{"id":520261,"date":"2026-01-06T13:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/520261\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:48:12","slug":"raptors-rookie-collin-murray-boyles-making-most-of-jakob-poeltls-absence-from-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/520261\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors rookie Collin Murray-Boyles making most of Jakob Poeltl’s absence from lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a>, 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 six-foot-seven 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

Murray-Boyles has found a kindred spirit in Scottie Barnes<\/a>, 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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Collin Murray-Boyles has developed a simple philosophy in his rookie NBA season: work hard. Murray-Boyles had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,6,681,40188,66,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-520261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-raptors","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-toronto","14":"tag-toronto-raptors","15":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115848472514287444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}