Collin Murray-Boyles: Basketball Amoeba
Stephen talks about the keys to help you be higher on CMB | PLUS: Stephen's Scouting Notes
Positions are highly discussed and debated within many basketball circles. How important they are, how dated they might be, the nostalgia of the true power forward—there is no shortage of takes on how applicable or relevant that simple term is within the most beautiful game in the word. Yet, while positions are debated, there is no denying that the way we see the game impacts our projections of prospects. And yes, our projections do vary based on certain attributes those prospects possess.
For example. How important is three-point percentage? Well, that depends. Are you a primary ball-handler? Yes? Well, are you taller or shorter than 6’4”? Taller? Well, are you a good or bad defender? Good? Okay, well can you pass?
You see where I’m going with this, right?
How far we pull the strings on those questions shape how impactful a player will be on a team. But what happens when there are some strange overlaps on the Venn diagram of basketball skills? Let me explain.
Most prospects are sexy if they’re around 6’8” with a nice handle and tremendous athleticism. Or, if they’re 6’11” with fun passing feel and the ability to block a shot or two. It’s players like these that keep us up until 2 AM watching basketball film when our loved ones are sleeping in the room upstairs.
But what about a player that’s 6’8” with a questionable shot and a slightly negative assist-to-turnover ratio? Does that get your juices flowing? Well, maybe it should.
The Buildup
Collin Murray-Boyles is today’s featured prospect, and surprisingly enough, he fits that seemingly demeaning description you just read. “CMB” was a part of last season’s freshman class, and came in as the 98th-ranked prospect. Coming out of high school, Collin received offers from schools like St. Bonaventure, SMU, Belmont, and Jacksonville, but eventually stayed in-state to play for the Gamecocks. As a freshman, Murray-Boyles played in 28 games for South Carolina, averaging just under 23 minutes per game.
CMB moved into the starting five after the Gamecocks’ second conference game, and would average over 12 PPG, 7 RPG, 2 APG, 1 BPG, and 1 SPG as a starter. His production had many wondering if he would declare for the 2024 NBA Draft, but Collin would return to South Carolina and was projected by many to be one of the (if not the) best returning prospects within this draft class. In fact, he was ranked 10th in the $DRFT IPO column in November.
Coming into the year as a premier prospect, Murray-Boyles has done well to match the expectations.
The Dive
The Offense
Collin’s offensive game has been effective since he’s started college. Though he’s only about 6’8”, he is built like a wrecking ball and can bully his way to the basket. What makes him such an intriguing talent is that there is more than just how imposing his physique can be—there is a level of craft and skill to balance out his force. And though he’s a player that does the majority of his damage in the vicinity of the basket, he has a number of ways that he can get to his spots.
Self-Creation
Sometimes, a player will show you they’re ready for the next level of competition just from the way they move. CMB has the footwork and coordination to be able to find his way to the rim on his own accord.
In the clip above, Murray-Boyles (#30 in white) is facing one of the better returning prospects in this class, Johni Broome (#4 in blue) from the top-ranked Auburn Tigers. Collin gets the ball on the right wing, faces up Johni, hits him with a jab step, and explodes to the lane. Broome is one of the best shot-blockers in college hoops—capable of sticking with most players—and Murray-Boyles was able to take him off of the bounce on a decisive drive.
This next clip shows a little bit more of the same, but it also highlights the composure and body control CMB has when attacking the basket. The handoff threat helps keep the defense honest, as Collin is somewhat of a tank and can create significant separation for his teammates as a barricade. Once the handoff is denied, our guy faces up and hits a nice crossover and continues his pursuit of the rim. Another defender comes to help the attacking Murray-Boyles, to which he comfortably twists and splits through the dual convergence. This is a very slick move to get the bucket.
The last clip for CMB’s self-creation I’ll post today is a faceup that does not have the threat of a handoff. Collin starts off on the right block, but gets the ball in the mid post. He faces up Virginia Tech’s top player, Toibu Lawal (#1 in orange), and surveys for his attack plan. Our guy doesn’t get super flashy on this play, as he has the strength advantage on Lawal. CMB rips to his left, gets his massive right shoulder into Lawal’s chest, and explodes right past him. Take note of the feathery floater that Collin uses to score. A beautiful marriage of force and grace.
Shooting
Yes: Collin Murray-Boyles is shooting less than 30% from deep. Yes: he did not hit a three pointer on any of his four (or five, depending on where you’re getting your stats) attempts last season. BUT, his shooting isn’t all that terrible. Here are a couple things to be optimistic about.
He has made the same (or close to the same) amount of threes as he did last year.
Of his 15 three-point attempts this season, only two are what I would classify as “bad misses”—which every prospect has. The others were on-line and just a little short or long.
He’s making 42.9% of his threes when used as a screener (as opposed to 12.5% on spot-up looks).
With CMB used as a screener in this set, the ball-handler attracts the attention of two defenders as he continues to dribble away from Collin. This leaves our guy alone, where he’s able to step into his shot for a rhythm three. His mechanics are clean on this shot, and the results bare it out.
Unfortunately, we aren’t able to see the screen during the untimely closeup. We are able to see the scramble of defenders on the left wing that are indicative of a screen being set, though. The scrambling defense tries to sort out the makeshift assignments, CMB takes advantage of being left open, and Murray-Boyles lets the three fly. His shot base is solid. His feet are square and facing the rim. The shot release is high and smooth. Nothing about his mechanics looks like a red flag. The only nit to pick is that the ball dips down.
Sure, he isn’t Branden Carlson, but the fact that he’s taking more threes should give us a sign of encouragement that there’s something for a team to work with if they so choose.
Passing
I know, I know. Murray-Boyles has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. That means he can’t pass the ball. But in all seriousness, this is why film matters. Collin is a little turnover-prone, for sure, but he is a very capable passer. CMB has an assist percentage over 16% on the year, and it was over 17% as a freshman. That has him at about 2 APG over two seasons with the Gamecocks.
This pass against Auburn is a nice one, as it shows some skill on timing and placement. Collin gets the ball on the right mid-post and faces up to pressure the defense. Our guy knows that advancing to the rim would force the defense to collapse on him, which frees up a nice interior bounce pass for his teammate, Nick Pringle (#5 in white), for a nice post shot.
I love this inbound play against Alabama. Once the ball is inbounded, Murray-Boyles gets the ball on the right wing. CMB’s teammate, Jamarii Thomas (#6 in white) is stationed in the right corner. After our guy denies the handoff, he actually instructs Thomas to make a cut to the rim—where he subsequently dishes him the rock for a quick dunk. It’s one thing to make the pass here, but to direct traffic speaks to the basketball IQ and leadership Collin has.
Collin is able to make some pretty advanced reads off of the bounce as well. Here against Clemson, we can see Murray-Boyles get the ball on the left wing and apply pressure on the defense. CMB advances to the next level against the defense, forcing the help to rotate over. Once this rotation takes place, the Tigers leave Pringle open for a paint touch. Take a look at how much touch Murray-Boyles is able to place on this pass for a sensational finish. Being able to keep his dribble alive forces the defense to account for the drive.
Here’s another example of CMB making a play off of the bounce. Right off the jump, we see Collin get the ball in the mid-post—one of his favorite places to recieve the rock. As usual, our guy faces up to survey weaknesses within the defense. The defense does a good job forcing Murray-Boyles right, which is beneficial on two fronts. One, forcing him right makes him follow the baseline for a more difficult path to the paint. Secondly, Collin prefers to go left.
Collin opts right, which draws the attention of a help defender. Now it’s a numbers game. If two are drawn, then someone is open, and that someone was Morris Ugusuk (#15 in black). This isn’t a bad move defensively. Collin is driving away from the basket into two defenders and is heading out-of-bounds before throwing an absolute dime to Ugusuk in the corner for a rhythm three. Buckets.
The Defense
This is the area that many are concerned about in terms of Murray-Boyles’ ability to transfer to the next level. Is he big enough to hang with big men in the NBA? Does he move well enough to defend in space? These are valid questions that can be answered by film (with the help of some analytics).
Here, we have an opportunity to see how well CMB defends in the paint. Our guy is defending John Hugley IV (#4 in blue), who is listed at 6’11” and 270 pounds—some may consider this a mismatch. Hugley IV gets deep position on this play and goes to work to get an easy bucket. Collin lifts up as Hugley IV gets into his shot and pins the ball for a block. His combination of strength, timing, and athleticism causes a failure to launch for the Xavier big man.
What’s worth noting is that CMB has a block percentage of 4 on the season this year. That’s not earth-shattering, but it does point to a feel for defensive positioning and effort. As we just saw, these blocks are not solely weakside rotations—they’re often straight-up, in-position contests.
He can rotate over for blocks too, though. Let’s stay with the Xavier game. The Musketeers’ star player, Ryan Conwell (#7 in blue), starts off on the right wing and darts to the center of the key off of a screen. Collin sticks with his man and works his way down to the right block. Conwell gets to the heart of the paint and rises up for a shot attempt. He double-clutches and reaches out for a right-handed scoop. Our guy is watching the ball the whole time and throws it off of the glass.
Let’s see how Murray-Boyles fares in open space. In this clip, we see him get switched on to fellow draft prospect Jeremiah Fears (#0 in white). Our guy rotates over to Fears on the left wing and does a decent job of sliding his feet to cause Fears to shift his course. Jeremiah hits our guy with a hard cross to the right, from which Collin recovers well. Fears opts to work his way into a step-back jumper, but CMB stays with him throughout the setup, contests the shot, and forces the miss without fouling.
Sometimes, good defenders like to gamble; they trust in their gifts and instincts. Murray-Boyles can opt in to some well-timed gambles as well, as we get to see him against the freshman Jeremiah Fears again. Fears starts on the left wing and proceeds to the top of the key for a routine pick-and-roll. As Fears goes away from the screen, Collin blitzes him into a trap. Our guy uses his great length to poke the ball loose without fouling. Not only does he go for the ball on the dribble, Murray-Boyles dives on the deck to push the transition.
Collin has a steal percentage of 3.1 on the season. That’s an impressive follow-up on his freshman campaign, where he logged a 2.7 steal percentage. His length and activity make him dangerous on both sides of the floor.
Curtains
The consensus is all over the place with Collin Murray-Boyles. He ranked 10th on the $DRFT IPO, and came in at 13 on the latest No Ceilings Big Board. ESPN ranked him 19th on their updated ranking that dropped on January 18th. Sam Vecenie mocked him 20th to the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 9th. Bleacher Report mocked him at 12 on January 14th, Tankathon had him go 15th, CBS mocked him 22nd, USA Today mocked him 16th, Fox Sports mocked him 25th, and Sports Illustrated mocked him at 11.
A wide range for CMB.
Personally, I have Murray-Boyles at 6th on my big board. He may be the most physically-ready prospect in the class, which is something I value highly. His movement and athleticism are up there with the majority of this class, and he boasts rebounding percentages of 9.7 on the offensive glass and 26 on the defensive side. Rebounding numbers are some of the better indicators for a player’s translation to the NBA, and his growth as a defender and consistent effort-giver on both sides of the ball is an encouragement as well.
CMB is 47th among all college players with a minutes percentage of at least 60 in BPM. He boasts a free throw rate over 55, which speaks to his toughness and aggressiveness. If you look at projection, I don’t think it would be the craziest thing to happen to the game of basketball for Collin to grow as a shooter either.
Does he have a natural position? That all depends. Fit will be as important for Collin, as it is for 99% of all aspiring NBA players. CMB is an amoeba of sorts on the court, and contributes in all areas of the game—a real “hooper”, if you will. I believe that his game will transfer well to the next level.
Scouting Notes
Tyrone Riley IV has really stood out among the prospects I’ve seen up until this point. He is incredibly athletic and looks to be able to play and defend multiple positions. Listed at 6’6”, Riley shows real promise as a shooter and plays hard every minute he’s on the court. He’ll need to fill out a little, but he has a solid free throw rate of 32.4 and has 25 dunks on the season. He competes on the boards as well. Riley IV’s two-way ability and athleticism are a ton of fun to watch, and he should only get stronger as he goes. Tyrone has a chance to be a real late riser candidate this season.
One of Draft Twitter’s darlings whose game held up on my film dive was Blake Harper of Howard University. What’s not to like? Harper is a 6’8” freshman listed at 210 pounds, shooting about 37% from deep on over 5 attempts per 100. That sort of size and shooting is hard not to fall for. He puts pressure on the rim but doesn’t finish above it as much as you’d like. His playmaking looks very nice and could be seen as a skill just waiting to be honed and weaponized.
I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen out of Parker Jones from Colgate. He doesn’t have the largest role on his team, but the sales pitch with him is fairly easy to see. Listed at 6’6”, Jones has a real strap on him. This sweet-shooting sophomore is connecting on almost 39% of his long balls on almost 9 attempts per 100. He doesn’t have a very high free throw rate, but Parker does compete on the boards and plays very hard on defense. He has a steal and block rate of over 2 and leads his team in blocks as a shooting wing! Oh, and he’s second in steals! Likely not a “this year” guy, but he’s a fun potential transfer-up target to keep tabs on.
Alijah Martin is a player that I don’t think is getting enough recognition as a draftable prospect. Could he be all of the best parts of Patrick Beverley? Martin is a true competitor and is a deciding factor in essentially every Florida Gator game. Sure, he’s a small guard at 6’2”, but he has the sturdy frame that makes transitioning to the NBA more than imaginable. He is an absolute hound on defense—boasting a steal percentage of over 3. Offensively, his game is pretty simple: space the floor and be a connector. Martin could be a benefactor of players returning this season and quickly become a favorite among NBA scouts. After all, hustle is a skill. Alijah may be top five in that skill within this class.
I’ve completed close to 200 player scouting profiles at this point in the season, and I’m watching players from all levels of competition. As a resident “Draft Sicko”, here are some names that I’m looking forward to watching as I continue to work down my list:
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