‘Collin Murray-Bruiser’ forcing his way into essential role with Raptors

BOSTON — The man-child does indeed lift. 

As most of his teammates were still revelling in an unlikely, walk-off win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night, or perusing the post-game meal spread or trying to visit friends and family quickly before getting on the first bus for the airport and the flight to Boston in the wee hours, Collin Murray-Boyles was in a makeshift weight room just off the hallway at the Spectrum Center moving heavy things. 

It’s not an area outsiders are privy to, but the door was open, and there the Raptors’ prized rookie was, grinding out sets of one-armed rows under the watchful eye of the strength and conditioning coaches. 

It was an adjustable dumbbell — part of the equipment the home team provides visitors — so even Murray-Boyles wasn’t sure exactly how heavy it was. 

“Whatever it was, it was max weight,” he told me after the Raptors wrapped up a light practice in Boston Thursday before meeting the Celtics at TD Garden on Friday night. “I don’t know, 90 [pounds], 100?” 

A small person’s worth, in other words.

He says he took up lifting after games since he joined the NBA because it’s the only way to get strength workouts consistently with the heavy load of games and travel that comes with the job. 

He was introduced to the value of it in college at the University of South Carolina, but with a 30-game season and more practice time, he didn’t have to squeeze in the work. 

“He loved it,” said his strength and condition coach, Scott Greenawalt, when I spoke to him Thursday. “And every time he lifted, he seemed to get stronger. Just a genetic freak when it comes to that. But he put the work in, too.” 

He still does. Murray-Boyles isn’t using the demanding NBA schedule as a reason to miss workouts. If there’s a 20- or 30-minute window post-game, when he’s already loose and warmed up, he’ll take advantage of it. And he’s not doing only lighter sessions aimed at keeping the status quo as the season drags on — a common approach. The 21-year-old wants to get stronger month by month.

“I like to get a lot of extra lifting in,” he says. “Just so I can gain muscle. I’m not going in the weight room just to bulls—. I’m trying to get the most out of it possible. I ask for a lot of extra stuff when we finish a workout. I always do more upper-body stuff, because we do more lower-body-focused stuff, a lot of core work. I definitely want to get a full body feel, and especially I want to feel sore after a back-to-back, because I know going into the next day, it’s a rest day, so I know I can recover. It’s just trying to get the most out of my time.”

Something is working. Murray-Boyles is quietly putting together an outstanding rookie season after being taken ninth overall in what turned out to be an impressive 2025 draft class. 

You have to dig a little deeper into the numbers to see it if you’re not watching him routinely. On the surface, his season averages of 7.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists on 53.6 per cent shooting — while more than solid for a first-year NBA player midway through the season — don’t generate a lot of buzz in a year when the likes of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, VJ Edgecombe, Dylan Harper and Derik Queen are having excellent rookie seasons. 

At the very least, Murray-Boyles has shown that in his combination of strength, toughness, and athleticism, he has at least two upper-tier NBA skills, which is generally the entry point for a long and successful career as an established starter. 

He’s got plenty of upside, too. The six-foot-seven 240-pounder is just scratching the surface in areas like shooting and ball-handling, and his passing skills offer plenty of promise. But for the moment, it’s his ability to defend multiple positions at a high-level that already been established (internally, the Raptors are already comparing his upside in that area to perennial all-defence candidate OG Anunoby) and, in particular, his knack for rebounding might already be elite. 

Which is where his strength comes in. 

“He’s a bruiser,” says Sandro Mamukelashvili, the Raptors backup centre. “We call him Collin Murray-Bruiser. He’s super strong. I feel like he uses his body the right way … he’s always on balance. You can’t really move him. He knows he’s very strong. He knows he can absorb the contact. He knows how to position himself well, where he can kind of pin his men in. 

“And the most important thing about rebounding is effort,” says Mamukelashvili. “And he has that. He has that drive, he has that motivation. He knows that’s what helps the team, and we were lacking in that. So, you know, just unbelievable having him out there.”

It never been more evident than in his past six games. 

Since joining the starting lineup against Miami on Dec. 23 — other than two games he missed immediately after Christmas with the flu — the Raptors rookie is averaging 9.7 rebounds in 27 minutes per game, compared with 3.4 rebounds in 18 minutes a game in 25 games prior. 

There are some extenuating circumstances: Since Poeltl left the lineup after the game against Brooklyn with a back problem on Dec. 21, Murray-Boyles has played more in the dunker spot on offence — hugging the baseline on either side of the lane, making himself available for drop-off passes on drives and with a clear directive to hunt offensive rebounds. 

But it’s one thing to be given a job and another to execute at such an absurdly high level. 

While Immanuel Quickley’s game-winning three and RJ Barrett’s 16-point fourth quarter explosion got the majority of the attention, the Raptors aren’t winning against the Hornets without Murray-Boyles contributing a career-best 15 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end. 

It was the same story when the Raptors beat Miami before Christmas and Murray-Boyles had 12 rebounds — nine on the offensive end. Or when he had 12 rebounds — seven offensive — in a win over Orlando. 

The Raptors are 5-1 since they let Murray-Boyles loose on the offensive glass, and all of a sudden, Toronto doesn’t seem quite so vulnerable when Poeltl is out of the lineup or off the floor. 

Over the past six games Murray-Boyles has played, his 30 offensive rebounds are more than anyone else in the NBA over the same span. He’s also now No. 1 among all rookies in offensive rebounding, and seventh overall despite playing significantly fewer minutes so far this year than all the rookies ahead of him.  

It’s a point of pride.

“I’m a rebounder, like, that was the aspect of my game in college,” he said. “The really big thing with getting rebounds is making multiple efforts. So I’ve always had that in my game, and just being in the right spot, at the right time. I’ve been doing the work early. There’s been some things that I’ve needed to adjust to, especially in a bigger, faster, stronger league. It’s not as easy as letting the rebound fall in your hands. You gotta go get it. So that’s been really big for me.”

What makes him potentially special at a role — dominating the offensive glass — that has become increasingly valued for how it creates extra possessions, high percentage shots at the rim or open looks from three, as well as a first line of defence against teams trying to get out in transition, is not just his strength but his ability to use it functionally. 

“He’s a freak of strength, for sure,” says Greenawalt, who worked with Murray-Boyles for his two years of college. “… But what makes him special is he knows how to use it … he knows leverage, knows how to move his feet, he’s on balance … he knows how to use all that strength and use his body to his advantage.” 

His teammates got to understand it quickly, as Murray-Boyles has gotten rave reviews for his strength and physicality from the earliest days of training camp — not a typical occurrence for a rookie. 

Mamukelashvili is no shrinking violet himself at six-foot-nine and 240 pounds, but he compares the advantage Murray-Boyles creates to something akin to an Olympic wrestler or judo expert, because the energy required to battle for position with the burly rookie often ends up being turned against his opponent. 

“It’s good to be so strong because you can kind of use their force to get a rebound,” said Mamukelashvili. “I feel like if I was boxing out CMB, you have to box him out so hard, all he has to do is, kind of move a little bit and now you’re [off-balance] and he has the advantage.”

It’s an advantage Murray-Boyles has worked hard to develop, and the Raptors are fortunate to have. 

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