A storyline that may follow the Toronto Raptors all season is their frontcourt, which lacks depth and size outside of Jakob Poeltl.
Friday was a big test for Toronto’s frontcourt: at the four, Anthony Davis, fresh off a 34-point game against Milwaukee, and at the five, Alex Sarr, a big many feel might be en route to a breakout year. But the Raptors took care of business: Jakob Poeltl held off Sarr and Scottie Barnes put the clamps on Anthony Davis. Who also deserves praise for the way Toronto protected the rim against the Wizards is Collin Murray-Boyles.
CMB did an excellent job being physical with both Wizards bigs and protecting the rim, finishing the game with eight points, three rebounds, three steals, and leading the team in plus-minus with a plus-21. So what is there to complain about? The issue here is that CMB was a little too physical and barely saw the court because he picked up three quick fouls in the first quarter.
Although this is just one game, it made me realize another potential downside of CMB being a small-ball five, which is that because he is so outmatched size-wise when protecting the rim, he is more prone to foul trouble.
Murray-Boyles' foul trouble exposes a new frontcourt concern
In the past, I’ve written about how one of my concerns with Murray-Boyles playing the five was the physical toll of playing against much larger bigs, and how banging in the post with them every night could lead to injuries. I don’t necessarily believe that’ll be the case anymore, but the foul issue isn’t much better.
Because CMB has to use physicality to make up for his size disadvantage when guarding true bigs and being a primary rim protector, he's more likely to commit fouls, and Friday against the Wizards proved that.
CMB played just 17 minutes because he was in foul trouble early, and the impact of not having him on the court for extended periods of time during this game was felt in a big way. Not just defensively either. His value to this team as a short-roll passer and screener, plus his post presence and ability to crash the boards, impacts winning a ton.
His plus-21 in just 17 minutes reflects how impactful he was on both ends of the floor, but it also makes you think about how much greater his impact could’ve been if he avoided getting in foul trouble. Sure, if he finished the game a plus-11 in 29 minutes, it wouldn’t pop as much as a plus-21 in 17 minutes. But having Murray-Boyles on the court for an additional 12 minutes could have been far more valuable to the Raptors and could have put this game out of reach by the start of the fourth quarter.
If you’re Darko Rajakovic, you want to have CMB out there for as much time as you can. But when he’s got 3 fouls in four minutes, it’s hard to risk keeping him out there and potentially miss out on having him in crunch time. This is why adding another true big man to the Raptors' rotation would be so valuable. I’m not saying abolish the Murray-Boyles minutes at the five at all; they rock.
What I am saying is that forcing him to play nearly every possession as the primary rim protector while standing 6-foot-7 isn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time. It wasn’t strictly the Wizards' bigs that were drawing these fouls either. Two of his five fouls came while guarding AD, but more importantly, three came while protecting the rim, and another came while battling Kyshawn George for a rebound.
I’ll finish this off by saying the fouling Friday night wasn’t just a CMB issue, as everyone else who logged 10-plus minutes against Washington had two or more fouls themselves. But I will point to his foul troubles being more indicative of his role than him being undisciplined defensively, and that falls on Bobby Webster. We are just two games into the season, but your stud defensive sophomore picking up five fouls in 17 minutes should at least make the Raptors front office raise an eyebrow.
It may not be super pressing now, but on top of the handful of other reasons Toronto already had to go add another big, CMB’s foul troubles are just the latest reason for Toronto to address its lack of frontcourt depth.
Add us as a preferred source on Google