it, but he strikes me as a guy who is gonna be hovering around the key more, particularly for us. Too many other ballhandlers out there.

Now, I'm sure you weren't directly comparing him to Shai and more talking about the ability to potentially thrive in those spaces more generally, noting that the opportunities are THERE, more so than that he'd be as good as Shai, right?

Sure, that's absolutely a thing. There's a TON of space in the middle with modern spacing, and with Quick and BI, we should be getting closer to that this season. And there should be space for CMB to come up and take some elbow/foul line jumpers here and there, for sure. And he seemed okay on those in college.

What I wonder with that, though, is where he's going to find the opportunities. To me, we have TONS of guys who need looks on the perimeter, and no real incentive to throw them at CMB... and actual need of him to motor around, screening, hitting the O-boards and generally playing big. So I'm not sure we're going to see a ton of him developing middle craft.

[greekman]

why pass on maluach ?

[HumbleRen]

why pass on maluach ?

9 teams passed on Maluach. Maybe he’s more of a project than what people assumed he would be.

[Clay Davis]

So I think the "f*ck" was real. I don't think it was a "f*ck, I don't want to play in Canada", I think it was more of a "f*ck, I've got an offensive bag I won't be able to show right off the bat since I'll be behind Scottie, Barrett, and Quickley on a team where the marquee player plays the same position I do". That's why his follow-up interview mentioned how he'd do dirty work that he'll be expected to do. I imagine he'd have been positively ebullient to have been drafted by us last year. He'd have gotten A LOT of burn and reps on the court, and probably have more quarters where he's allowed to be the number one scorer than he'll have this year. On the other hand, he has the play-offs as a light at the end of the tunnell for this year.

I haven't watched the kid much but I believe that this is an accurate read of his rizz. He surely knows that players drafted by the Raptors tend to have a development trajectory that results in them getting paid. The rizz of the Raptorsexual representative rhetorical. Diabolical political, lyrical dog-fighters. Praise Jah, and Supreme Love to the Supreme Mathematics.

[Rust_Cohle]

So I think the "f*ck" was real. I don't think it was a "f*ck, I don't want to play in Canada", I think it was more of a "f*ck, I've got an offensive bag I won't be able to show right off the bat since I'll be behind Scottie, Barrett, and Quickley on a team where the marquee player plays the same position I do". That's why his follow-up interview mentioned how he'd do dirty work that he'll be expected to do. I imagine he'd have been positively ebullient to have been drafted by us last year. He'd have gotten A LOT of burn and reps on the court, and probably have more quarters where he's allowed to be the number one scorer than he'll have this year. On the other hand, he has the play-offs as a light at the end of the tunnell for this year.

I haven't watched the kid much but I believe that this is an accurate read of his rizz. He surely knows that players drafted by the Raptors tend to have a development trajectory that results in them getting paid. The rizz of the Raptorsexual representative rhetorical. Diabolical political, lyrical dog-fighters. Praise Jah, and Supreme Love to the Supreme Mathematics.

Eh, his gf looked depressed as hell

[Duffman100]

So I think the "f*ck" was real. I don't think it was a "f*ck, I don't want to play in Canada", I think it was more of a "f*ck, I've got an offensive bag I won't be able to show right off the bat since I'll be behind Scottie, Barrett, and Quickley on a team where the marquee player plays the same position I do". That's why his follow-up interview mentioned how he'd do dirty work that he'll be expected to do. I imagine he'd have been positively ebullient to have been drafted by us last year. He'd have gotten A LOT of burn and reps on the court, and probably have more quarters where he's allowed to be the number one scorer than he'll have this year. On the other hand, he has the play-offs as a light at the end of the tunnell for this year.

I haven't watched the kid much but I believe that this is an accurate read of his rizz. He surely knows that players drafted by the Raptors tend to have a development trajectory that results in them getting paid. The rizz of the Raptorsexual representative rhetorical. Diabolical political, lyrical dog-fighters. Praise Jah, and Supreme Love to the Supreme Mathematics.

Eh, his gf looked depressed as hell

If you go back and watch it , he says "Thank ****".

[LoveMyRaps]

why pass on maluach ?

Maluach is very raw.
A very high risk, high reward type of player.

[VanWest82]

I'm not seeing the Zion comps. Zion's game is 100% dependent on his size and athleticism that allows him to get to the basket like a bowling ball.

CMB's elite skill is his processing and feel. He is not an athletic freak but as we are finding out...guys don't need to be uber athletic to be dominant. His processing is on the level of Luka/SGA/Cade. Obviously his shooting and iso scoring are leagues behind those guys but he sees the game as well as those guy. His defence will also differentiate him from those guys because he is easily a better defender than a Luka and Cade.

He is crafty at getting to the basket using his dribble and waiting for open seams. I don't think he's a bad shooter seeing his mid-range seems pretty good...he just needs to have more confidence. I'm not sure his 3 point shooting comes along but if he can get it above 30% for his first few seasons it would really unlock his offensive potential.

The skill that's drawing some Zion comparisons imo is his touch around the basket. Even that is in Zion's favour but CMB is no slouch converting contested lay ups. I'd be shocked if that didn't translate.

[mtcan]

So I think the "f*ck" was real. I don't think it was a "f*ck, I don't want to play in Canada", I think it was more of a "f*ck, I've got an offensive bag I won't be able to show right off the bat since I'll be behind Scottie, Barrett, and Quickley on a team where the marquee player plays the same position I do". That's why his follow-up interview mentioned how he'd do dirty work that he'll be expected to do. I imagine he'd have been positively ebullient to have been drafted by us last year. He'd have gotten A LOT of burn and reps on the court, and probably have more quarters where he's allowed to be the number one scorer than he'll have this year. On the other hand, he has the play-offs as a light at the end of the tunnell for this year.

I haven't watched the kid much but I believe that this is an accurate read of his rizz. He surely knows that players drafted by the Raptors tend to have a development trajectory that results in them getting paid. The rizz of the Raptorsexual representative rhetorical. Diabolical political, lyrical dog-fighters. Praise Jah, and Supreme Love to the Supreme Mathematics.

Eh, his gf looked depressed as hell

What if she's drafted as a member of the Toronto Tempo next spring? lol